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..."

up with a decision, the demon's demeanor completely changed from

exuded from its body, suffocating

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

demon's large bat-like wings expanded from its

from ear to ear,

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

tied in

the side to let him walk. Despite his

-Ding!

man felt a small vibration from his pocket followed by a

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

ignore it thinking that

right, the middle-aged man took out

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

more troublesome

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

"Stop right there"

he appeared, two white-clad individuals obstructed

don't

Thomas. Taking out the small box from his pocket,

guards immediately moved to the side and allowed

move, Thomas disappeared once

just hope

last words the two guards heard before Thomas disappeared

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

when you replaced a rusty gear, everything started to click

sub-branch of the demon clan of

right before the third

'W-hy was he here?'

not something a G rank like me could

King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis, Earl,

Demon princess had 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 same as the strongest humans alive. After Duke-ranked

the approximate power levels

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

Elves, and Orcs were keeping the Prince/Princess

not for them, humanity

it came as a great shock to

mind that a Baron-ranked demon was

wonder I felt so

as everything

But wait...

demon, why didn't the dungeon

sudden thought occurred to me, causing my pupils to

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

the demon looked at me

did you know

I could see the demon looking at me in both shock

...as expected.

trying

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 demon world. In a dungeon overload, all the monsters inside of the dungeon get transported into the

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

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

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

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

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 King's mercy. Knowing this, many forces

Demon King's ascension, there was another factor that

demons, the demon army was still unable to

earth only have been

why dungeon overloads weren't

when 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 occurring in almost every dungeon around the

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.

backstabbed you just to ensure

the beginning

-Fwap!