Hello everyone, Astaroth here.

Back on earth, 'people' and 'humans' meant essentially the same thing. However, in this world, 'people' encompasses a few more species than just humans. Of course, there are humans, and then there are also beast-people- essentially humans, except they have the ears, tails and occasionally horns or wings of an animal. They also have the heightened senses and instincts you'd expect an animal to have, and can oftentimes be a bit... impulsive. Then there are also races who have received divine 'providence', in a sense, from one of the Goddesses. There are the dwarves, who have the power of Lady Gnome- far shorter than humans, averaging out at about half height, but physically stronger. Males often have a large beard. Then there are mermaids, who possess the power of Lady Undine- the upper bodies of humans, often quite beautiful or handsome, and the lower bodies of fish. As a result, they are aquatic. Elves possess the power of Lady Sylph, and are often taller than humans. They possess pointy ears and have an increased affinity with nature. Lastly, the Drakonids, who possess Lady Salamander's explosive power of fire. As with beast-people, they possess wings and horns, but their hands are replaced by claws and their mouths are lined with sharp teeth. They can also breathe fire.

If you had to compare my physical appearance to one of these races, I'd probably be most similar to an elf- however, elves often look quite androgynous, so I'm far too 'bulky' to actually resemble one.

Of course, what the actual difference is between these races of 'people' and a Half is unclear. It seems to be a simple matter of opinion from Lady Luciel.

"The war's going rather well, isn't it?", I mused, looking at the Goblinoids' village from a distance. Generally, the Goblinoids were staying inside, only coming out once Heroes neared to defeat them before sneaking back in. The amount in which they were picking up on the concept of 'tactics' was pleasantly surprising.

"Indeed, Master", Charlotte said, standing at my side. "We've lost more if we're talking about absolute numbers, but percentage-wise, though slightly, we are in the lead."

"Even so, one thing troubles me..."

"What would that be, Master?"

"The actions of the Saint, and that Hero. I see no reasonable patterns in their movements."

"Indeed, they are an enigma... Ah, they've appeared again."

"Has another one of your Vampires found them?"

"Yes. They appear to be further north of where they appeared last time..."

This was the reason I had chosen Charlotte to stay by my side. Since the power of the old Vampire crown ran in her veins, she had the ability to communicate telepathically with any of her subordinates, in a way not dissimilar to the [Telepathy] skill. Unlike the skill, however, this method consumed no mana.

"Further north, is it?", I asked, marking a location on a map before taking a step back and looking over the entire thing. "... Incomprehensible", I finally concluded. "There's no pattern or reasoning at all, is there?"

"... Master, there's more", Charlotte said, in an almost gentle tone of voice, as if trying to inform someone a relative had passed away without upsetting them. "There's a Hero who appears to be carrying... Claiomh Solais, the god-sword. Luckily, the Hero himself appears easily agitated, but this..."

"The... The god-sword, you said? Claiomh Solais, the weapon Lady Luciel made herself, the sword capable of killing even a god... Isn't that an interesting toy you've given your puppets, Lady Luciel?"

Although it's impossible to see one's own face without a mirror, just by looking at Charlotte's resigned expression, I could tell that my mouth had distorted into the grin of a very bad person.

"Ah... Why do I have to do this? Just leavin' this to the Vampires'd be fine, wouldn't it?"

"Because you can fly, Lilith."

"But Master... Charlotte can fly too, can't she? Don't all Vampires have wings like her?"

"The bat-like wings are only good for increasing speed and manoeuvrability. They don't actually allow the Vampire to fly. The only reason Charlotte can fly is because of the wings she makes using [Bloodworks], and not many Vampires have that skill."

"Even so, why is a Demon General doing scouting work?!"

"It can't be helped, can it? Besides, you might get a chance for revenge on that Barrier Hero."

"Well, I suppose I'd be lyin' if I said I didn't want that..."

"See? It's not all bad, is it? Now get back to it."

Lilith let out a big sigh as she spoke: "Alright, fine, leave it to me..."

Lilith floated around, going around to check out various locations where the Vampires said they'd spotted the Saint and the Barrier Hero, and each time she was disappointed to find nothing more than Goblinoid corpses and, occasionally, the corpses of one or two Heroes.

