Eren's current Life Essence reserve had already surpassed 200 million once again, reaching 201,815,000.
More than half of the space in his storage rings was also filled with drops.
Eren didn't even glance at the corpse of the boss monster, which was slowly vanishing behind him as he walked out of the dungeon through the red gate once it appeared.
"Here it comes..."
"This is what I told you, look, the red gate appears for no reason!"
"Everyone get into formation!"
Same as before, the guild responsible for this dungeon stood firmly, aiming their weapons toward the dungeon gate.
But soon, the red gate disappeared without affecting anything.
Eren had already moved past them and got near the main gate within a few moments.
"Shut down the exit gate!"
"We received a message from the association, a demon cultist entered our dungeon!"
"Be quick!"
"Don't let him escape..."
"...!"
Eren increased his speed even more as the commotion grew stronger.
The team of guild members at the entrance hastily tried to close the gate.
Just as it was halfway closed, Eren slid through the narrow opening.
Eren didn't stop there, he kept moving even farther away before finally stopping tens of kilometers away.
"Huff... Haa... That was... a close call... haa..."
Eren changed back to his human form as he gasped heavily.
"Huff... It seems the association informed all dungeons this time... haa... no more dungeon raiding for today, I guess..."
Since he had already cleared three Tier 2 dungeons on Nightmare difficulty, it was clear that the association was taking measures against the hidden culprit.
Going after another dungeon and exposing the red gate would be very dangerous from now on, so Eren decided to pause his progress and head toward the city after resting for a while.
But when he came near the city gate entrance, he saw a long queue of people standing in line, verifying their identities with even more meticulous procedures before being allowed to enter.
The situation was far more intense than what Eren had seen in the morning.
"It's really become a huge issue..."
Eren muttered in amazement as he followed others and stood at the end of the line for his turn.
While waiting, Eren took out his phone and searched for any available details, only to find how serious the situation had become.
The news of a demon cult member clearing dungeons left and right using stealth abilities had spread like wildfire.
It had even made headlines on Tidewatch City TV channels.
Many people had started questioning the association's capabilities and the safety of normal citizens across the city.
"...Shit!"
Eren cursed in a low voice.
All he wanted was to clear his skill-up quest in silence without alerting anyone, but the moment his actions became noticeable, everything spiraled out of his control.
So many guards and guild members were patrolling the surroundings, leaving no room for anyone to sneak into the city.
All of them were extremely alert.
That was how dangerous demon cult members were considered by the association.
Among the guards, Eren also noticed a man in full plate armor.
"Have you found anything?"
"No, sir... if anyone had found his trace, they would have already informed us."
"Keep searching. That guy must have some artifact for his stealth. Artifacts have their own cooldown usage. He's just Tier 2... he can't escape from us..."
He was giving orders to several members simultaneously.
He was the same man who had tried to make Eren surrender while Eren was holding their young master in his hands.
Eren clearly remembered him.
A small grin formed on his face as he recalled how easily the man had changed his tone, it was still funny to him.
He averted his gaze and moved forward in the line, then proceeded to hand over his awakener ID and other information to the guard.
At that exact moment, the man in full plate armor saw Eren's back and froze for a moment.
"...!"
The man hurriedly rushed toward Eren and grabbed his shoulder from behind with menacing look on his face.
"Huh?!"
Eren froze for a moment as he turned back and looked at him.
"Sir, what are you doing?"
The guard also looked confused at his behavior.
But the moment the man saw Eren's face, his expression relaxed.
He let go of Eren's shoulder with an apologetic look.
"Sorry, you have a very similar build to that demon cultist..."
His face looked sincere as he said that.
The guard verifying Eren's ID just smiled and said,
"Sir, this is not the demon cultist we're searching for. He is a student who just awakened his profession this year and recently reached Level 10..."
The guard showed Eren's ID and details on the tablet he was holding.
"Newly awakened student?..."
The man carefully went through the details with great interest, while Eren just stood there, blinking in confusion.
The more the man saw Eren's details, the more amazed he became.
"Born into a normal family, and you reached Level 10 within a few days of awakening!"
His gaze, when he looked at Eren, completely changed into one of newfound appreciation.
Under Eren's doubtful gaze, the man spoke with a warm smile,
"I am Aeron, the Vice Guild Master of the Dawn Talon Brotherhood. It's really good to see a talented young man like you in our city."
The man extended his hand for a handshake, and Eren took it with some hesitation.
"I am Eren, a student from Tidewatch Academy..."
While outwardly maintaining a polite smile, inwardly he was already utterly disgusted with their guild after seeing Julien's behavior.
Once he introduced himself and exchanged a few pleasantries, the man left the scene.
The guard also finished verifying his information and showed him a certain poster before letting him go.
"This is the drawing issued by the association. If you see this man, inform us through our helpline immediately. Be careful of maniacs like him when you go outside the city."
When Eren took the poster and walked away, he had mixed feelings upon seeing the figure.
The black hair and blue eyes he had disguised were perfectly drawn, but the atmosphere and clothes in the picture made him look like some kind of villain who kidnaps children for money.
"...They even put a scar on my cheek..."
He felt slightly offended, but also relieved that they hadn't discovered anything about him.
Eren directly booked a taxi and reached home as it was already evening.
Despite having food ingredient drops in his storage ring, Eren didn't rush to sell them.
Unlike other items, food ingredients require preservation magic and cannot be stored inside an awakener account.
The hearts of boss monsters were already devoid of water molecules and filled only with condensed energy accumulated over years, so they wouldn't rot.
But food drops were no different from normal ingredients, the meat inside the storage ring would spoil after two days despite its rich spiritual energy if not preserved properly, so he had to sell it quickly.
However, selling a large amount of items from dungeons that the so-called demon cult member had just cleared would definitely attract attention in the local market, so Eren wasn't going to make that mistake.
When Eren arrived home, it was already late evening, and no one suspected anything about him.
Alan still had a blank look on his face even while the family was eating dinner.
While eating, Eren felt as if he could still smell a metallic blood scent coming from his hands.
"Eren, why are you smelling your hand repeatedly? It's weird..."
"...It's nothing... I felt like I smelled something..."
Mira and his mother looked at him strangely but didn't think much of it.
Just like that, the day ended without any problems.
Eren slept without knowing that the group of people in the middle of dark alley currently holding his picture.
"Who the fuck is this guy?! Why is he messing with our plan?"