Reborn as an Extra Chapter 613: Lia’s Adventure Begins! Part-2.

"Battling a peak S-rank dragon... That’s something I’ve never tried... I’m curious about how it’ll feel..."

[Don’t be foolish, you couldn’t even handle a regular S-ranker with your present power, much less a dragon...]

[If that stoic fellow were here with us, I’d feel at ease, but you’re handling this solo now; avoid doing anything rash...]

[There’s a line between practice and charging headlong into danger...]

"Tch, you’re such a buzzkill..."

As she bantered with Kai, Lia slipped into her spirit armor, enveloping her whole form in potent spirit magic that boosted every resistance to its peak.

With the miasma hanging thick in the atmosphere, Lia understood she couldn’t afford a moment’s slip; she’d witnessed Rio wielding miasma up close, recognizing it as a strange and erratic force.

This was the sort of energy that demanded utmost caution; therefore, Lia swiftly equipped her armor and elevated her miasma resistance to the highest it could go.

Her silver armor gleamed with the intense light of spirit magic, while her golden cape shifted to silver from the coating, billowing in the breeze.

By channeling spirit magic, Lia redirected the mana currents surrounding her, rendering her undetectable through others’ mana sensing.

Leveraging the divine spirit’s blessing, Lia quelled the elemental disturbances in her vicinity, ensuring no one could spot her via the elemental ripples from her abilities.

Through the Divine Spirit blessing, Lia toned down her mana pulses, her aura, and her very essence as far as possible to dodge easy detection.

’Having a super sneaky boyfriend has rubbed off on me, it seems...’

Lia had observed Rio employing akin methods to merge with his surroundings and vanish stealthily, so she crafted her own adaptation using spirit magic.

A divine spirit user might also pass as a lesser mage, since they could employ various divine spirit blessings to essentially mirror what a mage accomplishes with spells.

And possessing an SS-rank divine spirit like Kai by her side, Lia could pull off feats beyond even mages’ reach.

"My foresight and instincts aren’t alerting me to any threats, so it should be safe to press on..."

As she minimized her presence and activated stealth, Lia soared further into the interior.

During her flight, she deployed spiritual sense to survey the surrounding region, weaving past obstacles while continuously probing for any hints.

Maintaining a steady pace in the air, Lia spotted that the miasma concentration grew thicker in one specific direction, where she even glimpsed flames and smoke ascending from there.

’A fight happening in that spot?’

[Stay low in the air... Actually, no—better to touch down and walk, investigate on foot... I’m not picking up any strong auras close by, so this is a chance to uncover leads...]

Following Kai’s suggestion, Lia inclined her head and dropped toward the earth, touching down amid the thick woodland.

Though the landscape was rough and irregular, navigating it posed no challenge for an A-ranker like her.

"Not a bug or tiny critter in view... a definite marker of miasma-fueled combat occurring close at hand..."

Since fragile beings such as insects and common beasts fall easily to miasmic taint, when miasma levels rise in a zone, such life vanishes entirely from it.

The absence of any minor life forms signals heavy miasma in the air or a recent clash with miasma that wiped out every small creature nearby.

After trekking some distance, Lia reached a vast open space in the woods, apparently carved out by combat, evident from the splintered tree remnants and wood shards strewn about.

The earth lay charred and dark, riddled with web-like fissures, littered with rubble all around.

Yet that wasn’t the standout feature of the scene.

What truly stunned Lia was the heap of bodies piled high on one another!

The stench of miasma-induced decay wafted everywhere, and without her spirit armor’s helmet, Lia might have collapsed from the foul odor.

Among the deceased were diverse demon remains and beast cadavers, plus a few human ones, but the most astonishing inclusion was the presence of Elves in that gruesome stack.

[Three distinct races gathered in one spot... This is downright odd... I wonder what transpired here...]

[Their forms are terribly torn and damaged, all deeply tainted...]

Examining the injuries on the bodies, Lia’s gaze sharpened beneath her visor as she assessed them.

"These look like assaults from some avian monster... The beast pierced their flesh with its beak and then tore out their innards using it..."

[What?... How can you be certain? I can’t even make that out from these gashes...]

To Kai’s query, Lia shook her head and answered in her steady, composed tone,

"I’m not claiming total certainty... It’s just that I’ve researched this type of monster’s attack patterns and traits in the past..."

"Plus, only a monster would strike at living humans, elves, and demons alike, ignoring all notions of right or wrong..."

"Certain avian monsters tend to hoard their prey in a single area before relocating it to safer spots..."

[So, you mean... a formidable bird monster could show up here anytime soon and come at us if it spots us...]

"Exactly, that’s a real possibility... The creature could already be heading this way..."

At the mention of "monster," the small golem perched on Lia’s shoulder trembled, though her spirit magic soothed it.

[Should we get out of here?]

"No... I’m eager to gauge the strength of the standard monsters in this dungeon... I’ll pull back if it proves too much for me..."

A grin spreading across her features, Lia drew her sword and prepared for the impending fight.