I'm a monster in Demon King's Castle

Several suits of armor inscribed with runes stood guard at the contestant passage, surrounded by swirling magic. It seemed that anyone of unclear origin who approached would be hacked to death by the armor.

Moreover, these suits of armor were different from those Li Yue had encountered before. Their mental capacity and strength were significantly enhanced, even surpassing that of the one guarding the vault.

Next to the contestant passage, scattered demons also wandered back and forth, seemingly observing something. When they saw Li Yue and Budiboge arrive, they were initially puzzled, then began to whisper among themselves.

"Is that tonight's contestant, a Brainling...?"

"Judging from his previous performance, he's no match for the Octopus Morph..."

"His injuries are gone? Is he fully recovered?"

"And his magic armor is gone too?"

Sensing their whispers, Li Yue roughly understood what they were doing—before the competition, there were betting odds, like observing horses before a race. These demons were here to observe the gladiators' condition.

Leaving them to their confusion, Li Yue and Budiboge approached the armor.

"Halt!" As soon as they stepped into the警戒 line, the two Brainlings received a stern warning.

Li Yue initially thought it was because Budiboge had changed his appearance and the armor didn't recognize him, but after probing Budiboge's mind, he realized they were always like this.

At this moment, Budiboge wasn't wearing "Heavy Armor Hunk." Like Li Yue, he was just a bare Brainling, only slightly paler in color.

"The contestant area is ahead. If you are contestants, please present your invitation and verify your soul. If you are not contestants, get out of here."

Although the armor's voice was muffled, its speech was much more coherent.

Li Yue looked towards the back of the armor and saw a large door engraved with runes, knowing that passing through this door would lead to the contestant area. Above the runes was a badge of two crossed swords, sharp and glaring, marking this place as the Demon King City Arena.

Li Yue wasn't worried about Budiboge not being able to enter—since Ogeboge's invitation could accurately find him, it clearly proved that he could pass the soul verification.

Thinking this, Li Yue used his mind to take out the invitation stuffed in his brain furrow and waved it in front of the leading armor.

"Please proceed..." The armor allowed the two Brainlings to pass, floating to the door engraved with runes.

"Don't go in yet." Just before Budiboge entered the door, Li Yue's brain furrow twitched for no reason.

"What's wrong?" Budiboge's thoughts were still trembling.

Li Yue thought about it and felt that it should be "Completion" reminding him of something—could it be that this door... he couldn't enter?

Li Yue went first and, as expected, sensed a magical force before the door. It instantly flowed through his entire body, then suddenly burst out with a strong sense of rejection.

"I can't enter from here." Li Yue decisively retreated. "We'll separate here and meet on the arena later..."

Just in case, Li Yue instructed him on some precautions for the first round, then put the "Heavy Armor Hunk" on Budiboge...

"Woah... is he really a Brainling?"

"Bite my demon butt, what's that pile of bones?"

"Why is it different from the previous two matches... Did he change his tactics?"

"We need to tell the boss quickly..."

"Hurry, hurry, hurry..."

Seeing Budiboge turn into a giant bone safe, the surrounding demons immediately became restless, each using their magical means to inform their boss of this new information.

"Oh, too bad the Octopus Morph, Kori, has already gone in. I wonder what he'll do when he sees this..."

"Can he pry it open?"

"If he can't pry it open, can he shoot through it?"

From their discussions, Li Yue could easily tell that they were just small fries who didn't even know the Brainling's true identity, so there was no need to waste any more time. He immediately turned towards the audience's entrance area, preparing to see if there were any good betting opportunities.

"Hey, who are you? I've never seen you before?" An Eye Demon blocking the way stopped Li Yue—Eye Demons were like large-headed insects, with a head and tail, a small mouth under their eyes, and a neck-like skin drooping to the ground, circling up to encircle Li Yue.

The Eye Demon's way of communicating was also quite special, not only using its mouth to speak but also using its eyes—when Li Yue made eye contact with it, combined with its speech, he quickly understood what it wanted to say.

[Analyzing 45%...]

"I'm his... relative..." Li Yue originally wanted to say follower, but "Completion" forced Li Yue to swallow the thought and changed it to relative—these demons didn't know Budiboge's true identity, saying follower would easily give him away.

