Chapter 268: Trapped

Kaelen’s mind was hazy, his body heavy, unable to move at all.

When he and Sane just stepped to the exit of the Space gate, everything before their eyes suddenly went pitch-black. Kaelen did not know what happened to him, only feeling his body getting heavier by the moment.

Where is this? Why cannot I move like this? Where is Sane? Where did he go?

Kaelen tried to wake himself up, finally he managed to open his eyes. However, it was only opening his eyes. His whole body was stiff, all joints on his body seemed frozen. What Kaelen could do right now was dart his eyes back and forth to look around.

Looking and looking again, Kaelen surprisingly discovered he was in a standing posture. His vision was farther than he thought. He saw the place he was standing was a ruined Shrine, the supporting pillars were more than half damaged. The Shrine door seemed to have been dismantled by an external force, leaving only a bare door frame.

Kaelen blinked, using his Divine consciousness to look broader. Then he discovered he had actually turned into a Deity statue, moreover a statue of himself.

Pant pant! Pant pant!

There were very hurried panting sounds transmitting from afar, accompanied by rushed footsteps. Kaelen focused his mind to listen. Mixed in the panting were sobbing sounds along with desperate cries for help. These cries for help sounded like children’s voices.

Kaelen wanted to go see what the situation was, but unfortunately his Divine soul was now trapped within this statue, completely unable to escape. Not only that, his Divine power was also sealed away. Kaelen could feel there were countless chains tightly binding his sea of consciousness.

Kaelen’s eyes turned cold.

This was no longer a small problem.

He was one of the eight True Gods of the Great World; normally when a Deity returned, this world should joyfully welcome them. Yet It, without saying a word, stuffed him into a Deity statue, even sealing his Divine power and Divine soul.

This could only affirm, the Heavenly Dao of this world had been switched!

The cries for help got closer day by day; Kaelen projected his Divine consciousness further. This time he saw every small detail vividly. The cries for help emitted from three children; the oldest was only as big as his family’s Edward.

Looking at the races of these three children, Kaelen was extremely surprised. The oldest was a Beastman clan child, the one chasing behind him was a Dwarf clan child, and the one he was carrying on his back was an Elf baby.

And the things chasing behind them were not people at all, but a pack of low-level demonic creatures. The Dwarf clan child had short steps, falling behind. A demonic creature lunged forward biting into his shoulder.

Fortunately, the Beastman child was also not a vegetarian. The boy ran backward, throwing something into the demonic creatures’ faces. Waiting for the demonic creatures to suffer pain covering their faces retreating, he immediately leaned down tucking the Dwarf child under his armpit, continuing to run away.

No matter how strong the Beastman clan child was, he was still a child. Under the weight pressing on his body, his footsteps clearly stopped. Kaelen heard the boy’s whispers:

"Just a little bit more, try a little bit more. We are about to reach the Shrine!"

The Dwarf boy was heavily injured, his face turning pale blue. The Elf clan girl lying on the Beastman boy’s back weakly opened her eyes, smiling bitterly saying:

"It is useless Brother Harbet. The Gods have abandoned us for a long time..."

The Beastman clan child emphasized strongly: "Do not spout nonsense, the Gods are still there. They are just away!"

The Elf clan baby closed her eyes. She seemed to have gone numb, having no strength left to argue anymore.

Seeing the demonic creatures about to catch up with the three children, Kaelen was extremely anxious in his heart. He wanted to use Divine power to help them, but could not project anything out. Kaelen was angry. He struggled forcefully, ignoring the pain tearing his Divine soul apart, using all his strength to yank the chains broken. Under his effort, one chain was yanked broken. Kaelen regained a very small wisp of Divine power. However, no matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat; a wisp of Divine power like that was enough for him to save the children.

Right when the demonic creature’s hand was about to pierce the Elf child’s back, Kaelen closed his eyes, softly chanting:

[Divine Majesty!]

A powerful pressure from inside the ruined Shrine shot straight outside, carrying a blinding green light, striking the demonic creature pack into ashes. On the children’s faces appeared extreme surprise, then wild joy.

The Beastman boy immediately brought the two remaining children inside the Shrine, kowtowing before the Deity statue:

"I said You would not abandon us. My God, You have finally returned..."

The Dwarf clan child and the Elf clan child both stood firmly on the ground themselves, then reverently knelt down kowtowing. Three tiny streams of faith flew from the three children’s foreheads entering the Deity statue. Kaelen felt the chains imprisoning his Divine soul emit a small cracking sound.

Very small, but Kaelen heard it. It seemed, only when there was enough faith could he completely escape the bindings.

Kaelen lowered his eyes looking at the three children before him.

They were very thin, their whole bodies from top to bottom were smeared with filth. Especially that Elf girl, her age was only equal to his family’s Oliver. She was so weak that just kowtowing once her body swayed, collapsing to one side.

Kaelen felt extremely puzzled. The Elf clan protected their cubs more carefully than any clan. At least when the Great World War happened hundreds of millions of years ago, the Elf clan cubs were always the softest and cleanest children among the races. Why was this Elf girl so miserable?

Harbet, the oldest Snow Wolf clan child among the three children, quickly stepped forward to help the Elf baby up, letting her lean against a still solid supporting pillar. At this time the Dwarf baby also could not hold on anymore. His whole body collapsed onto the stone floor, his whole body convulsing. The boy’s color had changed from pale blue to purplish-black, clearly having been poisoned by demonic poison.

"Mono..."

Harbet knelt heartbreakingly before the Dwarf baby, heartbrokenly calling his name. The Dwarf baby no longer had consciousness anymore. Harbet once again knelt before the Deity statue:

"Supreme God of Nature above. I beg You to have mercy, please save Mono and Ivy. I use my life to exchange for their two lives."

Kaelen frowned. In the end, to what extent had this child despaired, to be willing to use a life exchanging for a life, begging for a bit of grace from the Deities?

The remaining Divine power was enough for Kaelen to execute magic one more time. He compressed this wisp of Divine power, throwing it into a dry tree root before the altar. The dry tree root suddenly came back to life, stretching out of the ground, growing leaves sprouting flowers then bearing three red fruits.

[Eat it.]

Harbet heard a human voice talking by his ear, gentle and warm. The boy trembled raising his head, stunned seeing before him suddenly grew a tree, on the tree even having three bright red fruits as small as thumbs.

[Eat it.] The voice rang out once again, urging the boy to quickly eat the fruits before him.

Harbet kowtowed forcefully, his forehead touching the stone floor making a ’thud’ sound. Kaelen listened feeling pain for him. The boy immediately plucked the three red fruits down, quickly stuffing one fruit into the Dwarf baby’s mouth.

The fruit just entered the mouth and melted, a gentle stream of Divine power spreading throughout Mono’s body. The purplish-black color on his face gradually withdrew, returning to a rosy appearance like a normal child. The wound on his shoulder also healed visibly to the naked eye.

Harbet joyfully ran to the Elf baby’s place, stuffing one fruit into her mouth. The Elf baby’s face also gradually became rosier, her breathing also stabilizing again. Harbet even intended to stuff the final red fruit into the Elf baby’s mouth, but no matter what he did he could not stuff it in.

The boy immediately understood, the remaining fruit was reserved for him.

Harbet’s eye sockets turned red, kowtowing three more times before eating the red fruit. Seemingly immediately, the boy felt a stream of warmth spreading throughout his body, recovering the hidden wounds and the lost strength.

The tree before the boy shook slightly twice, then slowly withered, returning to being a dry tree root.

Kaelen’s clarity also gradually drifted away according to the tree’s withering speed. He closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep.