Just join my Discord, as it keeps deleting my replies. I updated the link in my profile, and it's also here.
*****
{Chapter: 262: Depths of Abyss I}
Valeera let out a low whistle and slid from the window, gliding over to Dex's side, her hips swaying.
"That's a hell of a lot of corpses," she whispered, brushing her fingers across his back.
"Almost makes me jealous. You demons really know how to party."
Dex didn't even flinch at the touch, though his smirk deepened.
"And more than half of those died by the hands of other demons, not yours," Alison added, watching Valeera's antics with a mix of exasperation and resignation.
To be honest, if this number is converted into ordinary creatures.
For the [Mi Ling Plane - Main Material World], whose surface area is much larger than the surface of the sun in the previous life, it is not too much.
But the bad thing is that there are no ordinary creatures in the Abyss, only extraordinary creatures with magical powers.
Even a young demon of the lowest status, basically serving as a means of transporting food, can easily overturn a carriage and tear apart tigers, leopards, jackals and wolves.
The more advanced [Little Demon] has its body covered with special scales that are much harder than ordinary steel. It has vitality enough to regenerate severed limbs and can use spells or various innate abilities. Any one of them can kill hundreds of elite mortal troops.
Add to that the stronger [lower demons], [middle demons], and [higher demons]...
It is conceivable how much damage this number of 75 billion can cause.
At the very least, most of the worlds cannot withstand their turmoil.
Faced with the fact that so many of his compatriots had died, Dex did not feel sad at all, and even felt a little bit sorry.
After all, it's not him who's killing them.
If he were to do it, at least he could earn some evolution points.
Maybe it's enough to advance to [Demon Lord].
It's really a loss of billions!
Dex nodded. "Exactly. Because that's the Abyss for you. It's not an army—it's a feeding frenzy. Even the lowest demon can tear apart monsters, wild beasts, men, and mages alike. And the ones you've killed? Those were just the surface scum."
He lowered his voice slightly.
"The deeper you go, the worse it gets. You're not fighting soldiers. You're fighting... living catastrophes."
Valeera leaned in close to his ear, lips brushing just barely against his skin.
"You make it sound so... thrilling," she whispered, voice silk wrapped in shadow.
"You'd think a world being devoured would be a bit more exciting."
Dex turned his head slightly, their faces inches apart.
"You're bored, aren't you?"
"Always," she replied, licking her bottom lip slowly.
"But not enough to bed a Lord of Flies just to feel something."
He grinned. "You'd make a great Demon General."
"I know," she replied smugly, spinning away from him and flopping into a chair, boots kicked up onto the armrest.
Meanwhile, Alison ignored the heavy, charged air between them and returned to the previous topic.
"Seventy-five billion... demons. That's a horrifying number. Why aren't you all extinct by now?"
Dex shrugged. "Because extinction doesn't apply. The Abyss doesn't birth demons in the traditional sense. It churns us out, like a plague with a purpose. For every thousand that die, ten thousand more mutate in the depths. Sometimes they even evolve mid-battle."
"That's... insane," Alison muttered.
"Yes," Dex agreed.
"And that's why attrition won't work. It's like trying to outlast a wildfire by blowing on it."
He looked at her seriously.
"Your best chance isn't endurance. It's deception, treachery, divine interference, or world-scale suicide magic. Anything less is just delaying the inevitable."
Valeera stretched languidly in her seat, arching her back like a cat and letting out a soft sigh that drew Dex's eyes without shame.
"So... what you're saying is, we're screwed."
"In the most poetic way imaginable," Dex replied.
After suppressing the flicker of lecherous thoughts in his mind—a habit he was never truly free from—Dex asked with a slow grin, "Very good. Now tell me: do you think that number is too much or too little?"
Alison didn't hesitate. She straightened her posture, the weight of her long silver cloak rustling behind her.
"Of course it's a lot!" she said firmly, her eyes shining with righteous fury. "Seventy-five billion demons! Do you have any idea how much destruction that has caused to our lands?!"
Dex nodded nonchalantly. He wasn't mocking her emotion—he simply didn't share it.
He lifted a hand and spoke plainly, his voice low and measured like someone recounting a routine weather report.
"When creatures from the Abyss enter this world, they're first intercepted—purged, stalled, or consumed—by the outer gods that hover beyond the veil. Most demons never even make it to this land."
He gestured lazily, as if pointing toward invisible layers of reality.
"The true number of dead isn't seventy-five billion. That's just what leaked through. It's likely three to five times higher, once you account for those burned alive in the divine outer light or torn apart by the friction of broken worlds."
