Reborn as an Extra Chapter 579: One more Final Gamble, Both or None! Part-4.
Previously on Reborn as an Extra...
Rio gave a casual shrug in response to her statement.
"That's pretty much the primary cause for my solo trip here; no one in our team could handle such intense levels of miasma..."
"Miasma overflows the whole spirit realm completely, and just beyond your enclosure, it's thick enough to challenge even SS-rankers for extended periods..."
Ellie let out a soft chuckle upon hearing Rio's explanation, then remarked,
"Liam's such a fortunate fool, right? He's lucky to have a buddy like you who braved a full realm of torment to pull him from the jaws of the void!"
"I seriously doubt many others would go this far purely for the bond of friendship..."
Rio gave an eye roll at her comment and shot back,
"I swore to the folks at home that I'd haul that idiot back in one piece; naturally, I couldn't back out midway after giving my word like that..."
"Besides... miasma acts like a somewhat erratic power reserve and fuel for me; reaching this point wasn't all that tough..."
To Rio, the spirit realm felt like a personal haven; it was practically designed just for him, and he had no qualms about lingering here indefinitely.
To everyone else, Rio's three-month trek across the spirit realm could earn him the moniker of 'Hell-Walker' for its valor, yet for him, it was effortless.
"Hehe... no need to act so cocky... I get that you're powerful..."
Ellie forced a grin, though it looked more pained than joyful; as they neared the massive gate, a heavier gloom and unease settled between them.
Unspoken, both realized they were bottling up numerous worries and issues in their thoughts.
Ellie fretted over Liam, while Rio agonized for the pair of them.
Rio sensed on a gut level that Ellie felt remote right then; it was as if she'd vanish unless he watched her closely.
Her form was delicate, trapped in ongoing miasma erosion and bodily refinement.
Despite reaching peak S-rank, her actual physique was frail enough that a mere strike from Riya might overwhelm her!
A heavy quiet descended, thickening the melancholy air, and summoning his resolve, Rio posed the following query to Ellie.
"Can Liam return to a regular life once more?"
When Rio uttered that, his tone was unusually hushed and restrained; it was the sort of inquiry that could shatter someone's spirit utterly.
Liam's form lay in total ruin, with every bit of his self-fortification and progress utterly wiped out.
No means existed to restore any of it.
Rio had dreaded voicing that query, for its brutality and sorrow would only highlight the dire straits facing Ellie and Liam.
Yet he had no alternative; he needed to inquire to grasp the full gravity of their plight.
"He... won't manage to resume his old life..."
Voicing that truth drained Ellie entirely; merely facing that fact proved an immense ordeal.
Should they pull off Liam's rescue somehow, he'd face rebuilding from the ground up all over.
"All I could preserve was his soul... I've got no further means to aid him... plus, I'm trapped in this spot; I lack the freedom to seek out a fitting vessel for him..."
"I'm utterly helpless and worthless... Extracting his soul from the spirit realm would be a massive hurdle on its own..."
"Any soul that enters the spirit realm gets hungered after by miasma and denied any chance of true liberty forever..."
"Should Liam endure somehow, miasma would hunt him relentlessly... He'll never reclaim a ordinary existence..."
Each phrase from Ellie chipped away at her resolve; Liam's plight was so dire that scant optimism lingered for his prospects.
Much like her own doomed fate, sealed in this prison forever, Liam had become miasma's eternal quarry, forever pursued.
"Sigh... things are graver than I'd anticipated..."
Rio himself lacked the power to craft genuine human frames and bolster them sufficiently for an A-ranker's essence.
Such a talent was exceedingly uncommon, and Rio knew of no one but Alverto who possessed it.
During that event, Alverto deployed a puppet eerily resembling a human to breach the dungeon and clash with Rio, paving Jin's path to SS-rank.
There, Alverto had infused a fragment of his soul and awareness into the puppet; it served as a duplicate echoing his true form.
Alverto alone wielded that prowess, thanks to his fabled skill 'Soul Resonance.'
'I still can't figure out how Alverto fashioned that lifelike duplicate to house his soul and mind...'
'If I'd only gotten to absorb that technique from his recollections then...'
Rio let out a sigh before speaking,
"Before arriving, I sought out your father and the fused shadow dragons... they bestowed upon me a scale from a shadow dragon, infused with their essence..."
"Word is, it's effective for holding souls... could we fashion a provisional vessel for Liam with it...?"
"I can't whip up a synthetic form right here... but to pursue any salvation for Liam, I'll have to transport him to the mortal realm..."
After a pause in silence, Ellie responded,
"I'll craft a fitting holder for Liam's soul using that scale... you're lucky to have obtained the shadow dragon scale..."
"Supplying one on my own would've been impossible..."
Gathering her nerve, she finally ventured the question.
"H-how is my father doing? Is he... still breathing... you know..."
In light of her inquiry, Rio chose honesty.
"The shadow dragons have all combined into a single entity, twisting them into a grotesque, malformed, tree-resembling abomination..."
"He clung to life awaiting King Allen's return until the end... once I connected with him, he surrendered his last shred of reason, which he'd held onto for that reunion..."
Meeting Ellie's gaze, Rio continued,
"Though his dream of rescue by King Allen went unheeded, joy filled him upon learning you survived and bonded equally with a summoner..."
"He drew his last breath amid laughter, content with tidings of you right to the finish..."
Rio inhaled deeply prior to pressing on.
"Bereft of his remaining reason and lucidity... he spiraled into total frenzy and might still be wreaking havoc out there..."
"Miasma showed him no mercy... he's endured tremendous torment for his past error..."