Reborn as an Extra Chapter 661: There was a teleportation portal?

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Previously on Reborn as an Extra...
Kai confided in Rio about his contingency plan to use forbidden magic on Lia, sacrificing her soul power and potentially her Path to save her life. Rio revealed he rushed to their aid after a six-month secret mission in the spirit realm, during which ten months passed outside while mere days elapsed inside the dungeon. James and Kai were stunned to learn the dungeon had evolved from S-rank to Pseudo-SS-rank mid-raid, confirming Rio's fears of accelerating dungeon mutations and heightened raid dangers.

"Speaking of dungeons... isn’t this one buried deep underground? Entry is only possible through a huge underground cave network or by teleporting directly via the Silver Shadow Guild’s portal..."

"How did you enter so quickly?"

Upon catching James’s question, Rio stared at him with his standard blank expression, cocked his head a bit in puzzlement, and responded in kind.

"A teleportation portal existed?"

James got stunned by Rio’s retort and quipped,

"Wha... haha, you’re hilarious. Haha, what other ways could there be to get in besides those two..."

"haha, no way you burrowed right from the surface down hundreds of kilometers in mere seconds, huh? Haha, impossible... ha... ha..."

"You... didn’t actually... burrow... did you?"

Noticing Rio’s steady unchanging face, James’s laughter faded gradually as it dawned on him that Rio was precisely the sort who could pull off such madness.

"I figured finding the right entrance would waste too much time... so yes... I basically tunneled straight through the earth directly to the dungeon..."

James’s worldview cracked apart at Rio’s reply.

S-rankers might be powerful, yet burrowing hundreds of kilometers in seconds was no trivial accomplishment.

"That’s crazy... I can shatter mountains with my strikes, but this... you’re on another level..."

James’s eyes sparked as a sudden memory hit him.

"Oh right, I nearly forgot you wield earth manipulation as well; that must’ve helped a ton..."

Unknown to James, Rio didn’t merely rely on earth manipulation.

He harnessed wind elementals to rotate like a drill, wielded his sword as the point, then propelled forward. He amplified it with gravity and space for extra force and mass!

He even deployed water to loosen the soil and miasma to crumble tough, unyielding ores beyond other elements’ reach.

With power nearing SS-rank dominance, pulling off such wild exploits came effortlessly now.

While James stood speechless, questioning his existence, Kai squinted and probed,

"Wait, did you say you went to the spirit realm on a mission!?"

"You mean that spirit realm everyone calls a total hellhole, overflowing with miasma!?"

"What sane person heads there!? Hold on... you’re not sane at all... so maybe you would..."

At Kai’s remark, Rio snapped his finger to flick and chide the guy for trash-talking.

"Ouch! You nearly took my head off!!"

Brushing off Kai’s complaints, Rio handed ’RJ’ back to little Bela for playtime while explaining.

"Yeah, the spirit realm I visited is packed with miasma, but I had no choice due to a crucial reason..."

"Explaining it fully now would drag on, so I’ll keep it brief; just know I completed the mission and endured that tainted hell for almost six months..."

"I nearly perished because some freak hounded me relentlessly... but I survived somehow..."

Disbelief crossed Kai’s face at Rio’s tale, prompting him to say,

"You... you’re utterly mad... I’m almost ready to beg you as my master..."

Rio shook his head at Kai’s plea.

"You might wish me as your master, but I won’t take you on. I need no help from anyone, and you’d better serve someone expert in spirit magic..."

"I barely touch spirit arts and have zero interest in them..."

Kai let out a sigh and nodded.

"Fine, I wasn’t planning to ditch Lia after vowing to crown her the next Spirit King anyway..."

"She’s pushing herself relentlessly to match you; all these wounds, this suffering... she bears it to stand by your side..."

"But you... you won’t pause for anyone to catch up, will you? You’ll always chase higher peaks..."

After calming Bela, Nova, and the rest, Rio settled next to Lia and rested his hand on her brow.

"I don’t want her straining like this; I just wish for her happiness, yet I can’t block her dreams and drives..."

"And true... I can’t halt for her... I must grow stronger no matter what... Others can choose weakness; I can’t..."

Rio sensed the looming dangers in the near future; early signs of their advance were emerging.

He understood time was scarce; he needed rapid strength gains since time spares no one. Without power ensuring safety for himself and loved ones,

All else would crumble to nothing.

"You’re tough to figure out..."

Kai shook his head, dropping further queries, aware Rio offered no direct replies.

Secrets belong to everyone; best not to dig if the other clearly resists.

Tuning out Kai, Rio gazed toward the distant horizon as fresh schemes and strategies swirled in his thoughts.

’I planned to head there after hitting SS-rank, but my meddling has sped up the world’s timeline somewhat...’

’Dungeons are evolving fast now, threats multiplying... No option left but to snag ’that’ artifact before chaos erupts...’

’After reports and chores, I’ll launch a fresh stealing session for that artifact!’