I, the final BOSS of the beta test server!

Click.

It was the sound of something breaking, echoing throughout the silent Frozen Water Town.

Gray, who was desperately fighting against the crazy whispers in her mind and maintaining her self-will from being eroded, opened her eyes blankly.

Then, he saw a tiny crack suddenly appear in the center of the night sky, the source of countless threads - the twisting and wriggling flesh and blood moon.

At first, the crack was so slight that it could not be noticed without careful observation.

But after a few breaths, the crack expanded rapidly and soon covered the entire moon disk.

boom--

The moment the crack appeared, the illusory blood moon dimmed a little.

Half of the silk threads hanging from the sky also broke.

At the same time, the blood mist that enveloped the two of them began to violently run wild as if stimulated by something.

Gray, who had originally focused on corruption, had completely abandoned it. The blood mist that had previously enveloped the entire Frozen Water Town area was gradually fading away.

Just like the receding tide in the evening, the houses and streets that were originally covered by the blood mist soon became visible.

The seemingly endless crazy mumbling and corruption in Gray's ears also disappeared at this moment.

But corresponding to this——

In the distance, next to the young man who was silently holding the sniper rifle.

The blood mist continued to condense and gather, almost solidifying into substance.

Then, it turned into black fireworks and started burning directly.

The source of the pollution is afraid—

Because it was contaminated by a trace of the evil god's aura, it was transformed from a dead object into a pollutant. After it was fully activated, it was also given the concept of life.

Just like living things, they have the instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm, and to be afraid of death.

All along, the source of pollution has been lurking in Dongshui Town, using silk threads to corrupt and erode the spirit, turning each invader into its own puppet, because no one can really harm its body.

As for the puppets being killed and consumed by invaders, that is just a trivial matter... Anyway, as long as the invaders are corrupted, new puppets will be replenished.

But at this moment——

In front of Last's sniper rifle, in front of the bullet that was as dazzling as a lighthouse, piercing through the night sky and blood mist, and could not be escaped no matter how the direction was changed.

At the source of pollution in Dongshui Town, people heard the whispers of death for the first time and felt the crisis of life.

Although it was difficult to understand why this young man, who had injured his own eyes and could only sense a second-level aura... and was far weaker than any previous invader, could unleash such a terrifying attack that left no escape.

However, the instinct for survival after being activated made the source of pollution even give up coveting the power of destiny that had been eroded by half and was within reach of Gray.

To survive.

Using whatever means necessary, he poured all the remaining blood mist into Last's body.

At all costs, it must kill this young man whom it had previously ignored and neglected.

Under unlimited concentration and unlimited squeezing.

The blood mist that was originally like gas and had no substance has now condensed into a pitch-black flame.

Like a cancer attached to his bones, the black flames madly wrapped around Last.

Under the influence of the black flame, Last's hair and the blood in his eyes were quickly annihilated by the extreme heat and curse.

Even his body was burning rapidly, his skin was burned away, and his flesh and blood were also burned together.

……

Freed from the constraints of crazy mumbling and blood mist, Gray was finally freed and regained her freedom.

The moment she regained her ability to move, she ran like mad towards the center of the black flames in the distance.

However, he had only taken two steps.

The black flames suddenly gathered again and converged like a whirlpool.

Then, in the next moment, it exploded like a erupting corona.

Gray's thin body had no time to resist before being knocked over by the high-temperature fire wind that erupted from the source of pollution.

The high temperature in the fire scene had already caused a terrible storm due to the temperature difference. The wind pressure pressed Gray tightly to the ground, making it impossible for her to move.

The only thing she could do was to forcefully open her eyes under the wind pressure and watch everything that was happening in the black flames.

It was a dark tide of fire.

In the center of the fire tide, part of Rast's body had been burned.

First the skin, then the relatively soft belly.

Until the end, one could even see bronze-colored bones from the charred flesh.

But Rast's movements remained steady, without even the slightest wavering.

It is difficult for ordinary people to imagine how much pain it would be to be burned by flames. Even the most well-trained special forces soldiers would not be able to perform complete movements in such circumstances.

This is a human's conditioned reflex, just like when you touch something hot, you will subconsciously pull your hand back.

But for Last, this feeling of being burned by high temperature was already commonplace.

In the cycle of Deep Blue Harbor, during that phase of numbness, pursuit of excitement and self-destruction... he had thrown himself into the molten steel of the ironworks countless times, carefully feeling the whole process of his limbs and torso being burned by the molten iron.

