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 its leisurely

from its

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

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

from ear to ear, the demon

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

of a large spacious luxurious corridor, a middle-aged man leisurely walked. His hair which was tied in a ponytail, accompanied by his unkempt beard

to the side to let him walk. Despite his looks, he was treated as if he was

-Ding!

small vibration from his

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

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

noticing that something wasn't right, the middle-aged man took out a small black box

box, the middle-aged man's

more troublesome than

standing and reappeared in

"Stop right there"

appeared, two white-clad individuals

Timothy 2...I don't have time

in fact, Thomas. Taking out the small box from his pocket,

the two guards immediately moved to the side and allowed Thomas to enter the

the two guards move, Thomas disappeared once again and reappeared inside of the

just hope

guards heard before Thomas disappeared

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

like when you replaced a

tribe, sub-branch of the demon clan of pride, and a baron-ranked

right before the third cataclysm in the

'W-hy was he here?'

a

King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis,

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

the approximate power

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 increase was a substantial increase in

Orcs were keeping the Prince/Princess ranked demons

humanity would've

power levels of the demons, it came as a great shock to

that a Baron-ranked demon

wonder I felt so

thought as everything started

But wait...

Baron-ranked demon, why

causing my pupils to dilate as

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

the demon looked at me

you

demon looking at me

...as expected.

demon was actually trying

desync, where

of nowhere. The consequences

still not gone extinct. It was simply because

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, the looming threat coming from the Demon King was

conquered and ate planets, the Demon King grew into being one of the strongest creatures in

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,

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

the demon army was

to earth only

was why dungeon overloads

marked the beginning of the third cataclysm happened...Suddenly, as the people on Earth were going about their own day, dungeon

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

thought were your friends suddenly backstabbed

beginning of the third

-Fwap!