Reborn as an Extra Chapter 564: The Curse of Eternal Suffering. Part-3.
Previously on Reborn as an Extra...
'However, should this sacrificial circle link straight to the spot of that massive shadow dragon... I dare not teleport over there, or it might spot me and turn me into its snack...'
Who can predict the mental condition of that shadow dragon king now, after suffering corrosion for hundreds of years!
Even mighty figures like Ashtel Rex can't linger long in the spirit realm, which clearly means the shadow dragon king's mind isn't in great shape either.
'Yet how can I pull out the details without landing in hot water?...'
Having soared around the whole town several times without spotting anything useful, Rio perched on a tall pillar and sank into deep thought.
The vision of the shadow dragon king that Rio glimpsed in the evil spirit's memory was probably ancient and outdated; the dragon's present state might differ greatly from that era.
'Alverto mentioned once that Ellie was viewed as a shame among dragons, unable to wield dragon bloodline magic...'
'From what I recall, though, Ellie never lacked power... she's remained formidable even without access to dragon bloodline magic...'
Rio had visited the Dragon Valley, where he learned that dragons honor the mighty; despite her limitations, Ellie would have earned respect through her prowess alone.
Still, she got labeled a disgrace among the Shadow Dragons while being so capable; that points to just one possibility.
'She must have committed some grave error in the past to gain that notoriety... I wonder what it was...'
During that time, Rio lacked the skill to detect soul fluctuations accurately as he does today, leaving him clueless about Ellie's true thoughts.
'One fact stands clear... Uncovering the cause of her tarnished name could reveal hints to her whereabouts now...'
In the Dragon Valley, those dragons displaying excessive aggression and failing to blend into society faced exile to remote areas.
The same fate might have befallen Ellie; perhaps she's confined or imprisoned in some secluded spot.
'Liam truly stands out as a strange one... How did he call forth a rational shadow dragon amid all these deranged ones, I wonder...'
Every dragon whelp Rio had encountered so far clung to barely any reason; they foraged and hunted purely on instinct, with thoughts fixated solely on sustenance and pursuit.
They only rested when severe wounds forced them into stillness.
It felt almost like,
'Almost like they've undergone intense brainwashing... yet strangely, I detect no such alterations in their soul fluctuations or mental waves...'
Rio excelled in brainwashing and mental control; had these whelps been under such influence, he would have spotted it instantly.
For him, dispelling mental tampering or brainwashing from a mind proves as simple as inhaling, requiring just a tap from his flute to restore them immediately.
'Come to think of it... how did Alverto learn of Ellie?... Did he encounter her summoned state somewhere before?'
'Or perhaps Alverto ventured into the spirit realm once and crossed paths with her?'
Rio had reviewed Alverto's memories, yet Ellie never appeared in them, though he wasn't taken aback since those recollections were mostly fragmented.
They focused on key moments in Alverto's existence, and Rio hadn't even witnessed the true Demon King there, despite Alverto being his offspring.
The most he glimpsed were the siblings Alverto had slain.
'Should Alverto have met Ellie outside, it implies someone summoned her prior to Liam, and not long ago at that, given Alverto's age of about 200 years...'
'And if their meeting occurred in the spirit realm... then some method to locate Ellie or reach her must exist that I'm overlooking...'
Rio could replicate nearly all of Alverto's former abilities; he'd absorbed many of Alverto's exclusive techniques and wielded them himself.
Excluding the fabled 'Soul Resonance,' Rio mimicked most skills, so any method to track Ellie would already be within his grasp.
'What am I overlooking?'
Rio gazed at the sky shrouded in miasmic clouds while pondering his array of abilities, but hours of reflection yielded no answers.
He possessed long-distance contact methods like telepathy, yet Rio sensed no trace of Ellie anywhere nearby.
'As an adult dragon, Ellie should leave no signs, much like the absence of all mature dragons here, making her impossible to pinpoint...'
Originally, Rio's sword intent lacked sharpness, and his soul abilities were quite underdeveloped.
Had he commanded his present soul techniques back then,
He might have imprinted the soul signatures of those around him, then traced them effortlessly by extending sword intent threads across thousands of kilometers.
'Ugh... this proves tricky...'
'Am I left with no option except to face that shadow dragon directly after all?'
Rio shook his head while rising from his perch.
'F*ck it, We ball!'
Rio drew in a deep breath before hurtling toward the far-off plateau at blistering velocity!
Employing his sword intent, Rio slashed the space-time weave to propel himself ahead at tremendous pace via a milder form of space warp!
He surged forward so swiftly that the miasma currents turned turbulent, slicing straight through the thick miasmic clouds overhead as he ascended!
A mighty shockwave rippled outward in every direction as Rio rocketed upward like a missile, dispersing the miasmic clouds through the raw power of his velocity and spatial ripples!
Any other being bold enough to crash into those miasmic clouds headfirst would fall prey to miasmic taint, but Rio dismissed the threat entirely.
To him, those peril-laden miasmic clouds posed no more danger than fluffy sweets!
Once past the clouds, Rio crested the vast plateau in a single bound and touched down atop it, eyes burning with resolve.
'F*ck it, bring it on, you oversized lizard! I may take some hits, but I'll land at least one solid stab on you today!'
What Rio failed to realize was that piercing those dreadful, thick miasmic clouds marked the smartest move he could make then.
The instant Rio summited the plateau, his gaze locked onto an colossal entity so immense that Rio appeared as a tiny insect beside its colossal form!
'What in the hell is this abomination!?!?!!!!!'
Defying Rio's expectations, no dragon occupied the plateau's summit; across the desolate flat expanse loomed a colossal, malformed horror, warped and utterly misshapen!
The enormous entity bore grayish-black scales across its frame, yet it contorted into the form of a grotesquely sprouting tree!!
Each of those vast dragon scales rivaled a towering building in size, and the colossal, twisted tree-like mass grew so vast that Rio couldn't gauge its scale in his thoughts.
The presence of that warped beast radiated such intensity that it outmatched even Ashtel Rex's power!
The space-time weave kept fracturing and mending under the immense soul force and spatial disturbances from the mere existence of that titanic horror!
Rio spotted countless tails and myriad dragon appendages dangling from that contorted tree; myriad bizarre, twisted organs swayed from it like clock pendants!
Hundreds of eyes dotted the enormous grotesque tree, though most rotted away or bore heavy miasma damage.
The whole gigantic form seeped black sludge and miasmic rot from every part, with all that miasma cascading into rivers that plunged like falls into the chasm below!
Rio had overlooked those miasmic cascades earlier, hidden by the heavy miasmic mist and packed clouds, but now he saw that the valley's entire miasma stemmed from this behemoth's vital fluids!
Confronted by that utter freak of nature and its freakish physique, a single notion flashed through Rio's head.
'To be honest, screw Liam, I'm heading back home...'