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..."

a decision, the demon's demeanor completely

thick bloodlust exuded from its body,

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

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

step forward, smiling from ear to ear,

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

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

side to let

-Ding!

man felt a small vibration from his pocket followed by a light

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

it thinking that it was nothing important, his

wasn't right, the middle-aged man

on the black box, the middle-aged man's

may be more troublesome than I

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

"Stop right there"

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

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

was in fact, Thomas. Taking out the

immediately moved to the

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

hope

two guards

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

as the demon introduced itself, like when you

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

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

'W-hy was he here?'

Baron-ranked demon was not something a G rank

from, King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and lastly

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

approximate power

demon showed up, humanity would stand no chance as each rank increase

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

humanity would've long gone

levels of the demons, it came as a great shock to know that I was

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

felt so much

everything started to

But wait...

Baron-ranked demon,

causing my pupils

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

looked at me

did you know

up, I could see the demon looking

...as expected.

demon was actually trying to cause

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

out of nowhere. The consequences alone would be disastrous...Fortunately, this

gone extinct. It was simply because the time wasn't

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

more planets it ate. Through its numerous exploits in which it conquered and ate planets, the Demon King grew into being one of

King was 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

ascension, there was another factor that

army was still unable to adapt to

to earth only have been exposed to mana recently, monsters couldn't

was why dungeon overloads weren't

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,

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

your friends suddenly backstabbed

was the beginning of

-Fwap!