After Elliot crossed the dimensional wall for the unknown number of times and rubbed the poor (or perhaps not so poor) "Dog Author" against the keyboard for a full hour.
The comical characters who had invaded the Teyvat Continent like a virusBugs Bunny, Tom, Jerry, and even the clowns of the Vinsmoke family
finally flickered a few times like a video that had been unplugged, carrying expressions of unwillingness and unfinished pranks, before completely vanishing into thin air.
The world instantly felt clean and peaceful.
"Hoo... I'm exhausted..."
Elliot let out a long sigh of relief and stretched exaggeratedly, as if he had just completed a world-saving feat.
He casually pulled off the toilet plunger that was still stuck on his head and wobbling with his movements, tossing it aside in disgust. The plunger rolled a few times on the grass, leaving a subtle trail of scent.
Matt tilted his huge head, his honest face full of confusion: "Elliot, how long did you... beat up the Author this time?"
"Not too much, not too little, exactly one hour!"
Elliot rubbed his slightly sore arms, and a flush of anger immediately rose on his face.
"It's all because of that damn thing! He actually dared to fight back! And he even... he even used this thing to poke me!"
He pointed at the filthy toilet plunger on the ground, hopping mad.
"A scholar can be killed but not humiliated! Can an author just do whatever they want?!"
Jesse listened with great interest, leaning forward to ask: "That's brutal! What happened next? How did you get revenge?"
Elliot immediately showed a smile mixed with wickedness, smugness, and extreme unscrupulousness, lowering his voice as if sharing a brilliant secret plan: "Next? Heh heh... I paid him back in his own coin!"
"I also found a toilet plunger, but... I added a little'special seasoning' to mine"
"It was a mix of Blazing Axe Mitachurl sweat, the essence of slime condensate, and a little bit of aged grime scraped from between Matt's toes!"
"When he wasn't looking, I accurately poked him right in the face! That taste... tsk tsk tsk..."
"Hiss!!!"
Everyone watching, including Zane, Jesse, Matt, and even Lumine and Paimon nearby, simultaneously gasped, as if they could feel the "fragrance" and despair rushing toward them across the dimensional wall.
"Vicious! Too vicious!"
Jesse covered his nose and retreated repeatedly, looking at Elliot with eyes full of awe (and a little bit of disgust).
Zane adjusted his mask and sighed with a complex tone: "Aren't you... being a bit too harsh on the Author? Aren't you afraid he'll hold a grudge and sabotage you in later plotlines, or arrange something even more ridiculous to deal with you?"
"How dare he!"
Hearing this, Elliot was not afraid; instead, he put his hands on his hips and let out a standard villainous three-stage laugh aimed at the sky: "Hahaha! What a joke! Forget a mere Author! Even if a Reader came here and dared to give reckless orders, I, Great Master Elliot, would beat them up without fail! Hahahaha!!!"
His laughter echoed across the empty field, full of the arrogance that said, "Heaven is first, I am second."
However, as he laughed, Elliot felt that something was wrong.
It was... too quiet around him.
He stopped laughing and blinked in confusion, realizing that the companions who had just been surrounding him were now nowhere to be seen.
"Huh? Where is everyone?"
Elliot looked left and right, only to see Zane, Jesse, Matt, Lumine, Paimon, and even the Wolf King standing neatly on a small hill in the distance, staring at him as if he were a barrel of dynamite about to explode.
"Wait! Why are you standing so far away?!"
Elliot shouted in dissatisfaction, completely unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
"Hurry up and come over! The crisis is over! We can have a celebration feast!"
In response to Elliot's call, Zane silently pulled out a massive megaphone from behind him, took a deep breath, and shouted with all his might toward Elliot:
"Idiot!!! You're courting death!!! Don't drag us down with you!!!"
The sound was like rolling thunder, making Elliot's ears ring.
Before Elliot could figure out what Zane meant, Jesse snatched the megaphone and added in a more urgent and terrified voice:
"Look!!! Above!!! Your head!!!"
"Huh?"
Elliot was stunned by the two shouts. Subconsciously, with a trace of confusion and the nonchalance of "how big of a deal could it be," he raised his head
Only to see an extremely dazzling spot of light appear in the azure sky above, seemingly out of nowhere!
That spot of light was rapidly expanding at an incredible speed, accompanied by a piercing shriek that sounded as if space itself was being torn apart!
That wasn't a spot of light at all. It was a... gigantic, blazing fireball, its surface faintly showing some kind of mysterious runes (suspected to read "courting death")a Super Great Fireball!!!
The target of the fireball was none other than Elliot, who was standing right there and had just looked up!
The terrifying sense of oppression felt like a divine punishment personally delivered by the Heavenly Principles themselves!
"Holy crap!!!"
Elliot's pupils instantly shrank to pinpricks, and all his arrogance was immediately replaced by terror!
He only had time to let out a soul-deep scream, his body instinctively wanting to turn and run.
But it was all too late.
That Karmic Fireball, seemingly condensed from the endless resentment of the Author (and perhaps angry Readers), crossed the final distance instantly and accurately, defying all laws of physics, and slammed down hard
"Boom!!!!!!!!!!!"
An indescribable roar, like a bursting star, shook the entire Teyvat Continent!
Centered on the spot where Elliot had been standing, a small but perfectly formed Mushroom Cloud slowly ascended, and a powerful shockwave, carrying dirt, grass clippings, and scorching hot air, spread violently in a ring, blowing the people on the distant hill off balance, forcing them to tightly grasp nearby rocks or the Wolf King's leg.
A few minutes later, the dust settled slightly.
Zane, Jesse, and Matt, having somehow acquired three massive Steel Tower Shields that looked like they had been "borrowed" from a Fontaine warehouse, held them in front of themselves, forming a temporary mobile fortress, and cautiously approached the center of the explosion step by step.
The Wolf King, meanwhile, activated scan mode, vigilantly monitoring the spatial fluctuations around them to guard against follow-up attacks.
Lumine and Paimon hid behind a giant rock, only their eyes visible as they watched nervously.
They arrived at the edge of the massive, scorched crater that was still emitting smoke and scorching heat.
In the center of the crater, a figure that could vaguely be identified as human lay on the ground, twitching and trembling, completely blackened as if he had just been pulled out of a coal mine, occasionally spitting out small black rings, as though his soul was about to be blown out.
It was Elliot.
Zane carefully poked the "black charcoal" on the ground with the edge of his shield and sighed helplessly, his tone filled with the sentiment of "I told you so":
"I told you, don't court death, don't set yourself up, especially don't provoke the existence that determines your fate... Happy now? Feel better? This time it was a fireball, next time who knows what it'll be."
Hearing this, the "black charcoal" twitched even harder, seemingly wanting to refute, but only able to emit meaningless "hissing" sounds from his throat, as if protesting the world's unfairness and the Author's malice.
Jesse added gleefully from the side: "It seems the Author Lord's revenge... came swiftly and brutally! Elliot, your bold statement about 'beating up Readers too' probably struck a chord with some 'Readers,' didn't it?"
Matt nodded honestly: "Mhm, I think Elliot might need a... sturdier helmet."