But at this moment, it was just a replica of the past, and even his physiological instincts had been overcome by him.

He ejected the old shell from the magazine of the Seventh Field of View, then reloaded the ammunition and used his sixth sense to calibrate the direction.

Finally, Rast used the one whose skin and most of the flesh had been burned off——

Only the last few nerves, tendons and bones of the index finger remain to pull the trigger.

boom.

The muzzle of the sniper rifle was raised again, emitting a bright flame.

Its barrel had been burned red by the high temperature. If it were not for the "Heraldry Dress" that had been sublimated by the night world, it would have exploded due to the overheating barrel.

But the pointed bullet transformed from the eyes was finally fired.

The light like a beacon shines again.

It pierced through the blood mist and the dark night sky, and even the light of the blood moon was briefly obscured.

However, this time, the light from the bullet's trajectory was no longer pure white, but the same blood-red color as the fog, as if carrying the weight of hatred and fate.

Carrying the last warmth of the souls of thousands of deceased, he ignored the constantly changing direction and surging blood mist.

Precisely, it penetrated the core of the blood mist, the source of all pollution.

……

After a breath of silence.

Above the sky, the cracked blood moon shattered.

It turned into countless scattered light spots with a vermilion glow.

Followed by.

The world also disintegrated——

Light is distorted, time and space are reversed.

The whole world, including houses, towns, and the night sky, was shattered.

Gray tried hard to keep her eyes open in the fire wind.

But the last thing she saw was a young man whose flesh and blood were almost burned away, leaving only bronze bones standing there holding a huge sniper rifle.

He stood in the tide of black flames, in the firelight like sunrise.

Gray wanted to run forward like crazy.

The dark curtain of fire parted under her feet like the sea, as if it was a coincidence created by fate.

Unconsciously, Gray finally grasped the power of destiny that was hidden in her body but she had never been able to fully control.

However, when she finally got closer, stepping on the black flames, she found that the boy's broken figure had turned into thousands of scattered points of light, shattered in the night that came from nowhere.

The next moment, time distorted.

Then he took everything to another place.

……

When Grey opened her eyes again, she found herself under a bright and clear sky.

What comes into view is not the endless darkness and fog, but the blue sky.

She was in the wilderness, amidst the ruins of a huge town.

Collapsed bell towers, dilapidated houses, damaged walls, wooden floors reeking of decay, tavern signs so corroded they barely discernible words, streets covered in dust...

Gray could vaguely make out the outline of the former Frozen Water Town from the ruins before her.

However, when she subconsciously reached out and wanted to touch a book on the bookshelf in front of her.

The moment Gray's fingers touched the book, it turned into dust and collapsed.

This is the effect of weathering. Over a long period of time, everything here has been corroded, leaving only a broken appearance.

This is the real Frozen Water Town.

In the ever-distorted time, everything in Frozen Water Town has gone through decades of time, and the once prosperous town has long been weathered into dilapidated ruins.

The small town that was once filled with people and laughter... was nothing more than a recurring dream of the past, created by Gray's distortion of time.

And now, the dream is over.

Everything returns to reality.

Gray stood on the dilapidated ruins in the wilderness, lost in thought for a long time.

pat.

Something fell from her arms and landed on the ground with a dull sound.

Gray came to her senses and picked up the fallen object.

The lines of the waves were engraved on the silver badge with rough lines.

Not far from the line, there is a pair of simple silver wings that surround the coastline.

This is the wing emblem of the shorekeeper, covered with scratches and scorched marks from the flames of the fire.

It was also the last gift that Luster left for Grey during their late-night conversation.

Gray carefully held the rather worn-looking Shore Guardian wing emblem in her palm.

There was still a faint warmth on the badge, as if it was the lingering warmth left by the boy.

She closed her eyes.

The beam of light that pierced the blood mist and the figure in the last scene appeared in my mind again.

The boy's broken figure stood in the firelight, and the remains of his body in the black flames glowed with bronze.

……

"So, Gray... you still don't understand the Shore Guardian enough."

"They're just a bunch of lunatics desperately trying to make their big claims and sound good."

……

"It's a pair of shackles, a chain, and even more so, a curse."

"Don't talk about becoming a shore guardian until you've made up your mind to bear this curse."

……

Brother Rast’s words seemed to still ring in my ears.

After a long time, Gray opened her eyes again.

She stared at the damaged shore-guard wing emblem in her hand, and a faint light flickered in her emerald green eyes.