"What have I gotten myself into this time..."

There are 6 white walls, including the ceiling and floor all around me buzzing with the strong sensation of high-grade mana shielding in the air.

My perception skills reveal the level of shielding to be more than enough to keep most C-Class monsters at bay.

It seems as though the outside is made of a strong metal alloy while the inside is coated in dense white mana shielding. It's similar to the kind used in the Vice City capital training rooms.

Well, the public ones.

"... how did I manage to get stuck inside one of these...?"

I walk over to one of the walls and begin banging on it with a fisted hand.

"Hey! Hello? Anybody there? I'm.... Kind of stuck inside here!"

The pounding sounds of my fist against the impenetrable shielding fade instantly not even leaving me with an echo. These are some hard walls...

No one replies. I can't hear anything but the low hum of mana now that I think about it...

I gulp, then begin to pace around the small white room in circles thinking about my options here.

It makes no sense as to why I'm in a box like this.

It's only been 2 hours a most since I left the city

Maybe it was some kind of weird linked dungeon that brought me back to the town center? Or... was I set up? Is this some kind of trap?

I activate my plunderer skill and begin sucking the MP out of the floor beneath my feet while fully activating my All-Seeing Eye to look through the walls around me.

The moment I do, I catch onto the faint sensation of magic items in my near vicinity.

Not many, and not strong ones, but there's definitely some mana-imbued gear lingering nearby.

A few cloaks, swords, and item boxes are moving slowly in the open area all around me.

I activate enemy detection too and find that all of the people around are between levels 275 and 330.

I mutter under my breath.

"Guards..."

This was a setup.

All signs only point toward one person. I roll my eyes and reach into my item box to pull out my sword.

Using the excess mana from the shielding I'm standing on, I power up my own version of shielding using mana manipulation. I cover my entire blade in a thick pink layer of mana while coating my body in a thinner layer of it as well.

This may be overkill.

If my calculations are correct, none of the guards outside have a clue what mana control even is, but there's one that I'd like to teach a lesson.

One of their levels matches Issac's exactly... After activating Appraisal and doing a full sweep, his Fire Magic confirms his position as well. He's cowering behind them.

I grit my teeth and swing the mana-shielded blade at the dense white walls. It slices through like butter... not even making a sound, leaving the full wall entirely intact.

I hear the chatter of guards come through the white walls the instant the shielding is fractured.

A raspy voice fills my ears.

"It's only us four... we're the only ones that know about this Elite. The bounty on his head is all ours, we'll kill him the second we get a chance. He's a crafty one too, he can change his face to look like anyone... So don't let that fool ya!"

Another guard responds.

"Yeah, and he wields two elements... Fire and Earth...This box better hold him. Ready when you are to set off the trap."

There's a pause.

"3... 2... 1-"

Without wanting to know what exactly will happen at the end of this countdown, I kick the triangular sliced metal shielding in to open the hole just large enough for me to hop through onto the rocky mountain path overlooking the city.

The 4 rougher-looking men in guard's uniforms stop counting down and stare at me wide-eyed with shields, swords, and daggers pointed straight ahead.

One of them in the back speaks up.

"H-Hey, how'd he get out of there... T-That shielding is graded for up to level 400 monsters! I-I thought you said he was a level 351!"

The guard turns to a nearby rock pile and I follow his gaze to see the back of Issac's head running away down the path without saying a word to reply.

My eyes shift back to the 4 guards as they begin to run at me with their weapons raised yelling death threats and baring angry expressions.

The world around me seems to slow down...

I take a deep breath in, then let it out. Watching the sand beneath the backs of Issac's feet fly up in the air and the shining silver weapons of the guards before me slowly close in on my location.

I think to myself.

"It's a shame you ratted me out... Once a crook, always a crook I guess..."

I haven't killed anyone in a while.

Unfortunately, today I'll break my clean streak.

I'm not mad about it, just disappointed. Disappointed that even with common interests in mind and what I thought was some mutual respect, it still wasn't enough to tame human greed.

Including my own.

"This will be quick."

I lift my sword, still covered in a layer of pink mana, and run forward while charging its core with fire-imbued MP.

In the blink of an eye, I slice through every last one of them.

All 4 guards freeze in place, unable to comprehend what's happening. I run through them without batting an eye, slicing while keeping my eyes focused on the man that revealed my secrets to these 4 grunts.

Issac calls out, begging for something, but I don't give him the time of day to say a single word. The backstabber is finished before he can even meet my gaze.

I fly past him with a swift swing of my sword, then come to a halt using a hint of wind magic to stop my feet from sliding down the trail any further.

My perception of reality speeds back up to normal, then the 5 astonished men all burst into balls of hot black flames.

In less than a second upon leaving that mana-shielded box, every last one of them has been completely incinerated.

One of the rare cool mountain breezes comes through, making the black flames waver on all of my targets for a moment. There's a slight whistle in the air, I'm left in near silence.

All that remains now are piles of sizzling ash and the inconsistent buzzing of a broken metal mana shielding contraption.

I curse under my breath, realizing the seriousness of what I've just done... but don't regret it for a moment.

They were going to kill me if I gave them the chance, and letting them run free would have endangered me even more in the future.

That was the right thing to do.

Well... that's all I can tell myself now. What's done is done.

After looking over both my shoulders, confirming there are no other wandering eyes, I throw all of their low-level gear into my item storage. Using my earth summoning skill, their blackened remains are mixed into the sandy dirt below my feet.

Then, I stare at the massive metal contraption with a triangle-shaped hole in the side of it.

"Now how did they even manage to get this thing up here...?"

It's enormous.

"There's no way I'm moving this thing in one piece."

With a few swift swings of my mana-shielded sword, the metal box is sliced into 8 smaller prices that conveniently fit in my item storage without a problem.

Each fragment buzzes and vibrates, giving off absurd and uneven amounts of mana. They rattle and shake the ground if not handled with my telekinesis skill. Even while flowing in the air they aren't very easy to hold.

It won't be containing any monsters or people any time in the near future, but I'm sure these parts will come in handy at some point in the future.

I let out a long sigh, confirming that all of the evidence has been scrubbed. Looking down at the city below, my heart skips a beat as I remember my teammates clearing the break in the town center...

I wonder if more guards have set up a similar trap while waiting for their return.