Chapter 3 The Heart of Slaughter

　　Abbott had previously followed the map to a road that said it would take less than a day to follow to reach the nearby city of Painful Valley.

　　The road is not really a complete road at all.

　　It's just a lot of passing creatures stepping out of the way.

　　On the way to the Valley of Pain Abbott began to survey the entire landscape of the Endless Deep.

　　Abbott discovers that the middle of the Endless Abyss is not as barren a place as one might think.

　　Instead, an ecosystem unique to the lower planes existed throughout the Endless Abyss.

　　For example, plants that are edible but their flavor is all over the place.

　　There are also all sorts of weird carnivorous creatures that ambush the neighborhood and devour passersby.

　　There were even an endless number of small, fluttering poisonous insects.

　　If you put the aforementioned bad things aside, maybe it's still a home away from home...

　　Never mind... The environment is rather hostile.

　　However, Abbott's strength at this point was quite a bit stronger than those Imps who had just entered the Endless Abyss, so he could safely walk on the road.

　　Soon, Abbott arrived at the entrance to the city of Painful Valley.

　　"Stop, you need to be checked to enter this place!"

　　Stopping Abbott were two mid-level dark demons whose sturdy arms were thicker than an adult's waist.

　　Upon seeing Abbott, the two of them went on alert.

　　Not only because Abbott is raw, but he's carrying a weapon wrapped in cloth.

　　In their two unintelligent heads, weapons equaled danger.

　　Danger equals must check.

　　So they two demons were ready to check what Abbott was carrying.

　　If the Lilia City Lord knew that they were letting dangerous people into the city.

　　Then they would definitely end up becoming Lilia's pets sooner.

　　But Abbott was prepared.

　　"Jingle bells~"

　　The wonderful sound of several soul coins clashing against each other attracted the duo's attention.

　　Abbott slipped six soul coins into the duo's hands when those around them weren't looking.

　　It happened as fast as the wind.

　　"Ahem, inspection complete, no problems, release!"

　　One of the smarter Dark Devils spoke with understanding.

　　"When are we going to..."

　　The other, more foolish one was just about to open his mouth when he looked up and realized the murderous gaze of his companion, so he hurriedly shut up.

　　"Release, no problem!"

　　.....

　　Once inside the city, Abbott surveyed his surroundings.

　　The city sits at the bottom of a high mountain range, along which a number of buildings have been reclaimed.

　　The whole city is not small.

　　There are low-rise residential neighborhoods and gilded trading markets.

　　To the west was a slave market, while to the east was a colosseum.

　　The whole city reeked of the stench of urine mixed with blood, while the surrounding alleys were filled with occasional cries of pain.

　　Abbott arrives at a tavern called the One Eye.

　　The tavern's sign had the head of a one-eyed troll nailed to it with a spear, which seemed to be where the name came from.

　　"Get a room."

　　Abbott spoke to the bartender in the tavern.

　　The bartender turned around and it was actually a purple-skinned chimera!

　　Dressed in leather, she was explosively fit, wriggling her seductive hooves as she approached.

　　"Can I get you anything else, handsome?"

　　The chimera spoke seductively, but her eyes were on Abbott's pocketbook.

　　"No, just ask for a room."

　　Abbott declined, all he wanted to do now was find a quiet room and sign in.

　　"Go up to the second floor, room 202, here's the key."

　　Seeing that Abbott wasn't buying it, the Phantom threw over a key in disappointment and went on to attend to other customers.

　　Abbott took the key and entered the room.

　　"System, I want to sign in!"

　　Abbott said silently to the system.

　　"Ding, the host has successfully signed in at the Valley of Pain, congratulations on obtaining the Heart of Slaughter skill!"

　　With that said, a red scroll of human skin appeared in Abbott's hand.

　　Abbott looked at the scroll in his hand a little dazed, was this a skill?

　　"Let's see what it's like first."

　　Abbott was going to pull back the scroll to take a look, but the next instant.

　　The scroll shattered and turned into bits of golden light into Abbott's mind.

　　The next thing Abbott knew, he felt something more in his consciousness, a passive-like skill.

　　Heart of Slaughter:

　　You become more and more accustomed to death and blood with each kill without losing yourself, and as the kills continue, you will eventually unlock your unique pressure that will put enemies weaker than you into a state of fear.

　　Right now Heart of Slaughter is currently in its initial stages, and like the Magic Sword, this skill will be upgraded as Abbott's kills proceed.

　　The initial skill now then allows Abbott to briefly remain conscious in the middle of a fight, not going berserk in the middle of a fight and so on.

　　"Great skill!"

　　Abbott laments that many demons often go insane in battle and not only lose control but may even be lost forever, becoming a beast.

　　This is partly due to the creature itself, the demon.

　　The second is that as demons continue to advance, they get closer to the abyssal consciousness.

　　The Abyssal Consciousness, on the other hand, would constantly stimulate the demons to fight and thus become stronger.

　　This situation would not be better unless one had reached the level of Sons of the Abyss, and many intermediate and high level demons would even be driven alive by this sound!

　　Abbott felt the skill.

　　Discover that you are able to manipulate yourself like a third party to fight when the skill is on.

　　Not only were they able to see each other's movements clearly when fighting, but even their own state could be perceived very clearly.

　　Feeling the marvelousness of the Heart of Slaughter skill, a small smile appeared on Abbott's lips.

　　Now with this kind of skill, Abbott was completely at ease and bold enough to go into battle.

　　At the same time, he was thinking about how to get some soul coins to spend here.

　　After all, if you want to get a foothold here, you can't do it without enough money.

　　So Abbott walked out of the room, ready to head out into the city to see what was in store for him.

　　Of course, he came to the front of the tavern before he left.

　　After all, the bartender in a tavern is often the best informed.

　　Regardless of the type of message.

　　"If you want to find something that can make money, you can choose to become a slave catcher and capture some slaves in exchange for money, the slave market over there receives a large number of slaves every day."

　　Abbott took a sip of the local blood wine and shook his head, this kind of work was just unacceptable, not only did it not improve his strength, but it was easy to roll over.

　　In the Abyss, a skinny, bony old lady might be whichever super-witch from the Upper Planes has come to shop in the Abyss.

　　"Or, you can go and fight for your life in the Colosseum, but it's all filled with strong demons, and for every one you defeat, you'll be credited with quite a few soul coins."

　　Abbott's eyes lit up at that.

　　It's it, not only can you fight to improve your strength, but there are soul coins to be earned, and it makes unsealing the magic sword faster.

　　Two for the price of one.

　　As for the issue of strength, Abbott was confident that with the existence of a divine weapon such as the Magic Sword, it was impossible for anyone to touch him in the slightest.

　　Decision made, Abbott headed out the door toward the Colosseum.

　　As he heads out the door, the chimera in the tavern looks at Abbott's back with some confusion.

　　"Strange, why does this demon's temperament look like it's changed in the short time he's been upstairs?"