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 its leisurely

thick bloodlust exuded from

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

demon's large bat-like wings expanded from

from ear to

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

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

stepped to the side to let him walk.

-Ding!

a small vibration

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

ignore it thinking that

man took out

box, the

may be more

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

"Stop right there"

appeared, two white-clad individuals

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

fact, Thomas. Taking out the small box from his

two guards immediately moved to the side and allowed

disappeared once again and reappeared inside

just hope it's

last words the two guards heard before Thomas disappeared

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

itself, like when you replaced a rusty gear, everything started to click

the vanity tribe, sub-branch of the demon clan

third cataclysm in the later

'W-hy was he here?'

a G rank like me

were ranked from, King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis, Earl,

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 demons were Marquis-ranked

power levels of the

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 increase

were keeping the Prince/Princess ranked demons

humanity would've long gone

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

mind that a Baron-ranked demon was four

wonder I felt so

as everything

But wait...

demon, why didn't the dungeon

to me, causing my

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

the demon looked at me

you

could see the demon looking at

...as expected.

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 demon world. In a dungeon

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

still not gone extinct. It was

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

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

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 joined together in

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

apart from demons, the demon army was still unable to adapt

due to earth only have been exposed to mana recently, monsters couldn't survive

dungeon overloads weren't considered

the third cataclysm happened...Suddenly, as the people on Earth were going about their own day, dungeon overloads started occurring in almost every dungeon

dungeons were able to adapt to earth's atmosphere and survive. Soon the earth was overturned into an apocalyptic world

were your friends suddenly backstabbed you just to ensure their own

beginning

-Fwap!