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

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

from its back casting a

one step forward, smiling from ear to ear,

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

large spacious luxurious corridor, a middle-aged man leisurely walked. His hair which was tied in a ponytail, accompanied by his

to him stepped to the side to let him walk. Despite his looks, he was treated

-Ding!

a small vibration

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

that it was nothing important, his pocket

that something wasn't right, the middle-aged man took out a

black box, the middle-aged

be more troublesome than

disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in front of a gate with the number <<756>> imprinted on

"Stop right there"

as he appeared, two

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

the small box from his pocket, Thomas showed it to

the box, the two guards immediately moved to the side and allowed Thomas to enter

disappeared once again and reappeared inside of

hope

the two guards heard

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

when you replaced a rusty gear, everything started to click

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

before the third cataclysm

'W-hy was he here?'

Baron-ranked demon was not something a G

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

of human power level. Following Prince/Princess ranked demons, were Duke-ranked demons whose power level was around SS,

were the approximate power levels

most against Duke-ranked demons. If a Prince/Princess ranked demon showed up, humanity would

Elves, and Orcs were keeping the

humanity would've long gone

a great shock to know that

demon was four ranks higher

felt

everything started to

But wait...

it's a Baron-ranked demon, why

a sudden thought occurred to me, causing my pupils to dilate

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

looked at me

did you

I could see the demon looking at me in both

...as expected.

demon was actually trying to cause a

dungeon becoming oversaturated with energy. However, contrary to when dungeons desync, where the dungeon just

nowhere. The consequences alone would be disastrous...Fortunately, this was not

reason why humanity had still not gone extinct.

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

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

more planet, no being would be able to stop the Demon King. The world would be at the Demon King's mercy.

Demon King's ascension, there was another factor that prevented the

from demons, the demon army was still unable

density in the atmosphere, due to earth only have been

dungeon overloads weren't considered a

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

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

friends suddenly backstabbed you just to

the beginning of the

-Fwap!