I, the Final Boss of the Beta Server!

Chapter 169: As the Future of Humanity, You Are Unqualified

Lightless Sea, at the center of that blazing sun-like brilliance.

Within the twisted, accelerated flow of time, after what seemed like an eternity of chaos—

That indescribably bright, supernova explosion, which had lit up the entire sea and night sky as if it were broad daylight, visible even from an immense distance—

At this very moment, finally began to dim.

All the matter that once formed that massive star was ejected outward at one-tenth the speed of light, along with the shockwave of radiation from the explosion, forming a shell-like structure of expanding gas and dust in the surrounding sea.

It was a magnificent planetary nebula.

One could also simply call it—"Supernova Remnant".

However, at the center of that Supernova Remnant, where all should have been incinerated by the torrents of brilliance, and no life should remain—

Suddenly, a ripple of distortion spread outward.

It was faint, yet carried an immensely distant, ancient resonance of history.

It was a ripple of history, making those who heard it feel as though they had lived through tens of thousands of years, through countless epochs and ages, in a single instant.

Then, within the ripple of history, a phantom green figure quietly emerged.

It was the figure of Noah, appearing infinitely illusory, his entire form covered with various fissures, on the verge of flickering out of existence.

Yet he was still alive.

"I have to say, you've once again exceeded my expectations, Sisel."

"Since that battle where the thief who stole the Fireseed betrayed the Gravekeepers, this is the first time I've witnessed such a display of power."

"This skill, which you called 'Supernova Explosion'... although I don't know its exact mechanics, the power it just displayed is enough to rival a true Descent of the (Evil) God."

"Forget ordinary Forbidden Creatures—even a god in its prime, if struck head-on by that light without evasion, would likely suffer severe damage."

"To truly touch the domain of gods while still within the Legendary Realm... among all the Shoreguards throughout history, only you and the first generation have ever achieved such a feat."

Noah slowly examined his body, his aged eyes still holding traces of disbelief and hesitation.

Even the pitch-black Ancient Dragon, whose bloodline had been purified and regressed to that of a pure-blooded giant dragon, and the Legendary-tier Iron Cross King...

Were both instantly reduced to white ash without a trace of resistance in the annihilation of the Supernova Explosion.

Let alone Noah himself.

Sustained by eternal life, Noah's accumulation within the Legendary Realm indeed far surpassed that of other Forbidden Creatures.

But as a human legend of the "Bounty Sequence", when it came to the raw physical durability and resistance to the indiscriminate destruction of the Supernova Explosion, how could he possibly compare with a true Ancient Dragon or the flesh-mutated Iron Cross King?

In that Supernova Explosion, Noah had truly died once, tasting the flavor of death.

"What a pity—you ultimately overlooked one thing."

He glanced indifferently at the distant sea, at the snow-white ashes drifting with the wind, his voice utterly devoid of emotion.

"I am not like those who, though they reached the Legendary Realm, are still nothing more than beasts acting alone."

"Behind me stand the entire Gravekeepers, and the accumulation of eternal ages."

"No matter how powerful, how grand, an offensive skill capable of destroying the Sinful Tome—"

"It can only take effect once. It absolutely cannot be sustained."

Noah looked at his own cracked, illusory body, then slowly turned his gaze—

He cast his eyes toward the depths of the Lightless Sea, the origin of that blazing Supernova Explosion.

Within the black seawater, fragments of heavy elements sprayed out by the collapse of the star were scattered, each still radiating residual heat, glowing with a silver-blue fluorescence.

These bluish fragments floated across vast sections of the surrounding sea, their glimmers dancing on the surface, shimmering against the dim backdrop.

The heavens above were pure black, but the sea below seemed to ripple with a flowing galaxy. This sight resembled a reversed Milky Way, breathtaking in its beauty.

And there stood Sisel at the far end of this radiant galaxy, waist-deep in seawater, his entire body aged to the brink of withering. Only by the spiritual power of the Legendary Realm could one sense the faint thread of life still lingering within that decrepit, twilight-ridden frame—proving he had not yet fully perished.

Such was the inevitable result of overloading "Life Rings" to unleash "Supernova Explosion".

