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

bloodlust exuded from

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

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

ear to ear, the demon

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

middle-aged man leisurely walked. His hair which was tied in a ponytail, accompanied by his unkempt

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

-Ding!

felt a small vibration from

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

ignore it thinking that

man took out

contents on the black box, the

may be more

disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in front of a

"Stop right there"

as he appeared, two white-clad individuals

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

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

the two guards immediately moved to

guards move, Thomas disappeared once again and reappeared

hope it's nothing

last words the two guards

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

introduced itself, like when you replaced a rusty gear, everything

tribe, sub-branch of the demon clan of pride,

third cataclysm

'W-hy was he here?'

not something a

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

human power level. Following Prince/Princess 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 a

were the approximate power levels

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

were keeping

for them, humanity

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

that a Baron-ranked demon

I felt so much

as everything started to make

But wait...

a Baron-ranked demon, why didn't

occurred to me, causing my pupils

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

looked at me

did you

demon looking at

...as expected.

was actually trying

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 monsters inside of the dungeon get

nowhere. The consequences

not gone extinct. It was simply because

the world. Further added with the fact that the Demon King

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 the whole universe. It

the Demon King. The world would be at the Demon King's mercy. Knowing this, many

there was another factor

the demon army was still unable to adapt to the human

of the low mana density in the atmosphere, due to earth only have been exposed to mana recently,

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,

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

you thought were your friends suddenly backstabbed you just to ensure their own

beginning of the

-Fwap!