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 self

bloodlust exuded from its

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

from its back casting a large shadow

ear

"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 out

side to let

-Ding!

the middle-aged man felt a small vibration from

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

ignore it thinking that it was nothing important, his

man took out a small black box from his

the black box, the middle-aged man's

may be more troublesome than I

in front of a

"Stop right there"

appeared, two white-clad

don't have time for this

out the small box

immediately moved to the side and allowed Thomas

move, Thomas disappeared once again and reappeared

hope it's

last words the two guards heard before

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

itself, like when you replaced a rusty gear,

tribe, sub-branch of the demon clan of

third cataclysm in the later

'W-hy was he here?'

Baron-ranked demon was not something a G

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

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, Viscount at

approximate power

If a Prince/Princess ranked demon showed up, humanity would stand no chance as each rank increase

Orcs were keeping the Prince/Princess ranked demons

for them, humanity would've long

a great shock to

that a Baron-ranked demon was four ranks

I felt so much

as everything started

But wait...

a Baron-ranked demon, why didn't the

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

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

demon looked

you

demon looking at me in both shock and

...as expected.

trying

where the

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

had still not gone extinct. It was

Earth was, the Demon King was still unable to ascend into the world. Further added with the fact that the Demon King was currently being held back by

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

able to stop the Demon King. The world would be at the Demon

was another factor that prevented

was, apart from demons, the demon army was

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

was why dungeon overloads weren't

the earth's mana density reached a certain point, the event that marked the beginning of the third cataclysm happened...Suddenly, as the people on Earth were going

world, the monsters that came out from the dungeons were able to adapt to earth's atmosphere and survive. Soon the earth was overturned

suddenly backstabbed you just to ensure their

was the beginning of

-Fwap!