Words like these were like a devil's enticement, nobody with a sane mind in this world would be able to reject that offer. Xandros finally understood why even the top five guilds were hooked. They too were after that reward, a low ranking dungeon had no allure to them.
If not for the promised reward, they wouldn't even bother sending all of their manpower here.
It would be a lie to say that Xandros wasn't enticed, he too wanted the reward. But he did not give his answer immediately and considered various aspects in his head first.
The thing that was bugging him the most, was why the grey haired man would put a reward as rare and precious as that instead of keeping it for himself. However, before he could come to an answer, an uproar seemed to have erupted outside the tent as a couple of adventurers rushed inside.
"Who dares to intrude inside the main tent? Don't you know that an important meeting is going on?" one of the guild leaders shouted in rage at the people who had just barged in.
"We are extremely sorry to interrupt the meeting of the guild masters. However, an incident had occurred, the guild masters need to see it" they reported, their voice was urgent.
"What is it Alvin?".
The guild master of the Assassin guild asked. These people were from his guild, they were tasked with the mission to follow all the other tertiary teams and report every incident that is happening back to the main camp.
"Guild master Cassius, the seven tertiary teams that went ahead, we have lost contact with all of them" Alvin reported with trepidation.
The moment those words fell, the eyes of the various guild leaders of the twenty guilds went wide. After a momentary stun, they bombarded Alvin with questions.
Although the tertiary teams were mostly made up of newbie adventurers, they also had their talented younger generation and the future successors of their guilds. Losing them would be tantamount to crippling the guilds.
"What happened why can't you contact them? My son is there".
"My disciple also went ahead, did you lose all contact with them?"…
Alvin's body trembled intensely facing the pressure of the many guild leaders.
"Everyone calm down. Alvin explained clearly what had happened. The last report that we got was a few hours ago stating that all the seven tertiary teams are currently gathering on floor 34th with the Savannah Beast Guild reaching the place first. Are you saying that something had happened in those few hours?" the guild leader of the assassin guild, Cassius mediated the situation for everybody.
"Guild leader… the last report I got from the units that were sent to follow the seven tertiary teams said that they had found a mysterious ruin on the 34th floor. I told them that there was no need for them to take risks and wait for our primary team which will be arriving there soon".
"This was about an hour ago… I have tried to contact all seven units after that; however, none of them are answering the call".
Alvin had a grim face as he recounted everything that he was informed about. With that report, the atmosphere around the entire tent had changed. Many of the guild leaders were unable to keep calm at this moment and hurriedly got up from their seats.
It looked like if nobody stopped them, they would storm with their teams to the 34th floor.
"Calm down everyone" Just as the guild leaders of Sky Slashing Blade and Absolute Sea guild were about to leave the tent, the grey haired man spoke up. He then turned towards the calm Brutus and Karina and asked.
"You two must have some items that could check on the life status of your members right?".
When asked that oddly specific question, the two guild leaders smiled bitterly and nodded their heads.
When the other guild leaders saw that they turned towards Brutus and Karina. Brutus being the expedition leader, sighed and took out one of the treasures of his guild in front of everyone's eyes.
An oddly red coloured fang rested on his palm.
"This is the fang of the Blood Saint Tiger" When Brutus introduced it, it pulsed with a crimson light that made the blood of all the guild masters inside the tent boil.
Everyone's eyes widen a little, even the grey haired man was shocked when the thing came out. Everyone in the kingdom of Ellesmere was aware that the Savannah Beast Guild possessed a beast inheritance that they passed down to their younger members from generation to generation.
However, this was the first time they had heard the name of the beast the Savannah Beast Guild got the inheritance from.
A beast inheritance doesn't just form inside any beast, it is so rare that even if you kill hundreds of thousands of beasts, you wouldn't find any that was able to form its own inheritance.
Only a beast that possesses a human like intelligence, whose bloodline has reached a certain level of purity, is able to form its beast inheritance. The beasts that match these criteria are at the very least Catastrophe class.
Forget about killing them to get their beast inheritance, a class of that level was enough to flatten a kingdom like theirs. And even if one manages to somehow bring down that beast, a beast of human like intelligence would rather destroy its core stone where the beast inheritance resides rather than let others get their hands on it.
From this one could understand how difficult it was to get a beast inheritance, this at the same time also made others envious of the Savannah beast guild.
Seeing that he had the eyes of every people inside the tent on him, Brutus explained. He did not think much about their greed filled envious eyes since the beast inheritance has already been refined in their bloodline.
"As you all know, the bloodline of our Savannah Beast guild is a little special. The fang in my hand is our guild treasure and also a gift from lord Blood Saint tiger. Only someone who is appointed as the guild leader of our guild is allowed to hold it".
"It holds a special property and that is only the person who has received the inheritance of the Blood saint tiger, is allowed to place a drop of their blood on it. As long as the person is alive, the fang will always remain red. I hope that this is enough to assure the guild masters that the teams down there are still alive".
Brutus explained, he could tell that his son Marcus was still alive and fine or else the blood red colour in the fang wouldn't be this deep.
"Guild leader is speaking the truth, I too hold a similar item that allows me to know the life status of my disciple. However, it is not as fancy as the fang of the blood saint tiger" Karina attested to Brutus' words.
The various guild leaders calmed down for a moment and sat back in their seats.
Karina turned to face Brutus and congratulated him with a smile.
"It is said that other than the first guild leader of the Savannah Beast guild, no other members have managed to place their blood on the guild treasure. Since Sir Brutus' son was able to do it, doesn't it mean that he has received the full inheritance of the Blood Saint Tiger? The Savannah Beast guild will rise like the saint tiger in the future".
When the others heard what Karina said, they too congratulated him. In any case, it was never a bad decision to make a good impression with someone strong.
Brutus had a bitter smile when he received their congratulations, he had planned to keep this fact a secret yet this woman was somehow able to learn it.
TAP… TAP…
"Alright everyone, settle down. For the time being we know that the tertiary team isn't in the immediate danger of getting wiped out. Nonetheless, it doesn't change the fact that we cannot contact them".
"This means that something has happened on the 34th floor. Either they have entered the mysterious ruin or the master of the dungeon has made his move. In any case, we should start heading out. Expedition leader Brutus, I'll leave leading the primary unit to you".
The grey haired man gathered everyone back to the matter at hand. Subsequently, he turned towards Xandros and asked—
"You must have explored and passed through the 34th floor quite a few times. Were there any ruins on that floor before?".
All eyes turned towards Xandros, the man was currently the most knowledgeable adventurer present within this main camp.
Xandros recalled the memories he had of the 34th floor before shaking his head sidewise "My team has explored the 34th floor quite a few times. However, we never found any mysterious ruins that you all are talking about".
Hearing this the grey haired man narrowed his eyes.
'So it must be something recently placed. A trap from the demon to cull our numbers. Knowing that should we step into it?' he mused internally.
After a while he placed his attention back on Xandros and asked "So what will it be? Are you willing to help me?".
The vice guild leader of the Tyrant Mountain Guild took a deep breath, and considered his options before shaking his head.
"Oh?" the grey haired man was surprised, he didn't think that Xandros would be able to reject the allure of the reward he promised.
"Can I know the reason why you are rejecting my offer?".