The Author's POV

It felt as if time had frozen. My mind blanked. My blood froze. My breathing quickened. My pupils dilated.

...I thought I was prepared.

Since reincarnation inside of my novel, I knew that one day I would encounter a demon.

I was ready...I thought

But looking at the creature haughtily sitting on the throne, hallucinations of death repeatedly replayed in my mind.

'I have to run!'

...I repeated again and again in my mind.

I knew that...yet my legs refused to listen to me

Ba...dump! Ba...dump!

The hall was silent, and only the sound of my heartbeat repeatedly pulsing could be heard.

Sweat started dripping down from my body, soaking all my clothes. With a shivering hand, I tightly clenched on my clothes, right where my heart was.

What's this...?

...Am I scared?

'There's no way I can fight against that!'

...was what my mind repeatedly told itself as my eyes transfixed themselves onto the demonic creature that was amusingly looking down on me from the throne. With its blood-red eyes, the demon looked down at me as it smiled widely.

"It seems like a little mouse has sneaked inside my abode"

Licking its lips, the demon eyes carefully looked at me up and down, almost as if a delicious snack had presented itself before it.

-Crack! -Crack! -Crack!

Using its thumb, the demon slowly cracked every one of its fingers on its right hand.

"huuuuu...."

Letting out a long breath I forcefully tried to calm myself down.

'This is all an illusion!'

What I was experiencing was the innate fear a prey faced when meeting a predator.

If I thought about it rationally, although my opponent was strong, it wasn't to the point that I would have to despair.

Yes...

The demon's stats couldn't be above F rank, else the dungeon would've already desynced.

The fear I was experiencing was all in my mind.

I didn't have to fear what was before me.

...was what I repeatedly tried to tell myself, yet I still couldn't stop my body from trembling.

The feeling I was experiencing was similar to the moments before I took my final exams.

I knew I could do it, as I had prepared rigorously for it...but even if I was prepared, it didn't stop me from being scared.

"How cute..."

Amusingly looking down on me, the Demon leaned forward as its red eyes carefully looked at me.

Instantly, it felt as if all my secrets had been laid bare for the demon to look at. It felt as if nothing could be hidden from its two prying blood-red eyes.

"G rank..."

-tap! -tap! -tap!

Shaking its head disappointedly the Demon began tapping on the armrest of the throne as it started pondering.

Finally, after a couple of seconds, the Demon shook its head in disappointment.

"Too bad, too bad..."

with a decision, the demon's

bloodlust exuded from its body, suffocating

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

up, the demon's large bat-like wings expanded from its back casting

smiling from ear

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

corridor, a middle-aged man leisurely walked. His hair which was tied in

the corridor, the people that were next to him stepped to the side to let him walk. Despite his looks, he was treated as

-Ding!

man felt a small vibration from

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

about to ignore it thinking that it was nothing important, his pocket started vibrating

the middle-aged man

the black box, the middle-aged man's brows knit together in a

be more

he was standing and reappeared in front of a gate with

"Stop right there"

soon as he appeared, two white-clad individuals obstructed his

don't have time for

the middle-aged man was in fact, Thomas. Taking out the small box from his pocket,

guards immediately moved to the side and allowed Thomas

two guards move, Thomas disappeared once again and

just hope

two guards heard before Thomas

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

itself, like when you replaced a rusty

an elder of the vanity tribe, sub-branch of the demon

that only appears right before the third cataclysm in the later half of

'W-hy was he here?'

a G rank like

demons were ranked from, King, Prince/Princess,

were Duke-ranked demons whose power level was around SS, the same as the

were the approximate power levels of

could only fend off at most against Duke-ranked demons. If a Prince/Princess ranked demon showed up, humanity would stand

Dwarves, Elves, and Orcs were keeping the Prince/Princess ranked

humanity would've long

came as a great shock to know that I was

in mind that a Baron-ranked demon was four ranks higher

I felt so

thought as everything started

But wait...

it's a Baron-ranked demon, why

a sudden thought occurred to me, causing my pupils to

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

looked at

did you

demon looking at me

...as expected.

trying to cause

when dungeons desync, where the dungeon just loses connection to the demon world. In a dungeon overload,

thousands of monsters suddenly appearing out of nowhere. The consequences alone would be

humanity had still not gone extinct. It

of how unstable Earth was, the Demon King was still unable to ascend into the world. Further added with the fact that the Demon King was currently being held back by various forces, the looming threat coming from

planets, the Demon King grew into being one of the strongest creatures in

one more planet, no being would be able to stop the Demon

Demon King's ascension, there was another factor

army was still unable

of the low mana density in the atmosphere, due to earth only

was why dungeon overloads weren't considered

reached a certain point, the event that marked the beginning of the third cataclysm happened...Suddenly, as the people on Earth were going about their own

of it would die immediately upon entering the human world, the monsters that came out from the dungeons were able to adapt to earth's atmosphere and survive. Soon the earth was overturned into an apocalyptic world where law and order ceased to exist and only your own

suddenly backstabbed you just to ensure

beginning of

-Fwap!