I, the Final Boss of the Beta Server!

Chapter 25: I Jump First, Then You Jump

Shiltina halted before the towering watchtower.

Though they were in a port city, this was the first time she had been so close to the sea since entering the Nightworld.

At the same time, she heard the sound of crazed laughter faintly interwoven with the crashing of the waves.

The Iron Crosses were chasing after them again.

That starlight which had once pierced the earth had only frightened them temporarily—it could not last.

The Iron Crosses were intelligent.

Once they recovered from their fear, they quickly deduced that such a devastating light must have exacted a massive toll on Shiltina.

She was now only a spent force.

Indeed, Shiltina could no longer unleash the Nightblade’s 「True Name Liberation」.

Her silver sword was already riddled with fine cracks and could shatter at any moment from a simple swing.

Shiltina listened to the tremors of the earth.

She knew that in just a few dozen seconds, the fanatical Iron Crosses would surge forth like an inky tide, surrounding them once again as they had done to Rast.

But when she looked around, Shiltina found no other path of escape.

She slowly adjusted her breathing.

“What do we do next?”

Rast pointed at the watchtower that loomed straight ahead.

“Up there.”

…

Thud thud thud—

Shiltina rushed into the watchtower with Rast, ascending the spiraling stairs at speed.

The watchtower had clearly been abandoned for a long time.

The iron steps were covered in rust and moss.

As they climbed, layers of dust fell away in a soft cascade.

“I’m actually a bit surprised.”

“I didn’t expect to be acknowledged as your companion.”

Rast chuckled.

“I thought a noble young lady like you, pampered in the academy, would instinctively reject or even loathe someone like me—”

“Especially after seeing me blow up half a city just to stop the Descent of the Evil God.”

“In the eyes of most people, that’s no different from genocide, right?”

“Some might even say ‘the Iron Crosses have lives too’...”

“Aren’t you worried you’ve released an uncontrollable madman from the Nightworld?”

“Seems I’ve been underestimated.”

Shiltina looked at the ever-shortening stairwell above, her voice echoing within the enclosed tower.

“Let’s not forget this is only a remnant of the Nightworld’s history, not a real city.”

“Even if everything in Deep Blue Port were real, what you did would still be the exact measure Starfall University would take—”

“Destroy calamities in the cradle, at all costs, without hesitation or regard for sacrifice.”

Rast raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised.

“Seems you lot are even more extreme than I imagined.”

“Of course we are.”

“Otherwise, I wouldn’t have awakened the Nightblade, nor become a Night Traveler.”

“I’m not the only one.”

Shiltina’s steps paused at the end of the spiral staircase, then she reached out and pushed open the iron door at the top.

“Every Night Traveler who has forsaken a glamorous identity in the outer world to walk in this lawless, amoral Nightworld...”

“Who keeps company with echoes of history, madness, and corruption...”

“In the eyes of others, they’re nothing more than deranged outcasts and fanatics.”

…

The iron door creaked open, and Shiltina stepped onto the tower’s observation platform.

The heavy rain had stopped, leaving only a misty drizzle in the air.

The setting sun surged like a tide into her vision.

In the distance, the massive solar disk had already touched the sea.

Below the tower was a sheer cliff.

Tens of millions of tons of seawater churned beneath it, waves smashing against the dark rocks, exploding into white spray.

Shiltina walked to the edge of the platform.

She gazed down at the sea dyed crimson by the sun’s final light.

The wind whipped up the skirt of her knight’s uniform, flapping it noisily in the high air.

Only now did she understand what backup plan Rast had meant.

Behind them, the spiral staircase trembled once again—the pursuers had arrived.

From afar, they too resembled a sea—a black ocean formed by countless Iron Crosses.

And the watchtower where Shiltina and Rast stood was but a lone island in that ocean.

The sadistic creatures were now climbing the spiraling staircase, and in just a few minutes they would reach the platform.

Shiltina and Rast had nowhere left to run.

This was a place with neither sky nor earth—no way up, no path down.

Their only escape was the roaring sea below the cliff.

“Your backup plan is jumping into the sea?”

Shiltina’s gaze swept over the jagged cliffs, estimating the height of the watchtower and the drop from the cliff to the sea.

It had to be over sixty meters—possibly even more than seventy.

“You do realize, right? From this height, hitting the water is almost as bad as slamming into concrete.”

“I know.”

“But aren’t you a war chariot? That height shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

“Then what about you? What are you going to do?”

Shiltina turned slightly to face Rast.

The amber hue of her eyes reflected the blood-red afterglow of the setting sun.

The serum’s effects had worn off.

The terrifying black crosses were receding from Rast’s body, revealing his original pale skin.

Clearly, the Iron Cross’s enhanced physique and regeneration had faded.

He had turned back into an ordinary boy.

“Don’t tell me you plan to sacrifice yourself again.”

A faint smile tugged at Rast’s bloodless face.

“Since I still owe Miss Shiltina 1,600 Koer, I don’t plan to die that easily before paying it off.”

“So, you’ve practiced high diving?”

“Not exactly.”

“But my parkour is top-tier. One of the techniques I’ve honed through countless battle royales—right up there with my sharpshooting.”

“The momentum-dispersing tricks from rooftop parkour share principles with high diving.”

Shiltina stared hard into Rast’s eyes.

Only when she confirmed that he wasn’t lying did she relent.

“In that case, I’ll jump first and catch you below—then you jump after.”

“Deal?”

The moment Rast nodded, Shiltina leapt, vaulting over the observation deck’s railing.

She vanished into the surging waves beneath the tower.

“Feels like the order we’re jumping in is a bit different from how they write it in movie scripts.”

Rast gave a wry smile.

He listened to the approaching footsteps behind him—then stepped forward.

Seconds later, the Iron Crosses burst through the door, searching aimlessly across the observation platform.

But all that greeted them was the sheer cliff and the thunderous sea.

There was no longer a trace of either Rast or Shiltina.