Chapter 170: 0 Seconds, Instant Kill!
What\'s going on??
Countless NPCs widened their eyes, standing in place, stunned.
The blood-red storm unleashed by Octavius suddenly halted! It weakened at an incredibly fast pace.
It was as if the scene had been edited. One second everything was normal, with the emperor displaying his formidable power, and the next second, the storm had ceased, and all was silent.
The red liquid forming the blood storm dissipated smoothly, as if flushed down a drain.
At the same time, the core of the storm finally revealed two...
No, it was half a person plus one person plus another half!
There were no visual effects from Nathan\'s skills. Octavius somehow met his demise within his own [Mountain Shatter]!
People saw Nathan standing calmly, with his various wounds healing continuously under the influence of his blood-sucking ability.
In his right hand, he held a corpse like a ragdoll. Who could it be if not the emperor of the Divine Mountain Empire?
And in Nathan\'s left hand, the emperor\'s head looked smug, as if it was about to claim victory by slaying a powerful enemy.
Visually, it appeared as if Nathan\'s figure was flanked by two halves of the emperor.
Then...
Splat!
With a slight exertion, Nathan crushed the head of the great emperor of the Divine Mountain Empire, who had sacrificed countless descendants to reach his perfect state.
The head exploded into a mass of blood.
A legendary being\'s vitality was already incredibly tenacious. Even if only a head remained, they could survive for a long time.
But now, the head was gone.
Octavius was dead!
...
The silence was deafening.
Firstly, because everything happened so quickly—from Octavius holding the upper hand to Nathan\'s sudden reappearance and instant killing of the emperor, it only took one or two seconds. Over 90% of that time was Nathan posing with Octavius\'s head.
Secondly, the countless NPCs, players, and even the demi-god Felicia present found it hard to accept this reality...
The blood storm\'s winds stirred up, causing pebbles to roll across the ground.
As time ticked by, countless NPCs and players watched Nathan throw the other half of Octavius\'s body to the ground and pick up a colorful orb.
He then slowly walked towards the Black Armor Army, snapping his fingers to instantly kill another ten or so soldiers.
During this time, the soldiers stood like lambs awaiting slaughter, meekly in place, offering no resistance. Even the generals with third class strength witnessed the scene without reacting, or rather, they dared not react.
Nathan shook his head and muttered, "The mission\'s over, so they\'re not considered enemies anymore? No loot?"
He then approached the surviving princes and princesses.
"What... what are you going to do?"
No one dared to stop him, no one dared to obstruct him!
The usually responsible Fourth Prince stood there trembling, unable to speak.
Only the unfortunate prince, whom Nathan approached, stammered incoherently as he backed away. He fell to the ground, kicking up dust as he desperately tried to distance himself.
Nathan seemed to do something. He first said, "Just a precaution," and the prince\'s figure instantly vanished, as if erased from existence.
With a swift movement, Nathan disappeared.
It seemed everything had come to an end.
But for the people and players of the Divine Mountain Empire...
They still didn\'t dare to move, not at all!
They stood there, their bodies stiff, and what they saw was—
Throughout the capital, buildings lay shattered and disordered from their own emperor\'s attacks. The ground was scarred by various energy storms, and many streets had turned into complete ruins.
A sense of desolation welled up in everyone\'s hearts.
In the sky, several vultures began to descend, pecking at the corpses of fallen soldiers.
However, the elite Black Armor Army of the Divine Mountain Empire, who should have been collecting the bodies of their comrades, stood frozen, unable to move.
This scene of despair lasted for several minutes.
People began to realize that Nathan had truly left, and then chaos erupted as they rushed forward to Octavius\'s body. "Impossible! This must be fake!"
"No! How could the emperor lose?"
"His Majesty couldn\'t lose, he\'s a legend!"
...
Several officials knelt by Octavius\'s body, weeping uncontrollably and babbling incoherently, as if driven mad.
Then, a third class general of the Black Armor Army rushed forward with a fierce look in his eyes. "Fake! This is just an illusion!"
"The emperor might have been teleported elsewhere and is still fighting the enemy!"
With that, he drew his sword and slashed at Octavius\'s corpse.
"Break for me!"
However, despite the general\'s furious strike, the result was merely—
Clang!
