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..."

demon's demeanor completely changed from its leisurely self

from

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

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

ear to ear, the

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

His hair which was tied in a ponytail, accompanied by his unkempt beard and sunglasses made him look

to let him walk. Despite his looks, he

-Ding!

the middle-aged man felt a small vibration from his pocket

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

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

middle-aged man took out a small black

the middle-aged man's

may be more troublesome

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

"Stop right there"

appeared, two white-clad individuals obstructed

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

the middle-aged man was in fact, Thomas. Taking out the small

the box, the two guards immediately moved to

Thomas disappeared once again and reappeared inside of

just hope

were the last words the two guards heard

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

like when you replaced a

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

appears right before the third cataclysm

'W-hy was he here?'

demon was not something a G

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

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

approximate power levels

If a Prince/Princess ranked demon showed up, humanity would stand no chance as each rank increase was a substantial increase in

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

them, humanity would've long gone

the demons, it came as a great shock to know

mind that a Baron-ranked demon was

I felt so

everything started to

But wait...

Baron-ranked demon, why didn't the dungeon

to me, causing my pupils to dilate as I

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

the demon looked

you know

I could see the demon looking at

...as expected.

was actually trying to cause

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

The consequences

why humanity had still not gone extinct. It was simply because the time wasn't ripe

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

being one of the strongest creatures in the whole universe. It had gotten to the point that almost every race in the universe was forced to join hands in

to stop the Demon

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

army was still unable to

due to earth only have been exposed to

dungeon overloads

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

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

were your friends suddenly backstabbed

the beginning of

-Fwap!