Unfortunately, she is not dumb enough to pull the dagger out like that Brute from the tavern. Well, at least I am facing an opponent that isn’t a total buffoon.

As all of my possible helpers have gone the way of the dinosaur, I need to find a way to handle this idiot alone. Because, of course, everything has to be done by my hands for it to work out.

Looking above her, I see the sealing barely holding against the forces of gravity.

The woman looks at me with anger in her eyes; she casts another fireball. I jump away, and the building shakes again. The unbearably hot room is starting to fill with smoke. It’s getting harder to see.

I start picking up pieces of rubble to throw at the wizard. But what she didn’t notice is that the times I miss, I am actually hitting the roof, and it’s slowly losing the fight against all of the forces acting against it.

Finally, as my brilliant self throws another rock at the roof above the wizard, it collapses down, and the annoying wizard is caught under it. I see the wizard unable to move as her shield is forced to hold the weight of the collapsed part of the roof over her head.

She cannot cast any more spells because if the shield is dispelled, she will be crushed under the rubble. I smile, for I know that I am triumphant in this battle.

The wizard, under the horrible breathing conditions, the sheer weight the shield has to support, and probably running out of manna or something, faints.

The shield starts fading away, but before the rubble collapses onto her, I pull her out because she could be useful to my plans.

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I run out of the collapsing and burning building with the accursed woman in my hands. I sigh in relief, breathing in the cooler, and not-so-clean but comparatively cleaner air of the slums.

I run straight home, not even considering taking a breather with a ticking time bomb in my hands, I don’t know what kind of magic shenanigans a sleeping wizard can pull.

Finally heading into the room I pull out the dagger that is stabbed into her shoulder and bandage the wounds. After that, I remove every valuable item she has, including her robe, and place her onto the only chair this room has. I use some rope to tie her onto the chair.

I don’t know how people cast spells; do they use words? What about their fingers? So I did the most sensible thing: I gagged her with some cloth lying around, and began to break all of her fingers, Because how are you supposed to cast spells with your hands if your fingers are all broken?

Immediately after breaking the first finger, she woke up and started screaming into her gag. I wasn’t bothered by her dislike of my actions and continued to do what had to be done.

After breaking all of them, I bandaged her hands up so she doesn't get an infection and die on me.

And perfect now, she won’t be able to perform her pesky feats of magic. Now she’s just sitting there, screaming into her gag like some sort of uncultured gorilla.

While she is doing her thing, I look at the items I gained from her; the first and most obvious is her robe, it is made of nice and smooth silk, and I swear, looking at it close up, it glows a little. But unfortunately, there is a tear in the shoulder area for some unknown reason. What an irresponsible owner, you should treat your belongings with care.

I also found a teardrop-shaped necklace, which is probably magic. It didn’t do anything after I touched it, and it didn’t even glow, but if the wizard had it, it’s probably some sort of amulet. But I won't put it on. I also found a ring, it had some sort of runes on it, but still, I’m not putting that on me.

The next day I wake up, eat, shove food and water down my captive’s throat, and go out.

Heading to the Gray Cobra hideout, I find a mess of charred wood and rubble; oh yes, I forgot; I was too caught up in my thoughts.

The Gray Cobra gang had a couple more hideouts, so I headed to the closest one, and I found a mess of charred wood and rubble. I frown.

Throughout the morning, I go to every hideout the gang has, and they are all destroyed; not a single one is left standing; it’s all gone. I calm myself down and think rationally.

Ok, so clearly, the wizards, actually what are the wizards in this society? Are they some sort of heavy-duty police squad or something? Whatever, so the mages organized an attack on the Gray Cobra gang and destroyed all of their hideouts, which is very, very annoying.