I'm a monster in Demon King's Castle

“Hurry, hurry! The blood sacrifice is about to begin!” Seeing the hyena run into the cave, the strong young jackals at the entrance urged him on, casting envious glances. “Boss Hyena… if there’s anything good, remember us, woof!”

“Woof.” Hyena grinned wickedly and nodded, quickly running into the cave.

Li Yue had already scouted it once, so he knew the passages inside the cave like the back of his hand. He quickly ran into the inner rock cave—in the center of the cave was an altar made of jackal skulls. Several remaining Fallen Nobles were lying in the center of the altar, surrounded by hundreds of jackals, nearly filling the entire cave.

At this moment, almost all the jackals' eyes were focused on the altar, not noticing the silent jackal hunter near the entrance of the large rock cave; only Flana and Masna sat upright on the high platform of the large rock cave, their eyes scanning back and forth across their kin, still maintaining a vigilant posture.

Below the high platform was the jackal throne. At this moment, a jackal even taller than a dire wolf warrior was sitting, his hands resting on a giant club covered in wolf teeth, dozing slightly. Of course, this was the jackal leader.

Li Yue subtly radiated his senses, naturally noticing that the giant club was inlaid with “Dire Wolf Teeth.” He guessed that this leader must have killed many important members of the dire wolf clan to forge such a giant club.

Next to the throne, Masna, having changed back into his Fallen Noble skin, stood on the left, while on the right was an old, hunched-over jackal, leaning on a cane—unlike the jackal leader's cane, which was covered in dire wolf teeth, this one had miniature wolf skull.

Clearly, to have the wolf skull used as a weapon by the jackal leader's right-hand man… the owner of this wolf skull must have been of high status in life…

The jackal family likes to use the relics of the dire wolf clan as equipment? No wonder the dire wolf clan wants to fight them to the death every day—Li Yue muttered to himself.

However, Li Yue also found it strange—didn't Finley's last wish forbid skeletons from entering the Forbidden Forest? Then why weren't the jackal family's bone weapons crushed into bone powder?

Could they all be Demon Relics?

[Analyzing… 33%… ]

Slightly puzzled, Li Yue focused his mind on the old jackal next to the throne and began to record, then suddenly discovered… the old jackal's back was covered with human skin!

Well, is he really wearing human skin? Is this the one Redcoat predicted?

Li Yue restrained his movements, trying not to attract any attention from the old jackal, silently pondering what this pile of human skin was for—could it be that like the “Slave Master” Bodekoli, they were all the old jackal's slaves?

At the same time, Li Yue couldn't help but send a wisp of his mind towards the altar in the center of the rock cave, not sensing any magic from it, knowing that it was different from the Soul Altar in the Book Collection. Perhaps it was just a decoration?

[Analyzing… 45%… ]

After waiting for a moment, about two hundred jackals gathered in the large rock cave, standing in rows high and low; the leader on the throne finally stood up and raised the giant club in his hand.

“The blood sacrifice begins…” As the leader raised the giant club, the old jackal also raised his bone staff and shouted, followed by the jackal hunters and young adults beside him raising their right hands.

Li Yue was no exception, of course, his whole body tensed, his right claw pointing upwards.

“Snap!” The old jackal's bone staff slammed down, and the several Fallen Nobles on the altar were all smashed to pieces, splashing out a ferocious pattern.

The pattern continued to spread and expand, and all the jackals focused their eyes on the center of the altar; when the blood pattern stopped, the old jackal's bone staff rippled with magic, and then he raised the ferocious pattern?

“I see… the future… of the jackal clan…” The old jackal seemed to be a priest-like figure, analyzing the meaning of the pattern. “The future… the jackal clan will… devour ‘knowledge’!”

Under the outline of the old jackal's bone staff, the bloodstains pieced together into the appearance of a jackal head, opening its bloody mouth, the target being a square book.

Li Yue seriously suspected that the old jackal had drawn this pattern himself.

At the same time, suddenly a sense of killing intent invaded Li Yue's mind!

Li Yue was shocked,

But he couldn't help but raise his hands and howl to the sky like the other jackals!

In an instant, the jackals looked around, seemingly searching for the enemy; Li Yue also looked left and right, almost wanting to summon the binding thread to bind himself, so as to resist the killing intent from the bottom of his heart.

