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..."

the demon's demeanor completely changed from its

bloodlust exuded from

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

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

ear to ear, the demon elegantly

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

man leisurely walked. His hair which was tied

the corridor, the people that were next to him stepped to the side to

-Ding!

small vibration from his pocket

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

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

wasn't right, the middle-aged man

box, the middle-aged

may be more troublesome than I

and reappeared in front of a gate with the number <<756>> imprinted

"Stop right there"

soon as he appeared, two

1, Timothy 2...I don't have

out the small box from his pocket,

to the side and allowed

two guards move, Thomas disappeared once again and reappeared

just hope it's nothing

guards

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

you replaced a

vanity tribe, sub-branch of the demon clan of pride, and a

only appears right before the third cataclysm in

'W-hy was he here?'

a G rank like

were ranked from, King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis,

ranked demons, were Duke-ranked demons whose power level was around SS, the same as the strongest humans alive. After Duke-ranked demons were Marquis-ranked demons at

were the approximate power levels of

demon showed up, humanity would stand

the Dwarves, Elves, and Orcs were keeping

humanity would've

great shock to know that I was currently in front of a baron-ranked

a Baron-ranked demon was four ranks higher

wonder I felt so

thought as everything started to

But wait...

it's a Baron-ranked demon, why didn't the dungeon

a sudden thought occurred to me, causing my

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

demon looked

you know

could see the demon looking

...as expected.

actually trying

dungeon desync in that it involved a dungeon becoming oversaturated with energy. However, contrary to when dungeons desync, where the dungeon just loses connection to the demon world. In a dungeon overload, all the

tens of thousands of monsters suddenly appearing out of nowhere. The consequences alone would be disastrous...Fortunately, this was

humanity had still not gone

added with the fact that the Demon King was currently being held back by various forces,

ultimate overlords of the 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

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 this, many

the Demon King's ascension, there was another factor

army was still unable to

mana density in the atmosphere, due to earth

overloads

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 were going about their own day, dungeon overloads started occurring in almost every

overloads where the monsters inside 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 survival

you thought were your friends suddenly backstabbed you just to ensure

the beginning of the

-Fwap!