Infinite wealth In A New World-Chapter 347: The Twilight of the Elves 2
"Protect the Royal Family!!"
The elite palace guards moved in a blur, forming a desperate wall of steel in front of the trembling Victoria, the sobbing Zoey, and the broken, bleeding Austin. Their faces were masks of professional stoicism, hiding the terror clawing at their hearts.
"You actually believe ten of you can stop me?" Ellen asked. She stood small and solitary against the backdrop of the massive Abyssal Dragon, her eyebrow raised in genuine curiosity.
"So what if you’re strong?!" the captain of the guard roared, his knuckles white around the hilt of his blade. "We are all Stage One Divine Rank warriors! Together, we can take you down!"
’This kid is beyond powerful,’ the captain thought privately, his pulse hammering. ’She isn’t taking us seriously because if she were... we’d already be corpses.’ He glanced up at Ladon, whose shadow alone felt like a death sentence.
’Why hasn’t she ended this yet?’
"Get her!!!"
On his command, the ten guards charged. Their celestial energy flared, illuminating the dust-choked ruins with a frantic, blue light. The captain leaped high, his blade whistling through the air as he descended toward the small girl.
Ellen didn’t flinch. She simply exhaled a single, bored word: "Summoning."
BOOOOOM!!
A violent eruption of ethereal smoke burst forth above her. Before the captain could even blink, the massive, gnarled head of a Gluttonous Giant tore through the rift, its maw opening wide to meet the descending guard.
"What?!!!"
BAM!!!!!
The world seemed to go silent as the Giant’s teeth snapped shut. The nine remaining guards froze in mid-motion, their faces draining of color as they watched their leader disappear into the creature’s mouth.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!"
The Elves screamed in pure, unadulterated terror, scrambling backward as the Giant fully materialized—a ten-meter-tall nightmare of muscle and hunger. The creature reached up, grabbed the lower half of the captain protruding from its lips, and with a sickening squelch, tore him in two. It swallowed the upper half and tossed the remaining legs into its maw like a snack.
The sound of bones being crushed like dry twigs rang out across the courtyard, a rhythmic, wet crunching that sent shivers through the spines of every survivor.
"Who is next?" Ellen asked softly. She walked calmly between the Giant’s tree-trunk-sized legs, her gaze cold and piercing.
She stopped, her eyes settling on the princess. "Zoey... I remember you." Ellen tilted her head, a ghost of a memory flickering. "You accused me of cheating during the race back then. Yes... that was you."
"Ellen!! Please, forgive us!" Zoey collapsed to her knees, her hands shaking as she reached for her father’s unconscious form. "We are sorry for going against Eldoria! Please don’t kill our people! I beg of you!"
Ellen’s gaze drifted from Zoey to Victoria, the Queen who had just tried to erase her from existence.
"Let her kneel," Ellen commanded, her voice devoid of heat.
"Let the Queen of the Elves crawl in the dirt and apologize for the ’mental trouble’ she has caused Eldoria." She paused, her eyes narrowing. "Of course, that doesn’t mean I will spare your throne. From this moment forward, the Elven Nation is a vassal state. Your crown belongs to Eldoria."
"You...!" Victoria gasped, her pride bristling even in the face of death.
The soldiers were dumbfounded. From the start of this "war," Eldoria hadn’t lost a single soul. Their citizens were likely still drinking tea and shopping, oblivious to the fact that their Princess was dismantling a kingdom. The Elves, however, had lost their fleet, their pride, and hundreds of elite lives.
’We are the ones with the mental damage here!’ Zoey thought, her teeth grinding. ’She is a monster... just like her father!’
"I will never kneel to a spoilt, arrogant brat!" Victoria hissed, jumping to her feet and pointing a trembling finger at Ellen. "You think you’re special? You’re nothing but a—"
"Enough."
Ellen snapped her fingers. An invisible, planetary weight slammed into Victoria’s shoulders, forcing her to the ground with such violence the stone cracked.
"What the hell?!" Victoria gasped, her face pressed into the grit.
"Now," Ellen said, her voice dropping an octave. "Kowtow."
"I will never!!!" Victoria screamed. "I am the Queen! I will never bow!"
"Okay then."
WHOOSH!!
The Giant moved with a speed that defied its size, its massive hand snatching Zoey off the ground before she could scream.
"You have five seconds," Ellen said, her tone as clinical as a math problem. "For every second you delay, I will add ten more kowtows to your sentence. When the time is up, my pet here will devour your daughter. Decide. Five."
Victoria’s eyes went wide. The world slowed down.
"Four."
The Giant lifted the struggling Zoey toward its gaping, blood-stained maw.
"Three..."
"Fine!!!!" Victoria shrieked. With a sob of pure rage and humiliation, she slammed her forehead into the ground.
’The Princess is truly ruthless,’ Ladon thought, watching from above. ’What kind of world has she been forced to see to become this?’
"Ten... twenty more," Ellen counted, her eyes never leaving the Queen’s trembling form.
Victoria continued. Over and over, the sound of her forehead hitting the stone echoed through the ruins. Even as blood began to smear her brow and the dirt matted her regal hair, she didn’t stop. She was a mother before she was a Queen.
Ellen watched her, her father’s parting words echoing in her mind like a mantra:
’Remember, Ellen. Anyone who dares look down on Eldoria, or thinks they can attack our home—make them suffer. Show them Eldoria is untouchable. Crush their spirit without mercy; that is the only way to teach the world to stay away.’
"I will make sure of it, Dad," Ellen muttered under her breath.
As Victoria hit the thirtieth kowtow, the Giant opened its hand, letting Zoey drop from a height of twenty feet.
"AHHH!!"
"No!" Victoria lunged to catch her daughter, but an invisible force seized her right leg.
CRACK!
"AHHH!!" Victoria screamed as her tibia shattered. She watched helplessly as Zoey hit the ground hard, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
"You... you really are a monster," Victoria hissed, clutching her broken leg.
"I am making an example," Ellen said, her hand beginning to glow with a terrifying, white light. Her eyes turned completely vacant, the color of a dying star.
"I will make sure no other nation ever dares to look at Eldoria with anything but fear."
She raised her hand for the final blow.
"ELLEN!! STOP!!!"
Ellen froze, the white light flickering as a familiar voice pierced through her cold resolve.
