"You tell me… Do you really think the appearance, name, and other details you know about him are all real? What if he not only has powerful stealth but can also change his appearance and identity, even against higher-tier professionals?"
Lyssara's question made the man's eyes widen once again in disbelief.
"I-Is such a thing even possible?!"
Lyssara spoke in a dismissive tone,
"What's so surprising that? He already has such a bizarre stealth ability… It's only natural to assume he might possess similarly bizarre abilities in other aspects as well. And I don't think he's even in this city anymore…"
The man stood there, quietly listening as Lyssara paused briefly before continuing,
"From the way he deliberately chose Nightmare difficulty despite the risk of exposing himself… it seems like he was completing some kind of quest. A skill-up?… No, perhaps a Tier-up quest…"
She narrowed her eyes slightly, thinking.
"If he used even a bit of his brain, he would have already moved to another city to continue it. There's no reason for him to wait until you lift the ban. Every Tier-up quest has its own time limit, after all."
Hearing all this, the man fell silent, his face twisting with frustration and unwillingness.
He didn't want to accept any of it, but deep down, his rational mind told him that her deductions were logical… and most likely correct.
This situation was deeply humiliating for both him and the Association.
Just days ago, when the dungeon evolution incident made headlines, they had failed to track down the culprit, leaving many citizens dissatisfied.
Now, news about a supposed demon cultist injuring guild members and raiding dungeons unauthorized had already spread throughout the city.
If they admitted they couldn't catch him, the entire Association would become a laughingstock.
Even if the culprit wasn't a demon cultist, they still needed to capture him at any cost.
But if Lyssara was right… there was no way they could find him.
All the information they had gathered, all the effort they had put in, would become meaningless.
"Dammit… the Association has already wasted too many resources… No, it's not completely hopeless… If we lift the ban on dungeons, we can recover some losses… and we can also inform other cities about the culprit—"
"Don't you dare…"
Lyssara's cold voice cut him off instantly.
A chilling sensation spread throughout the room.
The man felt a cold shiver crawl down his spine as his body froze in place, unable to move.
Lyssara's gray eyes bore into him, delivering a silent but deadly warning as she continued,
"The ban stays till I says otherwise. And you will tell everyone that the culprit is still in this city. I will personally investigate every guild in this city, my own way…"
Lyssara stood up from her chair and began walking toward the door without sparing him another glance.
"P-Please wait… Lady Lyssara, you can't investigate the guilds alone… W-we can help—"
"Shut up!"
Once again, Lyssara cut him off, her cold gaze piercing through him.
"Your Association has already lost the trust I placed in you. Hunters can't file complaints if they're attacked by guild members? Are you fucking kidding me?"
"You didn't even consider the possibility that demon cultists might have infiltrated the guilds. Even now, you fail to realize how much you've endangered this entire city by hiding your corruption from me…"
"Because of you, I've already wasted far too much time…"
The air in the room grew suffocatingly gloomy as a dangerous aura radiated from her body.
The man felt as if an invisible blade was hanging in the air, ready to slit his throat at any moment.
"Right now, I'm pissed enough to kill every single one of you in the Association, along with all bastards in the guilds…"
"If I kill you all right here and now, even that old geezer you call Emperor wouldn't question me…"
She stopped briefly, her gaze locking onto him with terrifying intensity.
"Do you want to test that?"
The man's face turned even paler.
The sudden change in Lyssara's attitude terrified him beyond belief.
Especially when she mentioned the Emperor, the mighty demi-god, as if it meant nothing, he completely lost his composure.
His whole body trembled as he watched Lyssara open the door.
She paused for a moment, and once again, her chilling eyes settled on him.
"Tell your Association branch head exactly this, until I find the real demon cultists, the ban stays same. And no one from any guild is allowed to leave the city. If I find out otherwise… I will behead every single one of you."
After saying that, Lyssara exited the room and shut the door with force.
The man, left all alone, remained standing in the same spot.
His body refused to move as the lingering presence of her gloomy aura still filled the entire room.
At the same time, Eren and his friends stood at the rail station, waiting for his train to arrive.
"Eren… how long are you planning to stay outside the city?"
Kael asked, breaking the silence.
Eren scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
He hadn't even thought about it.
Since the Association had banned dungeon entry and increased security severalfold, staying in the city was pointless.
So, Eren decided to raid dungeons in another city instead.
He didn't have any fixed plan, neither where to go first nor when to return, so he answered without thinking too much.
"Not sure… more than a week, probably. 'They' said they're going to train me for a while."
Eren lied through his teeth, once again blaming the so-called "mysterious organization" he had made up.
His friends simply nodded, as if they understood.
Lyra stepped forward, her eyes slightly trembling despite the confident front she tried to maintain.
"I'm going to reach level 4 soon," she said, her tone carrying a mix of pride and emotion.
"When you meet them… tell them about our progress…"
Not just Lyra, all of Eren's friends had reached level 3 within less than three days and even increased the level of their skill by one.
It was tremendous progress compared to their usual pace.
However, their faces looked haggard, with dark circles under their eyes, clear signs that they had been pushing themselves nonstop without proper rest.
Eren smiled at them weakly as a pang of guilt hit him hard.
"I already sent our progress and the list of things we can make at our current level. Show them what we've got…"
Rowan spoke with a smile, and the others nodded in agreement.
"…Sure. But you all should take it easy."
Eren spoke with a serious expression, trying his best to keep a straight face.
There were several moments where he almost blurted out, 'Guys, it's all a prank!', but he barely held himself back.
His gaze then fell on Lyra as he added,
"Lyra, you should make that recipe I told you about… It'll sell really well."
The moment he said that, Lyra's expression snapped instantly.
"Are you stupid?! Do you even know how expensive that meat is? The batch you gave alone costs millions! And you want me to waste it on some random dish you came up with? Dream on!"
***
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
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Right now, 5 advance chapters are already available.
I'll be adding 1 extra chapter daily until there are 10 advance chapters available for just $1/month.
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