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

bloodlust exuded from its body,

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

up, the demon's large bat-like wings expanded from its back casting

forward, smiling from ear to ear,

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

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

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

-Ding!

middle-aged man felt a small vibration from

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

was about to ignore it thinking that it was nothing important,

right, the middle-aged man took out

the

may be more troublesome

the middle-aged man disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in front of a gate with the number <<756>> imprinted on the

"Stop right there"

as he appeared, two white-clad

1, Timothy 2...I don't have time

middle-aged man was in fact, Thomas. Taking out the small box from his pocket,

to

disappeared once again

just hope it's nothing

were the last words the two guards heard

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

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

the vanity tribe, sub-branch of the demon clan of pride, and

that only appears right before the third cataclysm in the

'W-hy was he here?'

a G

were ranked from, King, Prince/Princess,

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

were the approximate power levels of

showed up, humanity would stand no chance as each rank

Dwarves, Elves, and Orcs were keeping the Prince/Princess

for them, humanity would've long gone

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

Baron-ranked demon was four ranks higher

felt

everything started to

But wait...

it's a Baron-ranked demon, why didn't

occurred to me, causing my

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

the demon looked at

you know

up, I could see the demon looking at me in both

...as expected.

demon was actually trying to

energy. However, contrary to when dungeons desync, where the

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

was a reason why humanity had still not gone

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

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

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 be at the Demon King's

ascension, there was another factor that prevented the

demon army was still unable to adapt to the

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

was why dungeon overloads

event that marked the beginning of the third cataclysm happened...Suddenly,

dungeon overloads where the monsters inside 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

thought were your friends suddenly backstabbed you just to

beginning of

-Fwap!