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 changed from

from its body, suffocating

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

large bat-like wings expanded from its back

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 unkempt beard and sunglasses made him look out of

were next to him stepped to the side to let him walk.

-Ding!

middle-aged man felt a small vibration from his pocket followed by

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

thinking that it was nothing important,

middle-aged man

black box, the middle-aged man's brows knit together in

may be more troublesome than

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

"Stop right there"

as he appeared, two white-clad individuals

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

man was in fact, Thomas. Taking out the small box

moved to the side and allowed Thomas to

disappeared once again and reappeared inside

just hope

the last words the two guards heard

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

like when you replaced a rusty gear, everything started to

of the vanity tribe, sub-branch of the

existence that only appears right before the third cataclysm in

'W-hy was he here?'

something a G

demons were ranked from, King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and

SSS, in terms of 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 power level of around S followed by Earl-ranked demons at A, Viscount at

the approximate power

humanity could only fend off at most against Duke-ranked demons. If a Prince/Princess ranked demon showed up, humanity would stand no chance as

Dwarves, Elves, and Orcs were keeping

them, humanity would've

as a great shock to know that I was currently in front of

mind that a Baron-ranked demon was four

I felt

thought as everything started

But wait...

Baron-ranked demon, why

me, causing my pupils to

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

looked at me

you know

I could see the demon looking

...as expected.

demon was actually trying to cause

was similar to a 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

suddenly appearing out of nowhere. The consequences alone would be disastrous...Fortunately, this was not a problem

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

King was still unable to ascend into the world. Further 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 the whole universe. It had gotten to the point that almost every race in the universe was forced to join hands in order to stop the Demon

moment, the Demon 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

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

from demons, the demon army was

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

why dungeon overloads weren't considered

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

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

backstabbed you

beginning of

-Fwap!