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..."

having come up with a decision, the demon's demeanor completely changed from its leisurely

from its body,

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

demon's large bat-like wings expanded from

ear to ear,

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

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

people that were next to him stepped to the side to let him walk. Despite his looks, he was treated as if he was a

-Ding!

a small vibration from his pocket followed

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

it thinking that it was nothing important,

the middle-aged man took out a

box, the middle-aged man's

be more troublesome

middle-aged man disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in

"Stop right there"

he appeared, two white-clad individuals obstructed

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

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

box, the two guards immediately moved to

the two guards move, Thomas disappeared once

just hope it's nothing

guards

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

itself, like when you replaced a rusty

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?'

not something a G rank like

King, Prince/Princess, Duke,

ranked demons, were Duke-ranked demons whose power level was around SS, the

power

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

were keeping

not for them, humanity would've long gone

great shock to

demon was four ranks higher than

wonder I felt so much

as everything started to

But wait...

a Baron-ranked demon, why didn't the

to me, causing my

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

looked

did you

could see the demon looking at

...as expected.

trying to cause a

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

thousands of monsters suddenly appearing out of nowhere. The consequences alone would be disastrous...Fortunately, this was

a reason why humanity had still not gone extinct. It was simply because the time

with the fact that the Demon King was currently being held back by various

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

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 have

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

army was still unable to adapt to

in the atmosphere, due to earth only have been exposed to mana recently, monsters couldn't

dungeon overloads weren't

that marked the beginning of the third cataclysm happened...Suddenly, as the people

came out from the dungeons were able to adapt to earth's atmosphere

thought were your friends suddenly backstabbed you just to

was the beginning of the

-Fwap!