The Supernova Explosion was the swan song at the end of a star’s life cycle, and the price Sisel paid to activate it, was to accelerate his once-immense lifespan to its final moment.

"You must feel regret, don’t you, Sisel?"

Noah gazed at the aged man at the end of the galaxy—one who seemed already dead yet still refused to fall—and spoke with genuine emotion.

"Even if you abandoned everything and exploded without regard for the cost, you could still only kill me once."

He gently brushed his pure white robe, over the gravestone pattern embroidered in golden thread: "But even in death, I can still return once more from the River of History through the power of the 'Gravestone'."

Just as every Shoreguard leader throughout history possessed the "The Fool’s Library" as their final trump card—

Though the Gravekeepers had their Fireseed stolen by the Shoreguards, with their accumulation stretching from the Age of Gods until now, how could they only have "The Fool’s Library" as their sole foundation?

"Gravestone".

Or rather, its full name—"Eternal Night Stele".

It was the final foundation of the Gravekeepers, ranked even higher than "The Fool’s Library", and the true origin of the name "Gravekeeper".

As long as one's life source imprint was engraved upon the Gravestone, even if they died in the present, they could still return from the River of History through that imprint left behind.

Of course, such a resurrection came at a steep price—perhaps a long sleep or a prolonged period of recovery would be necessary to return to peak condition.

Yet even so, the existence of the "Gravestone" meant that every Legendary among the Gravekeepers possessed nearly limitless chances to correct failure.

This was what Noah had referred to when recruiting Rast—that so-called opportunity of "Eternal Immortality".

Even in death, one could return from the River of History… such a conceptual ability was already nearly indistinguishable from true "eternity".

This was the greatest source of Noah’s confidence in descending to the Present World.

While he had split off half of his spiritual power to create a Legendary Incarnation, even after his main body was killed once and had to rely on the Eternal Night Stele to return from history in a weakened state, he could still barely maintain his Legendary position.

If not for such a trump card, how could he dare to orchestrate a solo hunt against the bearer of The Fool’s Library without support?

Boom—

Emerald brilliance surged out of control.

The massive yet somewhat illusory ancient tree reappeared once more, and countless emerald lights transformed into branches and vines, mercilessly sweeping toward where Sisel stood.

Though Noah had resurrected through the Gravestone, his power had diminished considerably and required a long recovery and slumber to return to his prime.

But Sisel's current physical condition was even worse—his body, aged to the end of its lifespan, found it difficult even to remain standing.

Then, without the slightest resistance—

Countless branches and vines pierced through Sisel’s paper-thin, fragile elderly frame, penetrating and slicing through every joint and muscle, locking him completely.

Only after all this did Noah stop.

The Meteor Sword that destroyed his Incarnation of Bounty during that mysterious descent into the Nether Abyss, and the Supernova Explosion unleashed just now by Sisel, had left Noah with lingering trauma like PTSD.

He genuinely feared that even in this exhausted, burnt-out state, Sisel might still pull another stunt.

Only by completely stripping the opponent of all ability to act, as he had just done, could he truly feel at ease.

Yet, as he looked at Noah—who had just experienced a literal death and resurrection—and at Sisel, whose already aged body had been dealt another devastating blow, the old man suddenly gave a weak smile.

Even though performing a simple "smile" was taxing for his frail body, the laughter in Sisel’s voice bore not a hint of falsehood:

"Looks like… you really did underestimate me."

"Every Gravekeeper who engraves their soul imprint on the Eternal Night Stele can return from the distant River of History through the power of the Gravestone."

"This was a secret discovered back during the era when the first Fire Thief rebelled against the Gravekeepers, countless epochs ago."

"Although that first generation Shoreguard perished in the Fire Theft War… the secrets he uncovered, the intelligence on the Gravekeepers he exchanged with his life, were recorded in The Fool’s Library and passed down to this day."

On Sisel’s deeply wrinkled, furrowed face now appeared a smile—wild and arrogant: "As long as the imprint on the Gravestone is not destroyed, then even in death, one can return from history…"

"That’s truly a shameless ability—shameless to the point of being nearly impossible to counter… We Shoreguards only have one life. A single failure means eternal damnation, while you can fail countless times and start over again."