"Still, though... What does he even want me to look for?", she asked herself in a voice that came out a little louder than she expected, attracting the attention of a Hero who happened to be nearby.

"Found you, you little- Wha?! A Devil?! Ain't this supposed to be a Goblinoid village?!"

"Ah, don't mind me, I'm just passin' through", Lilith lied, although the lie was certainly convincing due to her casual stance.

"Even if you are, that's irrelevant!", the Hero shouted. "You're a Monster, so it's my divine mission to smite you!"

"Now listen here, so-called 'Hero'", Lilith said, floating down slightly as her eye twitched in slight agitation. "I have been specifically instructed to leave you guys alone, 'n yet you still want me dead? How is that fair? Tha's unfair, ain't it? Am I supposed to just sit here 'n take a beatin', or what? You won't find a single person who'd do that, I can say. So, that bein' what it is, just leave me alone, 'kay?"

"You have been instructed, you say? Well, I suppose Succubi rarely work alone..."

"I'm not a Succubus."

"Excuse me?"

"Like I said, not a Succubus."

"But, with that outfit, surely..."

"Nope. Never have been, either. I used to be the daughter of my tribe's Shaman, though dad's already retired, and right now, he's a bit... well, anyway, I've never been a Succubus, nor have I ever wanted to be one, ya hear?"

"I-In the first place, this is irrelevant! Are you trying to distract me?! Anyway, Devil, who is the person who ordered you, then?"

"Can't say."

"Huh? You don't know?"

"Nope, I know him, alright. I'm just not tellin' you, is all. Are we done? Then, bye~"

Without much concern for the Hero, who had been left in an absolutely befuddled state, Lilith simply flew away, and she was out of the Hero's attack range within seconds.

"Ah-! Stop right there, you!"

"Nah."

The Hero could do nothing but watch as Lilith simply flew off. After several seconds of bewildered silence, the Hero finally seemed to regain some composure and ran off, presumably to tell someone in a higher position about what had happened.

"A Devil, you say?"

An interested expression played across the face of the Barrier Hero, Yxon. His short golden hair seemed almost to get wilder than it usually was as he leaned forward, an amount of enthusiasm detectable in the crooked grin on his face. His golden eyes were 'pleasantly' narrowed, like those of a child receiving a new toy, or perhaps those of a teenager making leaps and bounds of progress in the newest installment in a series of RPGs.

"By all means, tell me more", he said.

"As you wish, sir", the Hero in front of Yxon said. This was the same Hero who had encountered a Succubus-like Devil several minutes ago. "She was wearing a pair of hotpants and a crop top, and I think a pair of long boots, too. Her skin was purple, and her hair was bright pink and fairly short. She had two horns on her head, and a tail with a heart on the end, I think. There were some strange markings on her face, and she seemed really disinterested... Ah, also, specifically in that area, she was quite big. Due to her loose-fitting clothes, it was-"

"Right, that's enough", Yxon cut in. "I'm asking you to describe a boss, not a love interest. Clearly, this is the prelude to a boss fight, not to the first encounter with a heroine." In a way, his words were correct, but at the same time, they highlighted the especially terrible parts of his personality. "Library, you got anything?", he asked, turning back to a different Hero.

"Only one match has been found", she answered after using the Librarian Job's unique skill, [Record Access]. It was a skill which allowed one to access the Akashic Records and obtain the vast treasure troves of information contained within. "The angels have revealed that the target is, without a doubt, the Arch-Devil, Lilith. There is no other Devil who wears such modern clothes, and no other Devil who could wear such a degree of exposure and insist she is not a Succubus. However, not much about her is known. We have no records of her combat strength: we only know she possesses common Devil-type magic, such as [Devil Bindings] and [Limitless Mana Pool], and darkness-type magic. What kinds of darkness magic is also unknown." Her words exposed a rather large misunderstanding to anyone who truly knew what [Record Access] did, but Luciel had without a doubt made sure no one was aware.

"... Lilith, you said?", Yxon asked, a strange gleam filling his gaze. "Lilith as in, Lilith of the Bral'goch tribe?", he continued, no doubt getting that pronunciation entirely wrong.

"Yes, Lilith Bral'goch", the Librarian said, adjusting her glasses. "Why? Is that important?"