The blade struck the legendary armor, bouncing off instantly.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
But the general was not ready to give up. He slashed several more times until, with a final snap, his standard-issue Black Armor Army long sword shattered!
In his subconscious, he realized that the corpse was genuine! Even though its owner was dead, the legendary armor still functioned...
No enemy would leave behind a legendary armor just for a disguise, right??
Thud!
The general dropped to his knees, utterly dejected, staring at Octavius\'s body, completely breaking down. "Your Majesty, how could you abandon us?"
In his despair, a green light blade ignited in his palm. The next second, he thrust it into his own heart.
The general committed suicide to follow his emperor!
Thud~
As another body hit the already battered ground, countless people of the Divine Mountain Empire and the present players seemed to awaken from a trance.
First, the players swallowed hard.
"Did Octavius really get killed??"
"What kind of move was that? It ended before I could even react."
"And it seemed like the old emperor of the Divine Mountain Empire had no resistance left after his ultimate move!"
"Damn, he\'s a real killer. Lucky we didn\'t try to finish him off ourselves!"
"So, did we just waste our surrender? We lost a mission reward for nothing??"
"That... divine being seemed to leave right after killing. If we had held out a bit longer, we could\'ve gotten a bunch of free rewards and completed the rebel quest line. What a loss!"
...
The players first marveled at the mysterious player\'s strength, each of them trembling with fear. Those in the third class felt that Octavius had saved their lives. If not for the emperor\'s final move making it impossible for the players to intervene and steal the kill, they might have been slaughtered by Nathan as well!
However, the players couldn\'t help but mutter, feeling a bit impatient...
If only they had held on a bit longer! They could\'ve gotten the mission rewards for free.
Nearby, hearing these discussions, a group of Divine Mountain Empire NPCs glared at them with fury.
Yet, the players mocked without hesitation, "What are you staring at? Want me to cut you down too?"
"Your emperor\'s dead, and you\'re still giving us attitude? Do you want to die?"
...
Instantly, the NPCs retreated in fear, not daring to say another word.
At this moment, with Octavius, the legendary figure of the Divine Mountain Empire, dead, the remaining two legends were still guarding the borders, and the demigod was in closed-door seclusion.
The third class players had become the strongest force, only kept in check by elite or boss-tier third class generals. Even then, if the players wanted to escape, they might not be able to stop them.
The NPCs, fearing retaliation from these otherworldly beings...
The people of the Divine Mountain Empire could only look to their former leader among the players—the Fourth Prince.
But the prince was standing there, staring blankly at his father\'s corpse, alternating between crying and laughing.
As the Fourth Prince\'s eerie sobs echoed, soon the crowd joined in with their weeping. The old emperor\'s prestige was indeed immense.
The commoners, nobles, officials, and soldiers of the Divine Mountain Empire couldn\'t help but shed tears of confusion and sorrow.
"Your Majesty, how could you leave us first!"
"The empire still needs you!"
"What kind of person... why would they do such a thing?"
They wailed.
Yet, when it came to Nathan, they were filled with rage but did not dare to speak out. Though their hearts were full of curses, wishing to peel his skin and eat his flesh, they didn\'t dare voice a single word.
Even now, everything seemed too absurd to them.
In an instant, the emperor, who was about to defeat a powerful enemy, had perished!
...
"I heard the Divine Mountain Empire\'s capital is on lockdown. How about we use our invitations to meet on the Rainbow Ship separately?" Sterl messaged Faye while he was near an intermediate base close to the Holy Empire\'s capital.
Faye didn\'t reply.
Sterl wasn\'t surprised, thinking she might still be immersed in the shocking events at the Divine Mountain Empire\'s capital and hadn\'t checked her personal panel yet, which was reasonable.
Sterl quickly used his authority to open a training room in the base.
Entering the room, he sat down on a meditation mat and first looked at his personal panel, where notifications were flooding the screen—
[You have killed a Divine Mountain Empire Black Armor Army elite soldier, obtaining Star Crystal *1.]
[You have killed a Divine Mountain Empire Black Armor Army...]
...
[You have killed a Divine Mountain Empire Black Armor Army general, obtaining Star Crystal *4.]
[You have killed...]
...
There were over a hundred notifications just for killing Black Armor Army soldiers and obtaining Star Crystals!