It all happens in an instant.

I shoot a thin black blade of refined energy from the tips of my fingers out of my bloodied right hand. It flies up in the air, heading straight for her left shoulder.

The woman's expression changes to disbelief, and she activates her mana shielding before the collision. She's an elite-level hunter, so even when completely caught off guard her shielding activates for protection.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her, this is the worst move the blond could have possibly done.

She lets out a scream as yellow and white sparks fly.

Her mana shielding gets sliced clean through and her left shoulder takes the brunt of the explosion that follows.

With no way of avoiding or blocking the incoming attack, this results in a loud thud and clang as her disconnected arm hits the table in front of me. The rest of her body is blown backward from the blast of expelled mana shielding.

The silver key falls from her fingertips into a puddle of blood on the table between my cuffed wrists and chest.

I tilt my head down and grab the key with my teeth, craning my neck forward to position it toward the keyhole during all the confusion.

Her disconnected arm rolls off the table to hit the floor, and the woman looks at me from the other side of the room in utter shock. Her wound is dripping blood, but more importantly, crackling with yellow and white sparks on the parts exposed to my Demonic Energy colliding with her shielding.

Even her disconnected limb is crackling and slowly dissolving into a pile of ash on the floor as I finally manage to get the key in the small hole.

*Click*

I deactivate my Demonic Energy Skill, making sure the only remaining 2 units of matter are locked away in my core.

The cuffs both open at once, and I feel the world around me begin to come back to life in full color once again. The mana in the air is very weak but it's more than the 0MP I've been subject to for the last few days.

I immediately plunder just enough from my surroundings to use self regeneration on my burns and scars while re-growing my fingers and missing flesh.

The silent shock turns to screams of horror from the woman sat in the back corner of the room. She just speaks in a frightened tone as I get up from the table.

"N-No... H-How?"

I use inspect and appraisal on her to make sure I'm not in over my head here.

_____________________

[Lv. 312]

Active Items:

Golden Amulet of Protection [+70% Defense]

Golden Ring of Power [+65% Strength][+50 Mental Strength]

High-Grade B-Class Shielding Artifact [31/100][IC]

Active Skills:

Lie Detector [Legendary Grade]

Dagger Mastery

_____________________

A ton of red flags pop up in my mind. Her level is way too low to operate mana shielding, but there's an artifact in her status that somehow allows her to activate an artificial one. The [31/100] must be an amount of uses remaining, but the [IC] is a mystery to me.

Her top skill on the other hand... I've seen it before, just not a legendary-grade version. The Director's assistant has the same one. It makes sense someone with a similar skill would be put in a position like this.

I make a mental note and take a step forward.

She speaks again.

"T-This is... W-What power did you just use? I-Impossible. Even A-Class hunters can't use magic in those cuffs. It's not-"

I roll my eyes and cut her off while reaching into my item storage to take out my imitation sword, letting it flicker with flames.

"Enough talking. I'm in charge now. I ask the questions."

I turn my gaze to the remains of her severed limb as it has almost entirely turned to ash.

"If you don't want the rest of you to turn into that, I recommend you do as I say."

She gulps, shedding tears while frantically looking at her wound and trying to use mana shielding to block out the reaction. I watch the artifact tick down to [30/100], then [29/100], and finally [28/100] before she stops.

Every one of her attempts only makes the sparks fly even higher, speeding up the effect.

She replies.

"Y-You can stop it. Can't you?"

I smirk.

"Of course, I'd just like you to answer a few questions first. Then I'll stop it and let you go free."

My version of stopping the reaction is killing her and letting it fizzle out on its own. Other than that, I'm as clueless as she is. There's no way I know of that can stop this reaction once it's started.

Again, the short-haired blond weighs her options, but the sparks growing closer to her vital points only get worse for every second she stalls.

It seems my twisted version of stopping the reaction is enough for her lie detector skill to believe I mean it.

She nods.

My questioning begins.

"Who do you work for? How is Brutus involved? And why do they want this information about a Demon and a Dragon so badly?"

She starts to speak but swallows her words.

I light my sword on fire and point it at her while gritting my teeth.

"You have less than 3 minutes to live if that reaction continues. I suggest you speak now."