"His injuries are healed?"

"What if his injuries are healed? Will he be a match for the 157th ranked opponent?" Li Yue telepathically conveyed to the Eye Demon.

"Hmph, no demon thought the Brainling would win in the previous two matches." The Eye Demon gave Li Yue a meaningful look but didn't share the news of the Brainling's recovery with other demons.

"I heard that the Octopus Morph, Kori's, abilities are very restraining to Brainlings. Do you know what they are?" Since the Eye Demon had been observing for so long, Li Yue had reason to believe that it possessed some information he didn't know and began to inquire about intelligence on the spot.

"Can I just tell you that? Could it be... you also want to play a hand?" The Eye Demon sized Li Yue up and down, not seeing where this Brainling could hide money.

[Malice +43]

Li Yue secretly sighed that Demon King City was truly a place where the strong preyed on the weak. A Brainling, just asking a few more questions, and they wanted to eat him clean?

[Analysis complete, Demon Bestiary entry 307—Eye Demon...]

"Where would I have any money..." Li Yue shook his body, only shaking off a little sweat, then turned and slipped out of the Eye Demon's "neck," quickly floating towards the entrance area.

However, Li Yue seemed to be a little careless when he turned around. Eight gold coins reflected the moonlight, flashing to the Eye Demon.

Hmm? Gold coins?

The Eye Demon had excellent eyesight and naturally noticed Li Yue's brain furrow. It hurriedly touched its neck to the ground and quickly followed the Brainling...

One chasing and one fleeing, the Eye Demon chased the Brainling into a pile of debris, and then a bone spike pierced its eyeball, splattering a large amount of eye fluid, making the entire debris pile sticky.

A skeleton with fangs emerged from the pile of debris, using the bone sword in its hand to constantly cut the Eye Demon's eyeball, quickly dissecting it completely out of shape. The skeleton seemed to be looking for something, constantly rummaging through the Eye Demon's corpse on the ground, finally finding a fleshy sac at the bottom of its eye.

The skeleton was, of course, Li Yue—to make it easier to move around in the audience, Li Yue slightly adjusted "Sharp Boned Hunk," changing his shape and face, concealing Skollreik's features. At this moment, he just looked like a more ferocious skeleton.

When the Eye Demon was entangled, Li Yue completed the analysis of the Demon Bestiary, knowing that this type of demon would store valuable personal belongings in the fleshy sac at the bottom of its eye, and the weakness... was, of course, the pupil.

Since a money bag was delivered to his door, there was no reason not to accept it. And sneak attacks were Li Yue's forte, especially against low-level demons like the Eye Demon, which could be easily dealt with.

Of course, powerful Eye Demons would develop various abilities from their eyes, such as "X-ray vision," "Petrification Ray," and other effects of light.

Fortunately, this Eye Demon was weak enough, and its skill bar didn't even have the most basic "X-ray vision," so Li Yue was able to successfully sneak attack it.

"Found it." Li Yue dissected the fleshy sac, turning out a few silver coins, a few copper coins, a betting ticket, and some bundled debris that looked like blood vessels.

The Eye Demon was too weak and didn't have any good things to loot.

Li Yue put away the coins, inserting them into the bone seams, then stared at the debris, fiddling with it for a while. There was nothing he was interested in, and finally, he picked up the betting ticket.

"Octopus Morph, Kori... kill the Brainling in the first round..." Li Yue read the information on the betting ticket, tapped his fingertips twice, and gently tore it open.

"Tsk, wasted." Li Yue pocketed the coins, preparing to personally place a bet—there was still some time before the main event of the Slaughter Cup. As long as Budiboge entered that door, he wouldn't be in danger because Ogeboge needed him to complete this performance, so there was no need to worry.

The audience seats were lively and bustling. Small groups gathered around the brokers and casino registrars, discussing the winners of today's Slaughter Cup.

In the demon crowd, Li Yue sensed a huge fly wearing human skin and instantly confirmed that it was Ogeboge's official registrar, so he walked towards that place.

The coins clipped in the bone seams jingled, making his walk imposing.

But it was at this moment that a large pig at the upper passage entrance twitched its nose, as if it smelled something.