Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 653 - 653: On the witch side of things Part 1

Bella was spoiled rotten from the moment she was born and all her wants and needs had been covered before she even had to ask. Yet as fate would have it, the moment she took her first breath in the outside world coincided with the event that would sometime be known as the arrival which was taken by her family as an omen that she was destined for great things.

The Eurus family wasn't just rich, but the next thing. They were the kind of family that amassed their fortune from the ancient times and it continued to grow in time until they became one of the most powerful and influential families in the world, something they wouldn't have been able to achieve without the legacy of their ancestors.

It told the story of a woman who carried with her the blessing of the wind bestowed upon her by the god of the east wind himself and that passed it along to her successors who would then be known as the Eurus family.

Everything converged perfectly for Bella to become the next heir of the family, taking out Tate of the game even before she acquired her trait and with it the 'blessing' of the wind, which soon turned into a curse.

Not only her sense of touch was dulled by the thin wind barrier that protected her, but it also created a gap between her and the rest of the family. Even the nannies that raised her acted different in her presence, as though she was a queen between mortals making Bella feel detached from humanity itself.

No one dared go against her wishes, no one raised their voice at her or scolded her for anything, not even when she had bad grades at school or did something wrong because in the eyes of her family there was nothing she could do wrong.

Because of this, growing up with a rotten personality, if not for the influence of the only one who treated her like a person, her brother Tate. They quarreled, bickered and even got into fights from a tender age, but he also protected her even though she became stronger than him the minute she got her trait.

Despite their apparent rivalry, Tate was the person she loved the most in the world. He was his brother when they fought for silly stuff, her father when he nagged at her and his bridge with the rest of the world when she couldn't bear the weight of being 'the chosen one' anymore.

And now he was in danger, she didn't know what kind of curse had fallen onto him but she could feel it from the moment he saw him fainted. She knew he wouldn't wake up.

"That imbecile!" Bella let out in frustration after taking some distance from the only other person who treated her like a regular human being, Uriel. In any other circumstance she would have appreciated it, but being treated normally also meant Uriel had no care for what she wanted. Not to mention that Uriel also being the 'chosen one' to lift her curse infuriated her.

She didn't want nor ask for the blessing of the wind and what other hunters would have considered a priceless gift, she considered a curse. "He could have helped me, but no, he had to go and play archaeologist with his friends instead of listening to me."

Her hair waved at random directions despite her moving through the artificial sky at incredible speed due to the lack of air resistance. This also caused her to not ever feel the chilly winds on her face, in fact, before Uriel defeated her the only thing she could feel was the strange pressure in her gut caused by gravity whenever she accelerated.

Her distress about her brother and her irritation towards Uriel caused Bella to fly mindlessly towards her family's island in the dungeon.

Where there used to be nothing but a few stone buildings here and there, an entire castle stood tall floating in mid air reminding Bella that she was now inside a dungeon, but that realization came a second too late as she crashed onto an invisible force field and drop on the ground like a bird crashing onto a wall.

Her nose was flattened as it broke under the immense momentum she carried and a spurt of blood dropped on the ground, yet she couldn't feel its moisture or warmth, all she felt was pain. Overwhelming raw pain which took her by surprise, although after spending so much time without feeling any pain no amount of preparedness would have been enough.

She was completely defenseless against the waves of pain that surged through her face and she couldn't even muster enough strength to scream. Worse even, she was all by herself, or so she thought.

"What are you doing here, child?" A man asked her as he extended his hand to help her stand up.

Spoiled or not, Bella knew better than to trust any stranger she met and instead of accepting his hand she took her distance to assess the threat level.

Through her teary eyes she saw an old man whose skin was darker than Nika's, evidence that he spent more time in the wilderness than inside the megacities where most of its citizens had a pale skin. That wasn't the only strange thing about him, his clothes were strange and had a funny looking red hat made of feathers on top of his head.

She had never seen a hat like that, but when she finally managed to focus enough to sense the man's energy signature she found out the hat was the least strange thing about him.

There wasn't a single drop of energy flowing out from him which informed her that he had to be a regular human, a man without a trait. But that didn't make sense, not just because his skin was too dark, but also because they were inside a dungeon were people couldn't wander around safely.

"I'm hurting, doesn't it show?" She spoke with a twanging voice that would have made anyone from the Dungeon Raiders laugh, but the man in front of her showed genuine concern.

"I could help you with that." His features were sharp like that of an eagle, yet his eyes carried an air of wisdom rather than sharpness. Being a regular human, she didn't feel threatened by him anymore, bit it got her to ponder what could someone without a trait even do for her.

"I'm a hunter, I don't need your pity." She scoffed.

"Oh!? You are a hunter?" The man asked in a chuckle. "Hunters always think they're above the rest of us, just because they kill things. Let me ask you, what good is a hunter when someone needs healing?"

"And now you're going to say you're a doctor." Bella said mockingly.

"I am, indeed." The man nodded.

"Where is your medkit then?" She looked at him with doubt. Apart from his clothes he carried nothing that could be of any help, just a weird hatchet he used as a walking stick to move around making a thumping sound in the ground whenever he took a step.

"I have everything I need to heal you right here." The man put his hand inside his buckskin attire and grabbed a bunch of herbs. From how they looked it was easy to assume the man had no pockets and they were stored directly in contact with his skin which made Bella cringe, though not nearly enough when he spat on them.

The man proceeded to chant in some language Bella couldn't understand, then placed the herbs close to his mouth and blew all the air in his lungs at them until he wheezed.

To say Bella was puzzled about it would be an understatement, but when the herbs caught fire she couldn't help but let out a gasp that turned into a scream the moment the 'doctor' rubbed the fiery bunch of herbs in her face.

"That hurt!" Bella pushed the man away, being careful not to use too much force to prevent hurting him.

"Feeling better?" The old man laughed, though the question was already answered by the clear sound of her voice.

"Wow! I can't believe it worked! Is this some sort of ancient traditional medicine?" She asked with eyes as wide as dishes.

"You could say that, most people call it magic." The man smiled at Bella's pristine face.

"Magic!? You're a witch doctor!" She gasped after realizing she had to be in front of someone from one of the ancient families and not just anyone. To master the healing arts to such degree was difficult to say the least which meant he had to be from the direct line of succession of an elemental family, it would also explain him being tanned despite not being a hunter.

If he was wealthy enough he had no need to be strong himself, he could just hire hunters to escort him wherever he wanted to go.

"There's no need to add the witch part," The man let out dejectedly. "But yes. Now, let's talk about my payment."

"Payment? What payment?"

"When someone does something for you, you have to give them something in return. That is how things work, that is how things have always worked since the old times." The man explained.

"I don't have any credits on me and I don't think they have wifi here, but I can pay you later." Bella replied, inwardly cursing at women's clothing for lacking pockets.

"I have no use for money, but there's other ways you can pay." The old man gave her a lustful glare Bella knew too well. She didn't mind being looked at like that and actually enjoyed the attention most of the times, but this was definitely not such an occasion.