"Yes, please wait."
The guild mistress flipped through the information.
"The latest information on the lava mad lizard infestation was three months ago in the central area of the Lapps Underground Labyrinth ..."
Listening to Missy's report, Jack rubbed his chin.
"Is it that underground palace again? It looks like it's a territory that belongs exclusively to fire-type magical beasts. There's a need to pick up a few more dungeon quests later on and go in to sweep the area."
Jack arrives at the mission pickup area and is surprised to learn the bad news.
Due to a change in the difficulty of the Lapis Grounds, the guild is now no longer issuing quests to individual adventurers.
The opening quest of the Lapps' Palace will also be accomplished by the three major adventuring groups, the Snow Eagles, the Ninjas, and the Griffins, joining forces.
"This is intended to be a monopoly."
Jack frowned, "The entrances and exits of the underground palace that have already been explored will surely be guarded by the three major adventuring groups as well, so it will be troublesome to go in again."
Just as Jack was feeling a little tricky, a series of shouts suddenly rang out from outside the Adventurer's Guild.
"Protest! On what grounds are we not given a mission to enact?"
"Against monopolization! What's wrong with the three major adventuring groups? Why should they share all the benefits of opening up the underground palace equally?"
After listening roughly for a while, Jack realized what was happening.
With the same fire in his heart, he walked out of the Adventurer's Guild.
The crowd was ready to join the protest.
Outside the guild, a large number of adventurers had gathered by now.
The protest was initially started by a coalition of several small adventuring groups.
They weren't willing to be sidelined from the center of interest by the three big adventure groups.
And some passing solo adventurers, after realizing what was going on, spontaneously joined the protest.
The Lapis Grounds, after all, are part of an incompletely opened map.
Most of the adventurers who entered Byron Town came here to explore the underground palace.
...
The third floor of the Adventurer's Guild, behind a certain floor-to-ceiling window.
The heads of the three major adventuring groups stood side by side, smiling as they looked down at the boisterous crowd below.
A bald, burly man said with a mocking tone, "Hmph, the reaction of these guys isn't really unexpected. A bunch of greedy vultures."
He's the leader of the Nine Vulture Adventure Group.
The nine flaming bird tattoos tattooed on his bald head were his most distinguishing feature.
In the adventuring community of the Lapps region, Ninjas is also his title.
The Nine Vultures looked at a voluptuous woman beside them, lightly licked their lips, and said, "Xue Ji, when will your people start moving? I'm ready to count my money!"
The woman named Yuki Ji was the leader of the Snow Eagle Adventure Group.
She had beautiful features and an excellent figure and could not be seen at all as a woman over thirty.
Yukie shook her head with a light smile, "When the anger rises a little higher, under the blazing fire, there will be more people willing to pay."
At that moment, a majestic roar suddenly erupted from the crowd downstairs.
"I'm not convinced! The heads of the three great adventure groups get out here for me!"
The voice was like thunder from the ground, and it actually overpowered the noisy waves of sound for a moment.
Jack's ears twitched slightly, locking onto a heavily bearded man in the crowd.
This person had just used the Wild Roar skill.
In addition to the ability to create far more unusual sounds, this skill has the ability to inspire and mobilize emotions.
Hearing this roar, the adventurers' hearts, which were already filled with dissatisfaction, were indeed like a blazing fire.
What had been a fairly rational protest turned into a frenzy of insults against the three major adventuring groups.
Some of the more violent adventurers even drew their weapons and prepared for a big fight.
The chiefs behind the third-floor landing froze, then looked at each other and said, "Are these your people?"
After a moment of silence, the commander of the Griffin Adventure Group, a middle-aged male of about forty years of age, spoke up, "Take action, or else things will get out of hand."
...
Just as the adventurers were swarming and ready to rush into the middle of the guild.
A loud and clear eagle cry rang out from the sky.
Immediately after that, it was a grayish-white figure that leaped down from the third floor of the guild.
Realize that the Adventurers' Guild is only three floors, though.
However, the height of each floor is twice that of an unusual house.
The man just leaped down, no less than a vertical drop from a height of over fifty feet!
"Shit, what's gotten into this guy? Choosing this time to jump to his death!"
Thankfully, Jack wasn't far from where the jumper had landed.
He adjusted his footing and opened himself wide.
The jumper obviously wasn't expecting Jack's reaction either.
The grayish-white cloak behind him unfolded like feathery wings, and a force of invisible wind lifted his body, wiping away all the momentum of his descent.
However, the planned dashing landing was forcibly interrupted by Jack's messy entrance.
The gray figure fell into Jack's arms in a slightly disheveled manner.
A snowy lotus-like scent hit his face, and Jack opened and closed his nostrils, unable to resist taking a few more puffs.
"Eh, if it isn't Duke White Falcon of the Snow Eagle Adventure Group!"
"Huh? This is Leader Snow Eagle's great disciple, White Falcon. Sure enough, he's just as much of a gigolo as the rumors say."
Listening to the bystanders, Jack felt the rounded softness in his hand with some confusion.
"A male? Isn't that a girl?"
A kick was suddenly delivered to his chest, and before Jack could react, the White Falcon had used the force of the stomp to disengage from his embrace.
Jack looked at the dented breastplate and frowned.
The kick was clearly headed for a kill.
The White Falcon also stared at Jack with a cold gaze.
However, compared to the latter, the White Falcon's heart was more wary and scornful.
The power of her kick just now was enough to heavily injure an intermediate-level adventurer.
But the man across from him was not moving under the blow.
This unbelievable scene had somewhat surpassed the White Falcon's perception.
Jack shook his head and decided not to bother with the woman.
After all, anyone who has been touched in a private area would be outraged.
It's just that this woman's anger is something that the average person can't really handle.
The White Falcon saw Jack retreat into the crowd, and being on a mission, she didn't pester him any further, just made a silent note of Jack's appearance.
"Guys, please listen to me."
White Falcon's voice was clear and cold, sounding like a collision of ice cubes, setting off that high and cold temperament more and more obviously.
"According to the latest intelligence, the difficulty of the Lapis Ground Palace has reached the upper level. The Adventurer's Guild has refused to provide the quest, also to protect the underpowered adventurers ..."
Before the White Falcon could finish his sentence, an adventurer who was still affected by the wild roar and in a state of emotional arousal interrupted with a cursing outburst:
"Put your mother's fart! I'm no weaker than you guys from the Adventure Guild! Why don't you see the guild protecting you?"
The White Falcon looked at the man, his eyes as cold as an icy lake's ghostly mirror.
Locked by the White Falcon's gaze, the adventurer who had spoken out of turn only felt a chill around his body, and his body involuntarily trembled.
As the White Falcon's gaze gazed, the coldness the man felt intensified.
In the end, he even curled up on the ground, clutching his legs and shivering, no longer able to scream.
"Hmm? What's this ability?" Jack, who hadn't gotten far, peered over curiously.
Even Jack winced involuntarily when looking into those eyes.
"To be able to be called the three great adventuring groups in the Lapis region side by side, there really are still some powerful guys in here."
In the era when Jack was active, he had never even heard of the names of these three great adventuring groups.
But accordingly, the vast majority of those adventuring troupes that were brilliant ten years ago have also disappeared today.