I'm a monster in Demon King's Castle

The former Demon King, newly reborn, didn't seem able to effectively distinguish between illusion and reality. Even after Lee Read had completed the inclusion in the Demon Illustrated Handbook, the former Demon King was still waving his small hand, battering the air around the altar into nothingness.

This book is first published on the entire network by 𝕥 𝕨 𝕜 𝕒 𝕟 . 𝕔 𝕠 𝕞

And as expected, this demon's introduction, like Oogie Boogie's, was in gold, indicating his status and confirming his "quasi-Demon King level" position.

But when Lee Read saw his name, he suddenly felt it was a bit of a joke—what kind of name is that?

[Analysis successful, Demon Illustrated Handbook entry 033—Steel Baby]

Why does Steel have "Baby" after it? When he ruled Demon King City, was his demon name this?

Or… after being reborn, did he undergo some new changes?

033, surpassing the Courage Academy instructor Isaac, became the highest-ranked demon currently included in Lee Read's illustrated handbook.

[Steel Baby; Distribution: None; Lifespan: 1000-; Habits: Eager to steal life and souls, acquiring eternal life from constantly stealing "forgotten time," a Clock Demon; Hobbies: Daydreaming/Observing/Witnessing the changing times; Skills: Life Stealing/Freezing; Action Prediction Success Rate: 762%; Weaknesses: None]

After reading Steel Baby's general introduction, Lee Read had some understanding of this former Demon King and suspected that he wasn't in a complete state at the moment—but judging from the action prediction success rate, he didn't seem like a Demon King should be. Combining his habits, hobbies, skills, and so on, it wasn't hard to see that the former Demon King was a demon related to life stealing and time.

[Genesis Record: The first clockwork of Demon King City, connected to the core altar, able to sense the pulse of Demon King City, and having gained life after being stained by millennia of chaos.]

After reading the Genesis Record, Lee Read understood the former Demon King as a clock that had become a spirit; the final "drop" also matched the Genesis Record, being a material called "Name-Stealing Pocket Watch."

Because the name was too abstract, Lee Read couldn't think of how to integrate it into any of his templates for a while.

Could it be used as a Demon Relic?

And Steel Baby's transformation cost was 2000, considered a medium level, which made Lee Read feel even more that the infant in front of him… was no longer the same demon as before.

Because even if Lee Read transformed now, he could only transform into the appearance of an infant, and still an infant with translucent skin revealing his brain and internal organs—it was estimated that he didn't look like this when he was in power.

[Current Object… Status: Newborn/Deceived… ]

Steel Baby's current state confirmed Lee Read's guess—he would start from scratch, gradually awakening the former Demon King's memories and abilities.

Finally, after adding Steel Baby to the Demon Illustrated Handbook, with a 50% "action prediction success rate," Lee Read immediately shared all his understanding of the former Demon King with Shadow and Egg, broadcasting all his states in real-time, preparing for the soul snatching.

However, at that moment, Lee Read suddenly discovered that the "Rebellion" card clipped in his scalp erupted with powerful force, about to change from a fastened state to flipped open before his eyes!

Lee Read sensed the worm on the card and inexplicably thought of Mentor…

What does this mean? Not allowed to kill again? Could killing a former Demon King… also cause some difficult-to-handle trouble?

But the problem is… not killing is even more troublesome…

The will from Chaos couldn't suppress Lee Read, who controlled the authority of the Library. The three Demon Sons decided in a flash on the order and method of attack, about to launch a "soul snatching" operation against the former Demon King.

And Steel Baby, losing the magic support of the Library, seemed to have weakened in power, and his movements were occasionally sluggish, like a somewhat broken clock.

"Go!"

As soon as Lee Read thought, Shadow instantly connected to Steel Baby's shadow, and Steel Baby also fell into stillness—however, in that small infant body, there seemed to be infinite power, only pausing for a moment before immediately getting stuck in the next action, even tearing apart the shadow binding him on the ground!

The Demon King's power was enormous. Lee Read felt that if he broke free again, it would cause irreversible damage to Shadow.

"Luckily, I replenished your body, right?" Egg's particles collided, called out, and then all pierced into Steel Baby's body!

Thud, thud!

The particles pierced through the infant's translucent skin, firmly adhering to the former Demon King's bones, just like they controlled the entire Library in the beginning, preventing it from collapsing due to "self-healing," tightly pinching every inch of Steel Baby's body, not allowing him any possibility of moving.

[Hmm… power… not enough… ]

Steel Baby revealed his thoughts, and Lee Read also instantly saw his two choices in his mind—one was to completely freeze the space next to the soul altar, accumulate his own power, and then try to break through; the other was to separate from the blue-purple cloak on his body, directly throw off the control of the shadow and particles, and escape the current predicament.

Lee Read once again used "Deception," making Steel Baby believe that his main body and cloak didn't need to separate and could survive this tribulation.

This was a judgment made based on Shadow's need for "connection."

Whether or not the soul snatching could be completed in one go wasn't important; what was important was to make Steel Baby "believe" that the shadow on the ground belonged to him, thereby weakening the control over his body, so that Shadow could take the opportunity to invade.

And once Steel Baby's main body and cloak separated, the new question facing Lee Read would be which one to snatch, whether the remaining one would cause trouble, which would make the situation even more complicated.

[Enemies… three… two… really? Two? ]

Steel Baby hadn't completely fallen into Lee Read's trap. Outside the perception of the three demons, he suddenly used the "Freeze" skill, using the stolen time to carefully think.

During the freeze, neither Lee Read nor Egg made any movements. Only Shadow, who was slightly connected to Steel Baby, could sense the passage of time. Immediately afterward, half of it was torn off by the former Demon King!

[No… the magic consumption is wrong… there's something else on my body… ]

Steel Baby used the magic consumption during the freeze to find out about Shadow's existence, and when the former Demon King made a move, the effect of time stopping instantly disappeared. Then Shadow burst out endless black threads, about to die, but stubbornly held on.

Self-healing!

Lee Read added the self-healing effect that Egg, Shadow, and he had forcibly added when he made his move, preparing for this, and it played a role at this moment.

[Not good… Life Stealing! ]

Steel Baby finally realized that these three demons in front of him were not easy to deal with and used his trump card skill, launching "Life Stealing" within the entire upper cave of the Library!

Lee Read only felt his own life rapidly draining away, momentarily dazed, almost dying just like that; as for Egg and Shadow, they felt okay, after all, their lifespans were extremely long, and they could be effectively replenished under the effect of self-healing, not losing consciousness due to this attack.

But this place was the Library! It was the Library where Lee Read held the authority!

When the former Demon King launched "Life Stealing," Lee Read could only use the authority of the Library to further suppress it, also giving up using "Deception," focusing on wrestling with Steel Baby!

Shadow, particles, and Lee Read's thoughts squeezed towards the former Demon King's body with all their might, and then with a bang, the dust settled!