This is also true. Based on my experience, this is about how fast the sparks spread.

She wipes her eyes with her remaining good arm, takes a deep breath and replies.

"T-The Inner Circle."

I raise an eyebrow as she shutters before continuing.

"I'm just following orders... I-I don't know why they want this information. A-And the Regional Director was just our information gatherer. He told us exact times, dates, and your physical descriptions."

She gulps.

"N-Now, please! Make it stop!"

I yell back.

"Who is the Inner Circle? Where can I find them? Does the Director run this group?"

Her face goes white.

"I-I don't know. I just follow orders. I don't know anything. I- I- Please help me-"

I cut her off as the sparks start to spread to her chest and lower torso. It seems I've already hit a dead end here so some more urgent questions are necessary to answer now.

"Last one and I set you free."

Her eyes widen with hope as I continue.

"Where are my teammates? How many others are working here? And who's in charge?"

The yellow and white crackling light particles move up her throat and down to her legs as she replies.

"Th-Three floors up, your teammates are in the cells unit. Right now there 8 followers like me on duty and 1 Inner Link. That's William- I mean number 1, he's- he- h-"

Her words begin to fade as the dazzling light show takes over.

I nod and sigh, then point a finger at her forehead while acting my earth magic as well as my conceal skill.

With the special grade conceal perk, I shift my face, body, and even clothing to look exactly like the woman. Her black combat suit and daggers are replicated perfectly down to the silver pin labeled "005".

Her eyes widen as she realizes exactly what's happening.

I shoot a small stone projectile through her forehead setting the woman free as promised.

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Lie Detector[Legendary Grade]

[YES][NO]

I choose yes as her remains sizzle away in a final violent display of sparks.

Even the magic items get destroyed in the reaction. I was looking forward to checking out that unique artificial shielding item. It's a shame, but on the bright side, I got a new skill out of all of this.

I check my status to see more details.

_______________________

Lie Detector

Info: The Lie Detector skill allows the caster to determine if the words an enemy speaks are true or false while making physical contact.

The perk granted for surpassing the [Special Grade] rank allows the caster to use this skill on any words they hear. It doesn't matter who speaks, or what distance they speak them from. The caster will know if it is a truth or a lie.

The [Legendary Grade] perk allows the caster to know if the inner thoughts of a person are true or false with physical contact. It is reliant on audible answers, but if the truth is being bent the skill can tell.

[Unique Perk] [Telepathy Holder] Physical contact is not necessary if this skill is paired with the Telepathy skill to temporarily perceive an enemy's inner thoughts as spoken word. Only mana control of a significantly higher power can block this perk from activating.

Grade: [Legendary Grade]

[Upgrade]

_______________________

"Incredible..."

It's an amazing skill, but I have no time to worry about this now.

Left on the woman's wooden stool, there's a cold bottle of water and a box of steaming hot food. I gladly accept both offerings and store the rest of her D and C class magic items in my item storage.

Then, I turn to the black metal cuffs and silver key still resting in a puddle of my own blood on the table in the back of the room.

Curiously enough, the cuffs never turned on or off. Even now, I don't feel any magic power coming from them. To me, they just seem like normal metal even while using my All-Seeing Eye.

I walk over and try to pick them up.

The second my finger touches the cool black metal, all of my magic senses shut off in an instant. I pull my hand away and they turn back on.

I attempt to put the cuffs in my item storage by leaning the table forward and letting them fall into my portal, but the moment they touch the white spatial magic, it disappears and the cuffs hit the ground with a clang and a splash.

I let out a sigh.

"I guess I can't have everything...."

If I can't transport this item without deactivating my magic, it's best I leave it be. The key, on the other hand, I grab and throw in my storage just in case

I do a scan of the room, making sure I've taken everything I can. I double-check my concealment disguise and confirm I still look like a perfect replica of the woman labeled number 5. Then, begin walking to the metal door.

After a deep breath in and out I open it up and walk through into a narrow cement-walled corridor. It's dimly lit with the same flickering yellow bulbs as the room I just left. The crimson liquid staining the floor and walls behind me turns it into more of an orange hue.

Closing the door behind me quietly, I turn right while activating my enemy detection skill to scope out each floor of this underground lair.