23: The Crying Girl

The surging flames gradually dissipated, leaving charred corpses scattered across the scorched earth.

"Little Cecilia, be careful. Once you find the evil god statue, you must not touch it directly. The power of the Blood Moon is not something you can resist."

"I understand, Grandpa!"

Kapdo and Cecilia searched the scorched earth for the evil god statue; it was very important to him.

Having used two of his few Silver Rank high-tier magic scrolls made Kapdo feel a bit of heartache; he could only recover some of his losses by obtaining the evil beast statue.

Although high-level magic scrolls were precious, he didn't dare be stingy when facing the power of an evil god. Fortunately, he had eventually killed that Evil Beastman Warlord and wiped out the Fel Orcs.

"Luckily, that little Baron lured away most of the Fel Orcs. Otherwise, two scrolls might not have been enough to deal with this Evil Beastman group."

Kapdo carefully rummaged through the scorched earth. His final thunderous strike had shattered the Fel Orcs but had also sent the statue flying. When facing danger, the evil god statue would automatically hide itself, making it not so easy to find.

However, Kapdo had a special tool on him that could lock onto the approximate location of the evil god statue; he was certain it was nearby.

"Grandpa, I found it! It's here!"

Cecilia's voice rang out, and Kapdo immediately rushed over.

The evil god statue that had been on Broken Fang's person was now buried under the scorched earth, with only a corner exposed.

"Alright, Little Cecilia, you step back first. Leave the rest to me."

Having his precious granddaughter retreat to a safe distance, Kapdo pulled a pair of specially made gloves from his robes and put them on. He then took out a metal box engraved with mysterious runes and set it aside.

Then, he gently brushed away the scorched earth and dug out the evil god statue.

As the statue was gradually removed, Kapdo became increasingly cautious, knowing full well how terrifying an evil god could be.

"Just a little more, almost there!"

Once the evil god statue was completely excavated, Kapdo held it firmly with both hands and began to place it into the pre-prepared box.

The evil god statue was neither small in size nor light in weight; Kapdo's hands were trembling slightly.

"Slowly, almost there!" Kapdo chanted inwardly.

As the evil god statue was bit by bit lowered into the metal box, his tense heart finally relaxed a little.

With a clang, the evil god statue was fully placed inside the metal box. Kapdo breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the nearby lid to seal the box.

Cecilia, watching from the side, also breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's fine now, Little Cecilia," Kapdo said, turning back to smile at his granddaughter while lowering the lid.

Suddenly, with a loud bang, the lid Kapdo was about to put down was sent flying.

A dazzling red light radiated from the evil god statue, and Kapdo, being right in front of it, was the first to be enveloped.

"Grandpa!"

Cecilia turned pale with fright; she hadn't expected the evil god statue to erupt at this moment.

Kapdo pulled out his staff and mobilized all the mana in his body to struggle against the invasion of the blood light, while simultaneously stopping Cecilia from rushing over.

"Don't come over! Quickly, go get the lid back!"

Cecilia immediately snapped out of it and ran swiftly toward the spot where the lid had fallen.

"Grandpa, I've got the lid!"

"Throw it to me! Don't get close to this place!"

Cecilia didn't hesitate and immediately threw the retrieved lid over.

Kapdo slammed his staff into the ground with both hands, then caught the lid thrown by Cecilia with one hand and slammed it down against the blood light.

"In the name of Order and Knowledge, Chaos be dispelled!"

The mysterious runes on the metal box began to flow continuously, suppressing the evil god's blood light. Bit by bit, Kapdo forced the lid down onto the evil god statue.

As the last trace of blood light was sealed inside the metal box, Kapdo finally fastened the lid completely.

With a gentle wave of his staff, the massive metal box vanished from the spot, stored away by Kapdo.

"Grandpa, are you okay?" Cecilia only dared to step forward now, looking at her grandfather with a face full of worry.

"I'm fine, Little Cecilia. Your grandpa is an Archmage of the Holy White Tower, how could anything happen to me?"

"Haha..."

Kapdo's laughter stopped abruptly as his head lolled to the side and he fainted.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!"

Cecilia shook Kapdo's body in fear. Seeing him unresponsive, she burst into bitter tears.

"Waaah!"

"Grandpa, please wake up! Little Cecilia is scared, Grandpa!"

"Waaah!"

"Waaah!"

At that moment, a voice suddenly appeared, interrupting Cecilia's crying.

"Miss, are you alright?"

Cecilia was startled.

"Who's there? What are you doing?"

She instantly looked up, subconsciously drawing her staff and preparing for combat.

Seeing the overreacting young girl before him, Renn took a step back to show he had no ill intent.

The newcomer was Renn, who not long ago had been killing Fel Orcs.

After killing the Silver Rank Evil Orc Commander, Renn had led his squad back to hunt down the remaining Fel Orcs.

Without their commander, the remaining Fel Orcs could not withstand Renn's encirclement. They were constantly worn down by the squad's ranged attacks, and a large number of Evil Beastman Warriors were shot dead.

Finally, after the squad ran out of all their arrows, they began to split and raid the Evil Beastman group time and again under Renn's leadership, eventually routing them completely.

Once the Fel Orcs collapsed, they fled toward the Black Forest camp, with Renn pursuing and killing them all the way.

Originally, Renn had planned to end the pursuit once the Fel Orcs entered the Black Forest. The supplies he had brought were exhausted, and there were only a few Fel Orcs left. As for the Fel Orcs inside the camp, Renn had no intention of trying to take it; his squad had reached its limit and could not continue fighting.

Just as Renn was preparing to lead his team away, a towering fire broke out at the Evil Beastman camp in the Black Forest, instantly catching his attention.

Judging that something else was happening at the camp, he brought a few warriors who were in decent condition to investigate.

On the way, Renn heard the sound of roaring thunder and sensed fluctuations of mana, which made him quicken his pace.

As it turned out, just as he arrived, he saw a young girl in robes holding an old man, also in robes, crying incessantly. The old man was motionless, his life or death unknown.

Cecilia's sorrowful crying made Renn feel a bit of pity for the cute young girl before him.

However, seeing the Evil Beastman camp around them completely destroyed and turned to scorched earth, Renn didn't dare be careless. This pair of old and young, who seemed harmless, were the ones responsible for this scorched earth.

If he hadn't seen that Cecilia and Kapdo were humans, Renn wouldn't even have shown himself.

After Cecilia saw clearly who had come, she spoke up: "Are you that Lord? You've come back?"

"You know me, little girl?" Renn was somewhat curious.

"Yes, when you were observing the Evil Beastman camp, Grandpa and I were in a tree not far from you. I saw you."

Cecilia didn't hide anything, and her words made Renn even more alert. At the time, he hadn't sensed anyone else hiding nearby at all.

"And this is?" Renn shifted the topic to Kapdo.

"This is my grandpa. My grandpa is very powerful; he killed all these Fel Orcs."

As Cecilia spoke, she looked at Renn and then back at her grandfather in her arms.

"My grandpa is a mage of the Holy White Tower. He came here to eliminate the Fel Orcs, but he's sustained some injuries now."

"your excellency, the lord, I hope to receive your help."

Cecilia looked at Renn with her large, watery eyes.

"Is that alright?"