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 demeanor completely changed from its leisurely self

thick bloodlust exuded from its

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

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

forward, smiling from ear to ear, the

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

walked. His hair which was tied in a ponytail, accompanied by his unkempt beard and

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

-Ding!

small vibration from his pocket followed by

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

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

the middle-aged man took out a small black box

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

may be more

from where he was standing and reappeared in

"Stop right there"

two white-clad

1, Timothy 2...I don't have time for this

in fact, Thomas. Taking out the small box from his pocket, Thomas showed it to

moved to the side and allowed Thomas to enter

the two guards move, Thomas disappeared once again and reappeared inside

just hope it's nothing

last words the two guards heard before Thomas disappeared from

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

introduced itself, like when you replaced a rusty gear,

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

before the third cataclysm in the later half of the

'W-hy was he here?'

demon was not something a G

King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis,

had a power level equivalent to around SSS, in terms of human power level. Following Prince/Princess ranked demons, were Duke-ranked demons whose power level was around SS, the same as the strongest

the approximate power

off at most against Duke-ranked demons. If a Prince/Princess ranked demon showed up, humanity would stand no chance as

Orcs were keeping the Prince/Princess ranked

not for them, humanity

shock to know that I was currently in

in mind that a Baron-ranked demon was four ranks

wonder I felt

everything started to make

But wait...

demon, why

occurred to me, causing my

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

the demon looked at me

you know

up, I could see the demon looking at me in both

...as expected.

actually trying to

with energy. However, contrary to when dungeons desync, where the dungeon just loses connection

out of nowhere. The consequences alone would

a reason why humanity had still not gone extinct. It was simply because

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

universe, grew stronger the more planets it ate. Through its numerous exploits in which it conquered and ate planets, the Demon King grew into being one of the strongest creatures in the whole universe. It had gotten to the point that

only one planet away from becoming the strongest being in the universe. Once it consumed one more planet, no being would be able to stop the Demon King. The world would be at the Demon King's mercy. Knowing

factor that

demon army was still

in the atmosphere, due to earth only have been exposed

was why dungeon overloads weren't considered a

before the third cataclysm, when the earth's mana density reached a certain point, the event that marked the beginning of the third cataclysm happened...Suddenly, as the people on Earth

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

backstabbed you just to ensure

beginning of the third

-Fwap!