Chapter 169: The Law of Flowing Water, Manipulating Blood Qi

Just as everyone was cheering for Nathan's imminent defeat.

Octavius listened quietly to the cheers below, a slight smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

He gathered a gigantic blood sword once more. This time, Octavius did not release [Mountain Shatter], but instead charged straight at Nathan.

Due to being repeatedly attacked by long-range skills, many of Nathan's abilities had missed their mark. Only a few had hit Octavius, and his life-stealing abilities hadn't been able to activate much. Nathan's body was now covered in scars, mud all over him, looking extremely disheveled.

With an air of righteousness, Octavius said, "Warrior of the enemy nation, I grant you a death befitting a strong warrior!"

He then raised his giant sword high and lunged forward!

At that moment, Sterl's eyes lit up suddenly.

"Finally, I've been waiting for this, haven't I?" His expression was somewhat excited. Dragging it out any longer, and his life force reservoir would be nearly depleted.

Sterl had even hesitated, contemplating whether to directly unleash the Moon Law and just end the Emperor in one blow.

Fortunately, his patience paid off!

Octavius and Sterl were similar types of fighters, both loving to show off!

As the Emperor charged forward, Sterl cunningly maintained the appearance of being heavily injured and moving sluggishly.

Seeing this, Octavius became even more enthusiastic. The blood energy enveloping his sword surged more violently, kicking up chaotic gusts of wind!

Although the NPCs of the Divine Mountain Empire below were immune to damage, they were still blinded by the swirling sand and blood mist, having to shield their eyes with their hands.

The stronger ones glanced at the Emperor's giant sword, which was once again slashing towards the ground. It was still [Mountain Shatter], a golden-quality skill from the same arcane lineage of Divine Mountain Empire.

However, after Octavius had repeatedly sacrificed his descendants, the nature of this move had undergone a tremendous change.

At this moment, the Emperor, using his giant sword, painted a picture of apocalypse. The terrifying blood storm was denser than ever before!

The entire capital of the Divine Mountain Empire seemed to transform into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

This time, although Octavius was engaging in close combat intending to kill his enemy, he knew he couldn't let Nathan drain his blood. Otherwise, it would only turn the tide in Nathan's favor.

Octavius mobilized his strongest wave of blood energy with full force, aiming to achieve a decisive victory in one strike, to utterly annihilate the enemy warrior!

And then...

"Haah!" With the Emperor's roar, the terrifying blood energy didn't spread out wildly but rather collapsed inward rapidly, continuously solidifying and condensing!

The power became increasingly terrifying! Astonishing!

Nathan, seemingly too injured to dodge in time, was struck directly by Octavius's attack.

Seeing this, the Emperor let out a small sigh of relief. Though compressing his blood energy to its limit increased its power, it also made it easier to evade. He had even prepared to expend significant mental energy to track his opponent, but hitting Nathan so easily was unexpected.

"Die!" Octavius roared.

The blood storm, now only covering an area of about a few dozen square meters, engulfed both Octavius and Nathan.

If the previous storm was a semi-transparent airflow, this blood storm had now turned into extremely dense liquid, forming blades or tentacle-like creations that slashed at everything madly!

The density of the blood energy made it impossible for the outside world to observe or sense what was happening within the storm.

Sterl could ascertain from the chaotic energy that unless a god-level warrior were present, it would be impossible to detect the situation within [Mountain Shatter]!

This was a judgment Sterl dared to make after having experienced ascension to godhood!

And at this moment...

Octavius, also enveloped in the chaotic blood energy, felt his body continually tearing apart due to the intense force, but the blood energy quickly healed all his injuries.

Squelch!

Squelch!

Squelch!

Accompanied by the relentless sound of blades piercing flesh, Octavius, within a mere instant, was riddled with wounds!

This was only the beginning...

As wounds formed on Octavius's body, Sterl's thoughts moved.

The blood within Octavius transformed into a terrifying force, merging with the blood energy that had already pierced his body. Like thousands of steel needles, it shredded all the emperor's internal organs and flesh into fragments!

Intense pain and the weakness brought by the rapid loss of life surged through him, but with his thoughts frozen, Octavius had no reaction. He stood there, dazed, with even the arrogant expression on his face unchanged.

...

Meanwhile, the NPCs and players outside had no clue about the gravity of the situation.

In their view, the heavily injured Nathan was still engulfed by Octavius's full-force attack.

"Is it finally over?"

"That Law Power was wasted on him."

"It would have been so much better if it was given to you."

Among the players, Felicia was furiously ranting in her mind.

She could tell that the enemy warrior's law seemed related to controlling water and liquids.

This Law Power would be perfect for Faye!

The girl's ability was to control various water flows in combat, while Felicia, her ancestor, was more adept at wielding the power of frost.

Felicia also held a method to enter the [Frost Realm], which could help Faye eventually condense the [Frost Law]. However, [Frost] was definitely less suited for Faye compared to the Flowing Water Law that Nathan wielded!

Felicia felt pained and regretful just thinking about it!

"I don't have a body right now, and the divine essence fragments that depended on a body have all dissipated."

"Even if that enemy player dies, his Law Power will just return to the world. I can't even burn my soul power to try and snatch it."

She muttered, feeling extremely frustrated!

As for the other players, they, like most NPCs, concluded that—

It was over!

Facing such a terrifying move, Nathan, who didn't dodge in time, was undoubtedly dead.

There wouldn't even be a whole corpse left; he would be torn to pieces by the blood storm. The players abandoned any thoughts of stepping in to finish him off and claim drops.

Instead, they prepared to join the Divine Mountain Empire's NPCs in singing praises and honoring the emperor.

By now, some quick-reacting NPCs and officers had already begun shouting.

"Long live the Emperor! The Emperor is invincible!"

Soon, everyone was caught up in the fervor, ready to shout countless words of praise.

But just when the atmosphere had reached its peak.

Suddenly—