At that, Alison's lips parted, stunned, but no sound came out.
Valeera, reclining against the ornate stone pillar at the side of the room, trailed one black-leathered finger along the curved edge of her thigh-high boot.
A smile played on her dark red lips, sultry and venomous.
"Mm," she murmured. "So what you're saying is... all those pathetic little victories we celebrated were basically the result of the Abyss stubbing its toe?"
Dex snorted, amused. "Roughly."
He leaned against the table, crossing his arms.
"You want a comparison? Fine, let me give another example. The layer of the Abyss your current enemy hails from is called the Lava Wasteland. It's one of the more 'civilized' layers, if you can call rivers of boiling blood and flesh-melting ash civilized."
He tapped the side of his head lightly, as if brushing dust off his temple.
"The demon lord who rules it? Every year, over a trillion demons die there due to internal fighting. Not war. Not conquest. Just… lunch."
Valeera chuckled, slow and husky. "Sounds like home."
Her long legs crossed with a soft swish of cloth, her split red skirts riding high over one thigh—bare, toned, and glimmering faintly with charm runes that curled along her skin like hungry vines.
Alison turned to look at her, visibly annoyed. "You're enjoying this?"
Valeera tilted her head. "No, darling. I'm just... not surprised. You've seen Dex eat an entire platoon of slavers because they looked at him funny. This is just the scaled-up version."
Dex raised an eyebrow. "They weren't slavers. They were just loud."
Valeera blew him a kiss with a smirk. "Even better."
Dex waved off the playful remark and returned to the topic, voice once more pragmatic and chilling.
"With such a grotesque overflow of lifeforms, the demon lords don't need to worry about troop loss. They don't recruit. They don't mourn. They bleed soldiers from the walls."
He narrowed his eyes.
"The Abyss doesn't wage war like you. It doesn't need to win battles. It just needs to keep throwing bodies until the foundations of your world crumble."
At that, both Alison and Valeera quieted. The lightheartedness vanished like mist in the morning sun.
Dex continued, his tone now sardonic.
"So unless you plan to bankrupt a demon lord through teleportation toll fees, which—admittedly—might sting them more than the loss of ten billion troops, you're not going to win through attrition."
Valeera, however, didn't stay solemn for long.
She stood, slow and sinuous, every movement calculated like a predator toying with its prey.
Her heels clicked softly across the marble floor as she approached Dex.
"You say all that... and yet you're still here with us." Her finger traced an invisible line across his shoulder.
"Watching us. Helping us. Maybe even—" she leaned in, her lips brushing just beneath his ear "—caring about us?"
Dex didn't move, but his gaze flicked sideways to her. She was playing dangerous games again.
He liked it.
"You're not that easy to kill," he murmured.
She smirked. "I'm glad my survival rate keeps you interested."
Alison groaned. "Can we focus?"
Dex rolled his eyes and straightened. "Right."
He shrugged. "Look, I don't think you need to despair completely. Saving a handful of you is... very possible. You're both attractive, smart, and irritating enough to be entertaining."
Alison blinked. "You mean... there is a way?"
Dex nodded slowly. "Of course. Take the souls of the ones you want to save. Extract them from their physical bodies before the corruption sets in. Store them in soul amber. Then, later, I can forge new bodies for them in the Abyss."
Valeera arched a brow. "You want me to live in the Abyss? With you?"
This kind of covert method was not a difficult operation for him, except that it was a little troublesome when creating the body.
After all, other worlds may exclude outsiders, but the Abyss, obviously, will not. It is a place where anyone can go and welcomes all outsiders.
Even so, not many people want to go there; the notoriety is not just a joke.
For most people, it is more practical to find a desolate plane to stay on than to run to the bottomless abyss. At least it is much safer..
Her lips parted into a wicked grin.
"You better be offering something a little more comfortable than rotting meat pits and lava baths."
Dex met her gaze with equal fire. "I can offer you a palace. A real one. Made of black crystal and stitched horrors. One wing just for you. You'd rule it."
She stepped closer, placing one hand firmly against his chest. "I'd rather rule you."
The air between them hummed with tension—both magical and carnal.
Dex leaned in just a fraction.
"You could try."
Alison threw up her hands. "I don't know what's more horrifying—your solutions, or this foreplay."
Dex chuckled, voice warm with dark amusement. "Both are inevitable."
And with that, the conversation drifted back to silence.
*****
Join my Patreon
GodofPleasure
(dot)com/GodofPleasure