Abyssborn: Sovereign of Sin and Ruin

{Chapter: 186: Seeking Death}

The leader glanced at the fruit still in Dex's hand, barely half-eaten. His stomach twisted.

That wasn't just any fruit. That was Bloodroot Heart, a rare and sacred component used in alchemy—essential for high-tier mana elixirs and soul-binding rituals. In the outside world, a single one could purchase a noble title. Dex was eating it like a plum.

He nearly vomited from the mix of horror and heartbreak. His voice trembled with repressed fury, but he didn't dare act. Not against something like this.

If any other man had disrespected his spoils like this, he would have skinned them alive, boiled their flesh, and fed it to beasts. But Dex? Dex he would endure—for now.

Because sometimes, survival required one to swallow pride and choke on humiliation.

Dex swallowed the last of the fruit, wiped his fingers clean on the bandit's torn cloak, and nodded politely. "Much obliged."

Without another word, he turned on his heel, tail swinging behind him like a pendulum of fate, and began walking toward Mitsubishi.

But before he'd taken more than a dozen steps, he paused. He turned his head slightly, addressing them without facing them. "By the way… next time you try to dismember someone alive in a forest this cursed…"

His voice dropped—low, sharp, and cold enough to pierce bone.

"…make sure no one's watching."

After getting the information he wanted, Dex didn't make things difficult for them. He turned around and prepared to walk in that direction.

Behind him, the bandits stood frozen, soaked in sweat.

There wasn't a shred of intention in Dex to defend the half-dead man groaning on the forest floor.

Why would there be?

He was a demon—heartless, selfish, and wholly uninterested in performing acts of righteousness for strangers. Anyone expecting gallantry from his kind was clearly out of their mind. Especially when the victim wasn't even a beautiful, half-naked princess wrapped in chains or a dramatic damsel begging for salvation—in cliché style—it was just some ordinary, weak merchant captain bleeding in the dirt.

Seeing that Dex made no move to help, the gang of brigands relaxed. Their bodies eased from tension, and they all exhaled collectively, as if relieved that the monster in front of them had no desire to interfere.

Let him leave, they silently agreed. He doesn't care, and we don't need more trouble.

But lying on the ground, Kevin's eyes widened in desperation. He stared at Dex's slowly retreating back—the last thread of hope slipping away like a dying candle flame. His pride crumbled in the face of death, and his voice cracked as he shouted, "I-I'm the fourth purchasing captain of the Zila Chamber of Commerce! Th-they're the Gasser Thieves—!"

The words had barely left his mouth when hell broke loose.

Dex didn't even react.

But the expressions of the thieves changed instantly, twisting from smug confidence to sheer panic.

They had just breathed a sigh of relief—but now the wind reversed. In a flash, their faces turned pale, their eyes glinting with ruthless resolve. The chamber of commerce was too big, too powerful. If news of this ambush ever leaked, they'd all be hunted like wild dogs.

There was no hesitation.

Weapons gleamed, flashing like fangs in the sun, and the group moved in perfect synchronicity. Not a word passed between them—none was needed. They lunged at Dex in a fluid arc of steel and bloodlust, sealing off every angle of escape with deadly precision.

They had made their decision.

This stranger—whatever he was—could not be allowed to leave alive.

He was a witness. Worse, a wildcard. They had no clue what he could do, and so they chose to strike first, violently, before regret could sink its claws into their hearts.

But Dex didn't even flinch.

In fact, he didn't bother to look at them. His posture relaxed, his expression utterly indifferent, he simply raised the fruit he had been holding to his lips and took another bite.

Crunch.

Juice dripped down his chin like blood. The sweet flavor mingled with the coppery scent of steel and malice in the air.

'Surprisingly tasty,' he thought, admiring the fruit's tartness even as death closed in from all directions.

In the next heartbeat, bodies froze.

Literally.

The attackers—all eight of them—stiffened mid-air, limbs locked, expressions twisted in mid-snarl. They were paralyzed, suspended in space like grotesque statues carved from flesh.

Dex exhaled softly, the energy surrounding him barely visible—just a ripple in reality, like heat on a summer road. It was his soul pressure, a wave of psychic energy so dense it bent the world around him.

To others, it might be called telekinesis, power of thoughts, invisible hands, or psychic or perhaps the will of a god.

To Dex, it was simply an afterthought.

He didn't even need to lift a finger.

These pitiful insects weren't worth it.

"This ability is trash against the strong," Dex muttered casually to himself. "But against you bottom-feeders… it works just fine."

He turned his eyes toward Kevin, who was still lying in a puddle of his own blood and piss, staring up at the frozen scene in silent terror. His pupils trembled. Hope and fear warred in his face—but hope was dying fast.

Dex took one step closer, casting a long shadow over the merchant.

"I hate bugs that get me involved in their mess," he said coldly.

Kevin's heart skipped. He felt a crushing weight around his chest, his lungs barely able to pull in air.

"I-I can give you something! Money, power, a recommendation to the upper board of the chamber—!"

But Dex had already lost interest.

With an idle wave of his hand, the frozen thieves twitched. Then they began to move—but not of their own accord.

Their eyes rolled back in horror, their arms rising like puppets strung by unseen wires.

Kevin screamed.

The Gasser Thieves turned toward him—lips trembling, eyes wet with dread. They weren't in control of their own bodies. Their movements were jerky, unnatural. They were puppets now. Puppets in the grip of a sadistic god.

Each raised their blades.

And then the slaughter began.

Slash!

The first sword came down, splitting Kevin's shoulder from collar to chest. Flesh peeled like fruit skin. Blood gushed out in torrents, painting the ground in a pool of red.

Hack. Slash. Stab. Tear. Rip. Again. Again.

Limbs flew.

Skin shredded.

Bone cracked under relentless steel.

They carved him apart, slowly, with jagged, trembling strokes—as if each one wanted to stop but couldn't. The meat that had once been a man was reduced to twitching viscera and mangled pulp, spread across the forest floor like spilled guts from a butcher's dream.

Dex watched with faint disinterest, flicking the fruit core from his hand like a man tossing away trash.

But it wasn't over.

Not yet.

"Now," Dex said softly, "Ten thousand cuts each. Start with yourselves."

Their expressions contorted in horror, but their bodies obeyed.

They turned their weapons onto their own flesh.

Slash. Cut. Stab.

Screams erupted—guttural, ragged, animalistic.

Blood geysered from arms and legs. Fingers fell. Eyes were gouged. They carved their own flesh like mindless zealots under a curse. Skin flapped open like curtains revealing pulsing muscle and twitching veins.

They didn't stop.

Dex's command was law through his mental abilities.

When the ten thousand cuts were finally done and they collapsed, trembling and half-dead, he gave the final order:

"Split into pairs. Strangle your partner. No mercy. No delay."

They complied.

One by one, with broken arms and blood-slicked hands, they wrapped their fingers around each other's necks. The forest echoed with choking gasps and death rattles as life was squeezed out—slow, painful, and pitiful.

The last survivor stood alone, soaked in blood, too injured to weep.

His chest heaved as he waited for a reprieve.

But Dex had already turned his back, walking away calmly as the birds returned to the blood-stained branches overhead.

The stranger hadn't even broken a sweat.

They could've lived.

They really could've.

But they insisted on seeking death.

*****

You can support me by joining my Patreon and get upto 60 chapters in advance.

patreon.com/Eden_Translation