"After three days of intense struggle, the survival war is far from over. The surviving little demons instinctively escape the Sin Basin, and of course, they never mind having a delicious meal along the way."*
— Inscribed deep within every little demon's bloodline.
The Abyss is a hell of slaughter.
At every moment, there are those who wish to kill you and devour your flesh.
If one is a natural demon, this might not matter much.
But Alan was different.
After the first few days, Alan began to feel increasingly exhausted.
Red, hot… bloody.
These sensations engulfed Alan's senses.
His tongue could no longer distinguish between blood and water; he had grown accustomed to the scent of blood in the air.
Worse yet, Alan's emotions shifted from initial fear to numbness, and eventually, to a hint of… madness.
Indeed, madness: the urge to grab a little demon, twist its arms and legs until they snapped, then toss it aside to watch it die.
Such actions would have seemed utterly meaningless to Alan in the past, yet for some reason, he felt compelled to do them now.
Perhaps in a few days, this oppressive atmosphere would completely crush Alan…
"Roar… roar… ughhhh…"
Alan emitted a series of incoherent sounds, forming an unpleasant melody.
Little demons could only produce such simple and disjointed noises; in fact, Alan had never seen a little demon manage to pronounce actual words. What he heard were only roars and cries of anguish.
"Roar!"
As if fed up with his awful singing, Alan spotted a small demon nearby, which let out an angry roar and charged at him with all its might. This pitiful little demon didn't even have time to react before Alan kicked it away with full force.
Ga… ga…
With Alan's roar, the surrounding little demons began to gather, drawn by the sound. Soon, another fight would break out, resulting in a pile of little demon corpses.
By human logic, Alan should have avoided this place, waiting for the other demons to wear themselves out before swooping in to claim the spoils.
But Alan didn't want to run away now.
He needed to numb himself.
To distract himself from the mundane thoughts, like whether he would ever escape or if he was doomed to remain trapped in this harsh, lightless hell forever.
Bang!
Alan focused on a relatively large demon not far away, one with two thick horns atop its head and a ball of flame in its hand. Based on his experience over the past few days, this little demon likely possessed bloodlines from the Horned Demon and the Flame Demon—both formidable bloodlines worth absorbing.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Enhanced by the Torture Inferior Demon bloodline and further bolstered by the Torture Demon's augmentation, Alan's body felt as unstoppable as a small tank. When he ran full force, even sturdy rocks would yield under his momentum.
Ga… ga.
The little demon, seeing Alan approach—towering over it—instinctively raised its fireball to throw at him. From its prior experiences, it knew that most who got hit by its flames would roll on the ground wailing in agony.
But today, its poor little brain was about to learn a lesson.
Pfft!
The flames struck Alan's shoulder, scorching a large red mark into his muscular flesh, but Alan's momentum did not falter. Instead, he charged forward with even greater intensity toward the fiery little demon.
Gaka… uuuu…
Seeing its fireball had no effect, the fiery little demon panicked and prepared to flee.
But alas, one cannot outrun a train.
Bang!
Alan's body slammed into the fiery little demon, sending it crashing into a nearby stone. With a crack, the rock shattered, and Alan seized the fiery little demon's body, slamming it down onto the ground.
Crack!
The sound was akin to breaking wood, and when Alan finally lifted his hand, he realized he had reduced the little demon to a mangled heap, its arms twisted, its legs missing, and its neck barely hanging on by a thin layer of skin.
No matter; it was still edible…
Crunch, crunch…
Feeling the little demon's soft bones snap beneath his fangs, Alan grinned. Ah, yes, this was the only form of entertainment in the Abyss.
Slaughter.
Roar!
After a brief feeding, Alan clenched his fists and delivered a powerful uppercut to a nearby demon attempting to ambush him. This demon appeared roughly the same height as Alan, sporting a bone spike on its arm, likely evolved from the Painful Inferior Demon bloodline as well.
Yet sadly for it, Alan was stronger.
Seizing the moment while the enemy was dazed, Alan unleashed a flurry of punches like he was striking a punching bag, hammering the little demon relentlessly, forcing it to retreat step by step.
"Come on, come on! Hit me back! Eat this! XX"
Alan's mind conjured all sorts of profanities, but when they came out, they transformed into garbled roars, unclear and indistinct. It wasn't until the little demon fell that Alan stomped his foot onto its neck.
To be honest, that sensation wasn't particularly pleasant; it felt like stepping on a plastic bag filled with broken meat.
Huff… huff…
After taking a few deep breaths, Alan felt slightly calmer after venting his frustrations.
He was actively seeking out fights now… It seemed he had truly lost a bit of his sanity.
Surveying his surroundings, chaos reigned. Little demons and evolved demons were tearing into one another, including those like Alan who had evolved twice.
He needed to leave quickly; getting caught up in this mess would be troublesome.
Roar…
Just as Alan prepared to turn away, a thunderous roar erupted behind him, so powerful that it left his head spinning with confusion.
Bang!
At the same moment, a corpse flew out from the writhing mass of battle, crashing into Alan. He felt a massive force slam into his back, sending him spinning through the air before landing hard on the ground. The brutal friction with the ground sent pain shooting through him, causing Alan to howl in agony.
What was that…?
With considerable effort, Alan rolled over to see the corpse that had impacted him. Even accustomed to grotesque sights, he couldn't help but grimace.
Torture.
The stomach had been completely crushed, limbs twisted in unnatural directions, and the skin on the back had been scraped raw, mingled with blood and unidentifiable bone fragments.