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

bloodlust exuded from

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

large bat-like wings expanded from its

one step forward, smiling from ear to ear,

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

hair which was tied in a ponytail, accompanied by his unkempt beard and sunglasses

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

-Ding!

small vibration from his pocket followed

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

about to ignore it thinking that it was nothing

middle-aged man took out a small black box from

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

may be more troublesome

reappeared in front of a gate with the number <<756>>

"Stop right there"

he appeared, two white-clad individuals obstructed his

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

Thomas. Taking out the small box

immediately moved to the side and allowed Thomas

disappeared once again and reappeared inside

just hope it's

guards heard before Thomas disappeared

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

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

an elder of the vanity tribe, sub-branch of the demon clan of pride,

appears right before the third cataclysm in the later half

'W-hy was he here?'

Baron-ranked demon was not something a G rank like

Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and lastly

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 demons were Marquis-ranked demons at a power level of around S followed by Earl-ranked demons at A,

were the approximate 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

the Dwarves, Elves, and Orcs were keeping the Prince/Princess ranked demons in

not for them, humanity

levels of the demons, it came as a great shock to know that I was currently in front of a

in mind that a Baron-ranked demon was four

wonder I felt so

as everything started to

But wait...

Baron-ranked demon, why didn't the

a sudden thought occurred to me, causing my pupils to dilate as

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

the demon looked at me in

did you

could see the demon looking at me in both shock and

...as expected.

trying to

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

nowhere. The consequences alone would

was a reason why humanity had still not gone extinct. It was

world. Further added with the fact that the Demon King

exploits in which it conquered and ate planets, the Demon King grew into being one

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

there was another factor that prevented the demons from fully

was still

due to earth only have been exposed to mana recently, monsters

overloads weren't considered

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

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 overturned into an apocalyptic world where law and order ceased

were your friends suddenly backstabbed you

beginning of

-Fwap!