I, the Final Boss of the Beta Server!

Chapter 92: Echoes of the Era · Prologue to the Legendary Battle

“Bronze Rose?”

Moonlight flickered in the beast-like pupils of the Dean Silver as it forcefully broke free from Ophelia’s embrace.

Its gaze turned solemn. “You even found the method they once used to track down little Tina?”

“A tracking artifact that ignores party requirements and rank restrictions, forcibly pulling Night Travelers into the same Historical Remnant?”

Back in the Deep Blue Port Remnant, Shiltina had once been tracked by a third-tier dancer.

Of course, that incident had also become the catalyst for Rast and Shiltina’s first encounter.

Afterward, Starfall University did investigate the matter, but as a secretive organization, Bronze Rose was deeply hidden, with members and strongholds scattered across the nations of the Western Continent—causing trouble for all major powers for centuries.

Moreover, Starfall University focused solely on conquering the Nightworld and existed independently of national powers, making it impossible for them to deploy significant forces across borders to eradicate a single covert group.

Thus, progress in the search for Bronze Rose had been slow.

Who would have thought the breakthrough would come first from the royal family?

“No choice, after all, she is my beloved royal sister.”

“Even if she never liked us meddling in her life using our royal status…”

“But since some little rat dares to spy on her from the shadows, how could I possibly ignore it?”

A smile curled at the corners of Ophelia’s lips.

She no longer bothered with the little snow mink that had escaped her embrace and simply raised her hand slightly.

Those mercury hands silently disintegrated, turning into liquid undead metal that flowed around her.

Then, the droplets of mercury condensed into black thorns, which wove themselves into a chair made entirely of pitch-black brambles.

Ophelia sat down in the chair.

With her snow-white gown against the dim background, her flawless porcelain-like face, and her elegant royal aura, she looked as beautiful as a porcelain doll.

If only—

One ignored the fleeting shadow in Ophelia’s crimson eyes, which devoured all light.

“I sent Kate to the Luyi Principality Alliance to destroy Bronze Rose’s southern sect across the Western Continent.”

“At the same time, I found some interesting things at their headquarters in the South.”

Ophelia placed her hands neatly on the armrests of the thorny chair. The undead metal surged, and two items appeared silently in her hands.

A sparkling crystal and a faceless doll made of clay.

“A ‘Tracking Doll’ capable of following a target into the same Nightworld, and a modified Image Transmission Crystal containing the spatial core that allows it to send footage across the barrier between Nightworld and reality…”

“These were all found at Bronze Rose’s southern headquarters.”

The Dean Silver gazed at the two items in Ophelia’s hands with a serious expression.

“Why would Bronze Rose have such things?”

As a mysterious creature whose age ranked among the top ten unsolved mysteries of Starfall University and who had nearly witnessed the entire process of Night Travelers exploring the Nightworld, the Dean Silver knew exactly what the appearance of these items signified.

It meant the barrier between the Nightworld and reality had been broken.

They looked unassuming, but the two items actually touched upon the rules of the Nightworld—they were rule-type authority artifacts.

Far beyond ordinary transcendent items that simply pursued destructive or healing abilities.

Even after nearly a millennium of exploration, the Night Travelers of Starfall University still knew very little about rule-type items of the Nightworld. So why would Bronze Rose, a secretive organization focused more on the real world, possess them?

The fact that even a third-tier dancer from the “Mind Demon” sequence could use the Tracking Doll freely proved that the one in their possession wasn’t a rare fluke—they had found a stable method of production.

“According to the intel left behind in the destroyed headquarters, these items didn’t originate from Bronze Rose itself… but came from an even more secretive source.”

Ophelia toyed with the faceless clay doll in her hands. “There’s very little residual information about that source, and most of it is vague—only one term remains.”

Her clear and melodious voice paused. “Gravekeeper.”

“Kate interrogated several bishops of the Bronze Rose southern sect, even resorting to soul-searching… but aside from that name, none of them knew anything else about the origin of the artifacts.”

Gravekeeper?

The Dean Silver silently repeated the term, but even with its vast experience and knowledge, nothing surfaced in its memory.

It naturally knew who Kate was—someone who pledged direct allegiance to the royal family, a sixth-tier powerhouse…

Or more accurately, Kate’s loyalty lay not with the royal family, nor even with Emperor Allen, but with Princess Ophelia herself.

That cold woman had always seen herself as “Her Highness Ophelia’s sharpest sword.”

And if even that infamous interrogator—whose name alone could strike fear into countless nobles in the capital—could find nothing in Bronze Rose’s base…

Then it could only mean the mastermind known as the “Gravekeeper” might be hiding deeper than the Dean Silver could imagine.

Perhaps, even the current undercurrents between the nations of the Western Continent might not be unrelated to them...

The Dean Silver stopped its spiraling thoughts and refocused on Ophelia in front of it. “You should understand what these two artifacts mean to the Night Travelers.”

Leaving aside the Tracking Doll that could follow others into the same Nightworld—Starfall University wasn’t a cult and had no need to stalk people… and most Nightworlds allowed normal party formation.

Only a small number of elite Night Travelers had the qualifications to challenge the Final Nightworld.

But just the Image Transmission Crystal alone, capable of sending real-time footage from within the Nightworld… could revolutionize the entire strategy system for Night Travelers.