"I see, the last remaining Bral'goch, that one girl who managed to escape last time...", Yxon said as the crooked grin on his face widened in delight. "I see, I see... This is where that questline continues... However, if she's around, wouldn't that man be here, too? 'Ey, you have any intel on a man, about two metres tall, black eyes, grey-silver hair, pointy ears? Black military suit, if that helps."

"I have a name, you know...", muttered the Librarian to herself before once again using her skill. "What...? This can't be...I've found an almost-match- only the colour of his left eye is wrong- but the records say this info is... 'classified'? I've never had info denied to me before... The only thing it will tell me is that Lady Luciel has declared him an 'enemy of the world'."

"Damn, no info, huh? What kind of shitty game has you fight a double boss where you only know about one of the two?"

"Now, now, Yxon, please calm down", a gentle voice said from the side. Its owner was a woman who could easily be described as a 'beauty'- her gentle features and equally gentle curves, combined with her sisterly garb, gave her a mature charm, and her eyes, which looked as if they were constantly smiling, were filled with kindness.

"Ah, Guriel", Yxon said. "Are you making sure you're not running out of mana? I heard Aspects use up a lot of that."

"I will be fine, my child", she responded, nodding reassuringly. "More importantly, it is finally the conclusion of one of your valued quests, is it not? And one of the quests which had been left open for so long, too. You have my deepest congratulations, and of course my cooperation as well."

"Yeah, I'll be counting on you, Guriel", Yxon said. "Against that kind of a monstrosity, even I can't win if I'm alone, I remember at least that much from my previous encounter with him."

"Feel free to rely on my support as much as you need, my child."

"Actually, it'd be reassuring to have Reynald too... After all, to fight a boss, you need a party, right? So then, for a raid boss, you need a raid group, yeah? I feel like he could do the job of most of a raid group."

"Did I hear my name?", another Hero cut in. His untamed hair combined with the energetic look in his eyes gave him a 'wild' appearance, and on his back was a rather large sword. Though only the hilt was visible, as it was in a sheath, it was visible at a glance that this sword was incredibly valuable. The handguard around the hilt was shaped like a sun, and the dull moonlight reflected off the golden-coloured metal- Truly, this was a weapon worthy of being called the god-sword, Claiomh Solais.

"Hello, lady saint, lord Yxon", the female Hero behind the 'wild' man added. Her golden locks flowed down her body as if accenting it, and attached to the back of her mage-like garb was a wooden staff, a golden tip curling at the top. It was visible even from a distance that this was not a cheap weapon.

"Ah, Reynald, Ebstrea", Yxon said, the grin on his face widening. "Yeah, you heard your name, Reynald. Actually, you two, it seems a 'secret boss' has appeared. Are you up for a side-quest?" He moved his hands in a motion implying 'money', and indeed, if they succeeded in their goal, they would most certainly be handsomely rewarded.

"Don't hidden bosses usually come after the final boss, as a kind of extra challenge, though?", Reynald asked, a questioning expression on his face.

"And if it's after the final boss, then wouldn't that mean it's harder than the final boss?", Ebstrea appended, looking slightly worried.

"What? It'll be fine, it'll be fine!", Yxon shouted at an unnecessarily loud volume. "We've got a perfect party formation, right? I can be a tank- I'm not called 'Barrier Hero' for nothing, you know?- Guriel can be a support, Reynald can be the damage-dealer, with that god-sword of his, and Ebstrea is a mage! We've got a great balance, right?" In this sentence, his original nature as an avid player of party-based RPGs, whether single-player or MMOs, truly shone.

"Well, I suppose that with this sword, I can deal some serious damage", Reynald admitted, tapping the sheath on his back. The recent training and the great number of times he was forced to move his body in unnatural positions in order to fight seemed to have greatly improved his agility and flexibility.

"Lady Luciel said it could kill even gods, didn't she?", Yxon asked, looking at it curiously.

"Yeah, apparently it breaks right through god-based defense, and if you hit a god's avatar with it, you damage their divinity itself", Reynald answered, reproducing words he himself didn't really understand.

And thus, in this manner, a 'raid party', intended to defeat the 'hidden boss' called Lilith Bral'goch and her mysterious benefactor, declared an enemy of the world, was formed.