Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 590: Being nice is free Part 3

The sounds of screams echoed in the Pegasus gym yet no one came to the rescue. Its walls were made of double layered reinforced alloy walls which not only made them durable enough to withstand hunters training but also prevented any sounds from coming out. This was precisely why Bella asked Uriel to meet her there, but it heavily backfired and now she deeply regretted her choice.

"Please, stop, I can't take it anymore!" Bella cried.

"Not until you speak." Uriel replied with a malicious grin.

"I can't, my family will disown me and I'll be poor like my brother. Have mercy!" Bella pleaded, but found no mercy on Uriel's cold glare.

"Torturing you brings me no joy." Uriel said, his face and the light coming out of the runic circle told a different story though.

"Someone help me! I can't take it anymore!" Bella turned her gaze to Medusa who didn't even notice because of her blindfold, then to Luna who showed no expression on her face and finally to Nika who was actually holding off her laughter.

"If you want me to stop, then all you have to do is speak." Uriel's only experience with torture had been with a skinwalker, though compared to an entity rank cryptid Bella's will was flaky at best.

It took him but a few minutes to break her and he knew that all he needed was to pause for long enough to let her speak, but he still continued his endeavor as payback for when she left him maimed in the abyss of the dungeon.

Bella's body contorted in unnatural ways, but her movements due to the wire attached to the 'Red thread of fate' limiting her movements she could do nothing but wiggle and shed her tears while Uriel mercilessly tickled her. novelbuddy.cσ๓

"I yield!" Being deprived of the sense of touch for so long had made her extremely sensitive and weak to tickles. Uriel counted on this and had planned accordingly, what he didn't count was that she would make things even easier for him by creating a runic circle that would tell on any lies.

This allowed him to perform the interrogation on the open gym and without the need to ask Seiren for help and also provided him a glimpse of the power of witchcraft.

"We're listening," Uriel coldly said to an unresponsive Bella, then turned to Luna with a worried expression. "Did she die!?"

"Her vitals are fine for a hunter's standards. You can continue without any risk of harming her." Luna nodded.

"Just let me catch my breath." Bella uttered and Uriel stored the 'Red thread of fate' back in his museum making the wire coiling around her disappear.

"If you try to escape I'll catch you again, only now I won't stop even if you beg for mercy." Uriel warned.

"You wanted to know about witchcraft and artifacts, right? If I tell you everything about it you swear you won't tickle me anymore?"

"I'm done with oaths of any sort, the best I can do is tell you that I won't unless you deserve it." Uriel's cold glare sent shivers down Bella's spine, though not out of fear precisely. His assertiveness and cold demeanor allowed Bella to see him in a different light and she doubted she was ever the pushover she thought him to be.

"Witches are nothing like in the lore, we're just common people who come from families that preserved ancient knowledge which allow us to tap into power in a different way than traits. It may sound simple, but it's taboo to speak about it with people who don't come from said families." Bella started her explanation.

"Just like it is forbidden for hunters to speak about orichalcum." Medusa nodded.

"It's not the same. The reason why they keep orichalcum a secret from the masses is because it's scarce and the worst that could happen if people found out would be a raise in its price."

"Then why the secrecy? The knowledge those families have could make a difference in the war against cryptids." Nika tilted her head.

"It's because we're not at war just with cryptids, but also against hybrids. Besides, throughout history many families have shared their knowledge but it always resulted in people deeming them crazy or a witchunt. You see, before the arrival our powers were closer to science or parlor tricks than to actual magic.

It was enough to keep most families invested into passing on the knowledge, but not enough to alter the power balance. My kind became healers, shamans, fortunetellers, anything related to the supernatural, but without flux energy we were unable to harness the power of the elements or using most of our spells."

"What about artifacts?" Medusa's curiosity leaked through her excited voice.

"They're not uncommon, I have a few of my own. There's even some legendary artifacts that are confirmed to be true, but I don't know which ones." This information wasn't new to Uriel as he already suspected that the items listed in the auction in his museum were the real deal, what actually surprised him was to hear that artifacts weren't uncommon.

"Do you know how to craft artifacts?" Medusa could barely hold her excitement. She knew she was close to a breakthrough, but no matter how many trinkets she crafted while channeling her flux none became an artifact. She was lacking something, but didn't know what exactly.

"I'm sorry but I don't know much about that, you should probably ask a fire element though they'll probably answer the same way they did to me. They said a craftman puts his soul into his work and it results in an artifact. But... I've heard it's a dangerous process which explains why there's so few fire witches left and why so many of the fire descendants gave up on their legacy." Bella explained.

"What about cursed objects? Do you know something about my book?" Uriel asked.

"Cursed objects can be created by sealing a cryptid inside, but they sometimes appear naturally. I don't know anything about the book other than how dangerous it is, but judging by its power I'd say there has to be an entity rank cryptid trapped inside or something worse." Bella was shocked when instead of flinching, Uriel chuckled and casually spoke.

"It was an horror rank cryptid."

"A what!?" Bella's first instinct was to distance herself from Uriel, but decided against it when Uriel summoned his dagger.

"Relax, it's not inside anymore, but even if it was I wouldn't be so worried since I already know how to kill it."

"You must be joking, it's said that even seeing a horror rank cryptid can scar a heavenly rank hunter for life." Bella stuttered.

"Been there, done that." Nika sighed.

"Besides, we're safe now that uncle Jon is here with us. He's a holy rank hunter" Medusa said with confidence, not knowing that at the same time she was speaking those words Jon was exiting the Pegasus without telling anyone but Seiren.

"Anyway, witches don't deal much with cursed artifacts. In fact, most of us don't even care for artifacts and only use them as currency." Bella continued feeling reassured by the supposed presence of a holy rank hunter in the ship.

"Currency!? No, wait... it makes sense. That must be why rich people bought so many pieces of art and antiquities at ridiculous prices."

"That's exactly why. Money becomes meaningless when you come from an ancient family, but artifacts are priceless. In fact, the value they hold is conceptual rather than monetary." Bella explained, though Uriel failed to grasp the idea of an artifact that money couldn't buy.

Even thinking of the ancient orichalcum dagger that started his ordeal with Water warlock wasn't enough as he would have sold it without so much as a second thought if the price matched his greed.

"So, they're passed on from generation to generation." Luna nodded, but her curiosity died once she finally understood that being a witch was nothing special or related to cryptids. If anything, she was now more interested in the exorcist Bella mentioned, but not enough to ask any questions.

"I must say, I'm a bit disappointed that you don't have pointy hats or wands. I can't believe I've been scared of witches for so long. I thought they were unholy people who made deals with the devil and stuff like that." Nika giggled at her own naivety.

"Well..." Bella tried to put a wild strand of hair that kept floating in front of her face, it was the sign that she was nervous.

"Is that the case?" Uriel asked, more intrigued than scared.

"It's sort of a difficult thing to answer, not because I don't want to, but rather because I don't know much else about my own family. I'm not that good in my studies and I also had to worry about highschool until not so long ago." Bella said in an apologetic tone.

After squeezing out all the information they could from Bella, she was finally released and each went about their day like usual. Except for Bella herself who was granted a day of leave as a way to thank her for her contribution to the company that just hired her.