"If the war between the Shoreguards and the Gravekeepers is a game designed by humans, then the game designer must be insane. There’s absolutely no balance between the two sides."

"But—"

"No matter how shameless the rules, no matter how impossible the deadlock… after I spent my entire life researching and contemplating it, pondering endlessly through starless nights..."

"For nearly a millennium, how could I possibly… remain stagnant like filth such as you?"

Though his body was no different from bones in a grave, Sisel’s gaze remained calm as still water—yet beneath that water raged storm and thunder.

"So, exalted Gravekeeper—"

"Just what made you believe—"

"That the Supernova Explosion just now… was the end of everything?"

Listening to Sisel’s words, Noah once again swept his gaze around.

But across the entire pitch-black sea—

Apart from the galaxy slowly rippling and converging, formed from countless fragments of star cores, there was no other movement.

Within the Legendary perception of Noah, the words of the visibly exhausted Sisel could only be described as mystifying…

The Legendary Realm had an insurmountable limit… and that scorching Supernova Explosion had already drained a Legendary of all his strength.

Now, in a state of total exhaustion, Sisel could barely move, while Noah, who had complete control of the battlefield, would never allow the opponent to repeat that attack again.

Yet, as he watched Noah warily scanning the surroundings, completely unaware of what was about to happen—

The sneer on Sisel’s aged face only deepened.

"To be honest, there were times in my long life when I also wavered and doubted."

"I questioned whether the moth-to-flame persistence of the Shoreguards had any meaning. I asked myself… whether everything we did was courage—or just pure recklessness."

"I even considered, perhaps we should bide our time like you Gravekeepers, endure and gather strength in secret, waiting until the moment was right before launching a final strike..."

"And that all the civilizations and humans who perished during that waiting period across countless epochs were simply necessary sacrifices for the greater good."

"Only, now—I no longer carry such thoughts."

He looked down upon Noah at the edge of the flowing galaxy. In his eyes was ridicule, and beneath that ridicule—a deeper pity.

"To dwell long upon heights is to lose one’s original heart… and once a pair of eyes grows accustomed to the darkness, it can no longer tolerate the light."

"You claim yourselves to be the Watchers of Civilization, but in truth, the current Gravekeepers are no different from prisoners—accustomed to endurance, to surviving in disgrace, and even treating that disgrace as an inviolable rule… even to the extent of ruthlessly suppressing and eradicating their own kind who refuse to be caged."

"So, even though you possess treasures like the 'Eternal Night Stele', with powerful Spiritual Power—that is, computational power—along with virtually unlimited time and lifespan, and the countless treasures of knowledge left behind by past civilizations… that which was the dream of countless scholars and scientists across history."

"Yet through the six full Eras from the Age of Gods until now, you have sat atop wealth and privilege, squandering the hoarded bounty."

"Tens of thousands of years—enough time for humankind to evolve from cave-dwelling, raw-meat-eating apes into the intelligent, ruling sovereigns of today… and yet you alone have remained stagnant for tens of thousands of years."

Sisel paused slightly, the mockery at the corner of his lips deepening.

"So in the future world, even a student with some exposure to the subject should know that after a 'Supernova Explosion'... what is about to come next."

"And yet you, despite living tens of thousands of years, are utterly lost and clueless."

"Because you have long grown accustomed to life in a cage. What you’ve desperately pursued isn’t 'freedom', but merely the exchange of one 'small cage' for a 'larger cage'."

"As the future of humanity—"

"You are unqualified."

The fragmented words echoed across the Lightless Sea and the silver-blue river that stretched across it.

As if a whisper, yet also like a judgment upon Noah’s fate.

In the next moment, the slowly flowing galaxy suddenly accelerated.

Countless fragments of star cores, still carrying residual radiation heat, pulsed and flickered within the galaxy as silver waves surged.

Tens of millions of tons of seawater slowly rotated, spiraling toward the star core remnant that had expended all its energy and was now gradually cooling in the ocean depths.

When the most blazing and magnificent act of a star’s life concludes, when all the Light and Heat of a 'Supernova Explosion' have cooled in the vast cosmic void—

Within the remnant of the star core returning to coldness and stillness—

What naturally begins to take shape—

Can only be the deepest "Black Hole".