But as soon as Li Yue had a thought, the "Brain Spirit Pituitary Gland" sent out a trace of coolness, extinguishing Li Yue's inner fire.

[Malice +444 +244 +144… ]

The malice gradually decreased, and Li Yue barely managed to hold himself in check, also understanding what it meant to “be careful of the wolf in human skin”—if he couldn't help but take action here, all his previous efforts would be in vain, and he might even be defeated here.

Li Yue secretly felt lucky, but also feared that trouble would come one after another.

Then, the blood pattern turned into blood rain, sprinkling on the heads of every jackal. Li Yue felt the killing intent constantly expanding, but he was already able to look at the fanaticism of the jackal family in the rock cave from an outsider's perspective.

This… is this mind control? Li Yue's interest in the old jackal grew even stronger. He secretly pondered for a moment, feeling that even the Brain Spirits in the Book Collection might not be able to resist this kind of mind invasion, including Buddy Bode.

No wonder you have to be careful.

[Analyzing… 61%… ]

“The jackal family will have new territory!” the jackal leader shouted, “We… are about to participate in the Slaughter Cup!”

Li Yue didn't expect to catch up with the jackal family's official announcement of their participation. He thought that this time the harvest was quite fruitful, and he could even directly listen to how the jackal leader would arrange this battle.

“After winning, we will have a place in the Book Collection, and we won't need to fight with the wolf cubs for food anymore!” The jackal leader seemed to have never considered the possibility of “defeat,” turning the pre-war mobilization into a ceremony of honor. “From now on, the wolf cubs will eat bugs, and we will eat people!”

“Woof—” The jackals became even more fanatical.

“I will first select one hundred of the strongest warriors to join me in welcoming this glory…” The jackal leader finally cut to the chase and began to select the jackals to participate in the battle.

And Li Yue, hearing the word “glory,” even suspected that he had come to the wrong set and arrived in the territory of pure-blooded demons—while analyzing the old jackal, Li Yue also observed the “warriors” whose names were called by the jackal leader.

Flana, Masna, and Alana were of course on the list, standing early next to the leader; the old jackal's identity also overlapped with "Mandena" mentioned by several elite jackals before, joining the ranks and becoming one of the core combat team members.

The approximate composition of the hundred-jackal team… was also observed by Li Yue when the leader announced the list—jackal hunters accounted for about 90%, and the remaining 10% were jackal tricksters, which was about the same as expected.

As for how many troops the jackal family would bring to participate in the Slaughter Cup, Li Yue was not very sure.

Also, when the list was announced, Li Yue completed the analysis of the old jackal Mandena, knowing where its ability to manipulate minds came from—this was a jackal with a “Birthmark,” and its lifespan far exceeded the jackal's 200 years, reaching the level of a thousand years…

Looking at Mandena's old appearance now, Li Yue even suspected that it was the real “boss” of the jackals, while the huge leader on the throne… was just its muscle, simply responsible for fighting.

Mandena was born as a jackal trickster, and its mental ability came from the Demon Relic in its hand, the “Staff of Deception.” It also used the ability of the Staff of Deception to complete the binding of the Demon Relic to itself.

Thinking deeper, Li Yue felt that Flana's, Alana's, and Masna's Demon Relics… might have been “deceived” by Mandena, so that they became “new existences” transcending the jackals themselves, gaining deformed power.

I just don't know if these Demon Relics that have been “bound” by the Staff of Deception… can be snatched.

“The Gene Era”

With the “Staff of Deception,” Mandena could use different mental abilities against different target groups, just like the “killing desire” just now; and it was precisely because that magic was cast on the jackals that Li Yue had a chance to resist and was not directly provoked to take action.

As for the human skin draped on Mandena's back, Li Yue was still unsure whether it was some kind of Demon Relic or just for decoration.

But this does not affect Li Yue's judgment—this old jackal should be killed first…

After studying the Demon Illustrated Book for a while, Li Yue made a decision—maybe now, maybe in the Colosseum, he must kill it first.

“Next, Hyena!” Amidst the chattering of the jackals, the jackal leader on the throne called out Hyena's name.

And Li Yue, of course, was prepared. He copied Hyena's arrogant steps and strode towards the high platform, walking through the passage opened by the jackals.

“Hey, we're in for a treat…” Standing in the ranks of the participants, Hyena, played by Li Yue, grinned, revealing endless desire.