Reborn as an Extra Chapter 575: The Grand Seal Of The Final Gamble. Part-5.
Previously on Reborn as an Extra...
Ellie shot back at Rio's remarks,
"I am not a faulty dragon! Also don’t call me that! Only Liam can call me that, you know!"
"I will complain to Lia the next time I meet her!"
Faced with that warning, Rio merely shook his head with a helpless sigh while approaching her.
"So... is this your true form... so... it seems you were an older woman ensnaring a young fellow like Liam in your schemes..."
Upon catching those words, Ellie puffed out her cheeks and fired back right away!
"I am not old, okay! In human years, I am just in my early twenties at present!"
"Also, I never schemed or ensnared him; he was actually fond of that foolish girl Kira for much of the time, you know!..."
"Moreover, my summoned form is essentially a separate entity from myself, since I am a spirit and the summoned version was truly only sixteen in human years..."
Rio gave her statements an eye-roll.
"Don’t attempt excuses now; save it for the authorities when I turn you over to the child protection services..."
Noticing Rio completely disregarding her justifications, she let out a resigned sigh.
"Ugh, technically I can’t be seen as a criminal, right... err... I-I think so..."
Brushing off Ellie's mutterings, Rio turned his gaze toward a massive hill looming far off.
Atop that hill stood an enormous door large enough to accommodate five dragon whelps simultaneously!
Its breadth was vast enough to squeeze in a four-story structure sideways!
Yet the door's immense scale wasn't what astonished Rio; what stunned him were the countless thousands of extraordinarily potent seals blanketing the whole thing.
He sensed an intensely mighty 'Purification Magic' inscription etched across the colossal door and the surrounding hill.
So formidable was it that Rio realized Riya’s purification magic paled in comparison, like mere child's play.
"So that's the entrance to the sea of endless miasma... and the spot where King Allen staked his ultimate bet..."
Noticing Rio tuning her out, Ellie sulked and remarked,
"Is that worthless door truly so captivating? You ought to focus more on what this lovely woman is saying, you know. Don’t forget I’m upset about how long you took to arrive..."
At her statement, Rio rolled his eyes once more before responding,
"Beautiful lady? Where? All I spot is a thousand-year-old granny here~"
Those words caused Ellie's assurance to wilt like a deflated balloon as she snapped back,
"I am not that old! I am only sixteen at heart, you know!"
"I am definitely going to complain to Lia about how you bullied me!"
Dismissing her grumbles, Rio shifted the subject and inquired,
"Putting aside the pointless chatter, what about that idiot Liam? Where is his soul?... I truly anticipated entering this vast enclosure and discovering a decaying massive dragon body with a hovering soul nearby..."
"I never imagined winding up in this odd spot full of lush vegetation... what's happening here..."
"Not even a trace of miasmic taint exists here, even though it's smack in the heart of a severely tainted zone...."
Immediately beyond lay myriad miasmic rifts linking to the sea of miasma, pouring forth huge volumes of fluid miasma, with the earth blanketed in dense strata of solidified miasma crystals!
Nevertheless, in the very core of everything, zero corruption lingered, as though this area had always escaped any taint or miasmic erosion!
"This is in fact a compact pocket dimension somewhat detached from the spirit realm..."
"Father once mentioned its presence to me and explained that Astra, 'the greatest healer of all time,' had personally inscribed a mighty purification magic upon it..."
Having scarcely subdued her irritation from the old hag label, Ellie offered a response to Rio’s query.
"My father was aware of this site's existence... it lay merely a few thousand kilometers from the shadow dragon tribe's former domain..."
"Alas... entry into this area is impossible for anyone not deemed worthy to approach that enormous door closely..."
That colossal door served as a direct portal to the sea of miasma; should a malicious individual discover it, unleashing devastation upon the external realm would be straightforward.
"I believe Astra and King Allen designed it so that anybody harboring even the tiniest amount of miasma in their form could never step into this sanctified pocket dimension..."
Ellie’s explanation left Rio astonished, prompting him to question her with a puzzled expression,
"Then how did you manage to get in here?... Weren’t you raised in the spirit realm?... You ought to carry ample corruption that would bar you from this spot..."
Ellie let out a sigh in response to Rio’s comment and answered,
"This is a 'Grand Seal of the Final Gamble'... the 'laws' of the 'Death and Gamble' have taken form here... No, I suspect King Allen imposed them forcefully upon this location..."
"Should you offer a sufficient toll and triumph in the life-or-death wager... a great many feats become achievable here..."
That revelation allowed Rio to grasp Ellie’s intent, though he remained silent and attentive.
"I was once exiled from my clan and opted for banishment due to numerous clashes with them..."
"Without stumbling upon this haven, miasmic corruption would have claimed my life, turning me into a senseless thrall of miasma, much like so many others before me..."
"Yet I rejected that doom and chose to stake my existence here for refuge from miasma and decay... as the cost, I forfeited my capacity to depart this place in bodily form forever..."
Rising from the earth, Ellie directed her gaze toward the distant colossal door.
"For the sake of security, I fused my corporeal form and a portion of my soul into that grand seal... this marked my ultimate defiance against my fated end..."
On her feet, Ellie towered over Rio in height, yet her power lagged far behind his.
Despite a full millennium passing, she lingered at S-rank's pinnacle; ascending to SS-rank eluded her due to lacking innate gifts and her body residing where miasma crushed mana to its utmost limits.
Talent alone wouldn't enable her breakthrough, for miasma barred ascension entirely in this domain; attaining SS-rank demanded corruption, which she staunchly declined.
"Thankfully though, that sacrifice is also the reason why I managed to keep Liam’s soul stable for so long..."
As she uttered those lines, a bittersweet smile veiling countless torments and trials surfaced on her features.
Though enduring her own agonies, Ellie had preserved Liam's last glimmer of hope up to this moment.