If such crystals had been provided to the recon squad during the calamity at Frostwater Town, enabling real-time intel transmission to the outside world, countless casualties during the initial assault could have been avoided.

“Of course.”

Ophelia smiled and nodded. “There are only a few, but I will donate the remaining rule-type artifacts to your university.”

“But before that…”

The black mercury surged again, transforming in Ophelia’s hands into a test tube containing a few drops of crimson blood.

And then, she dripped the blood from the test tube onto the faceless clay doll.

In the next moment—

That roughly crafted, detail-less clay doll began to undergo subtle changes.

As though invisible hands were kneading and sculpting the clay…

Soon, the doll’s face gained refined features and detailed contours.

Black hair, black eyes, a dark trench coat.

Its facial structure wasn’t as sharp as the common ethnicities of the Western Continent—it had softer lines.

Its frame was tall and straight, its gaze indifferent.

It was clearly a ten-times-shrunken replica of Rast.

Ophelia’s wine-red eyes fell upon the tiny doll’s face, her gaze deep and unreadable.

“When did you get Rast’s blood?” the Dean Silver frowned at Ophelia’s actions.

“Of course, during his combat training with that big gorilla—left behind on the training ground.”

Ophelia paused, then smiled slightly. “After all, those military folks wouldn’t dare meddle in my affairs.”

Dean Silver: …

Reasonable and convincing.

As the empire’s only princess in name, the Arcane Tower—jointly established by the military and Starfall University but maintained daily by the military—was practically Ophelia’s private garden.

“No choice. She’s my only sister.”

“She’s so stubborn and single-minded… once she commits to something, she’ll never give up. Even if it’s a wall, she’ll smash right through it.”

“But someone with her kind of character—if the person she believes in turns out to be a bad guy, then she’ll get hurt badly.”

“The deeper the love, the deeper the wound.”

Ophelia extended a pale finger, gently touching the face of the doll that looked 90% like Rast, her eyes growing darker.

“I don’t care what background that freshman Rast has, or how many secrets he’s hiding.”

“But I want to see clearly what kind of person he really is.”

The shadow that devoured light in Ophelia’s eyes deepened. “Wearing a flawless, fake mask in the real world before outsiders… I can do that too, just as skillfully as he can.”

“But people like that—only in the Nightworld, within the Historical Remnants where they think no one hears or sees—might momentarily drop that mask and show their true face.”

The flowing mercury surged and delivered both the clay doll and the Image Transmission Crystal to Akxia.

“Just bring this doll with you, and you’ll enter the same Nightworld as its target. Inside, you’ll be able to pinpoint his exact location.”

Akxia stared expressionlessly at the two artifacts, her eyes pausing briefly on the doll.

In the end, she turned her head to glance at the Dean Silver.

Although Akxia had a good impression of Ophelia and was intrigued by the doll that could track Rast…

As a student of Starfall University, she didn’t take orders from the imperial family. In such matters, she would defer only to the Dean Silver’s judgment.

“Do as Ophelia says.”

The Dean Silver let out a deep sigh.

“Though I trust that kid… he’s only a second-tier, yet he might get caught in the tide of the Final Nightworld’s history.”

“If necessary, lend him a hand.”

“Okay.”

Akxia nodded, her calm voice echoing in the Dean Silver’s mind through the Moonlit Whisper.

At the same time, she accepted the crystal and the doll.

Without expression, she reached out and pinched the cheek of the Rast-lookalike doll, then, slightly reluctant, tucked it into her coat.

Next moment, she skillfully approached the pitch-black gravestone and touched it.

With a ripple of night, the blue-haired girl vanished beside the Era Monument.

In the empty hall, only Ophelia and the Dean Silver remained.

“So, little snow mink, want to watch the livestream together?”

“Of course… although time flows differently in the Nightworld and reality, so technically what we’re seeing isn’t live. It’s a selection of key moments already played out in the Nightworld.”

A graceful smile blossomed on Ophelia’s delicate face as she invited the Dean Silver.

Yet that charming, doll-like smile appeared in the Dean Silver’s eyes like a dark and icy abyss, swallowing all light.

This little sister of Shiltina was the type it feared most and found hardest to deal with.

Still, as the screen opened before Ophelia, curiosity overcame caution, and the Dean Silver carefully settled into a corner out of her reach to watch the scenes unfold.

After all, hearing Night Travelers describe their experience and watching it from a first-person view were two completely different things.

It was curious too—what kind of commotion Rast would stir up in this Nightworld.

…

In the drifting, undulating night—

Rast saw lines of deep blue text flashing past.

【Nightworld Mission — “Echoes of the Era: Prologue to the Legendary Battle” has begun】

【Era Introduction: Iron Crosses, awakened pollutants, rampaging beast tides, cults overrunning the continent, ruined towns...

As civilization rapidly advanced, the Sixth Era’s golden age faded. Once the glory fell, what followed was unending disaster.

Even though the Shoreguard held fast, century after century, it was as if fate had already been written—all paths led to inevitable collapse.

It felt as though an unseen hand guided the course of these catastrophes, pushing civilization’s spark ever closer to extinction.

By now, even the top members of the Shoreguard have realized: continuing along the old route would only be a meaningless delay.

All they could do was strike first, and before it was too late, shatter the root cause steering disaster from the shadows...

Even if it cost blood and fire—bones and ash.】

【Meanwhile, in an unremarkable corner, a girl named Grey passed her assessment and became a new member of the Shoreguard.】