After they’ve finished, Airi leaned in with a suspicious look.
"Hey, why is your class True Necromancer? I’ve never heard of that before. Are you from Japan?"
John was surprised.
"No way. If I was originally from Japan, I would have been a Hero with a class of Necromancer. It was nothing but dumb luck that let me survive all of the trials."
John leaned against the wall of the lair.
"The same thing happened with the Earth Mage that attacked us, he was nothing but dumb luck too. I keep getting stronger skills by dumb luck."
John was always the kind of person that believed in hard work. He used to spend days in dungeons trying to learn new skills, but that had never paid off. It was always when he was at the verge of death.
Aiko gave a thoughtful nod. "It seems as if there is a higher being interfering, seeing how both Airi and I have two classes, one being Hero and the other being something random."
Lyra shook her head, "It isn’t random, everyone gets a class depending on what they love the most. I got mine from a passion; loving to hide."
John thought it over for a moment before giving a nod, "I figured that’s how classes worked."
Then he changes the topic to the swordmasters and the mages.
Aiko was the first one to speak, "There’s nothing more special about the swordmasters except they have something called a Domain. My former master’s teacher, the one that died, was a master of a skill called Perfect Domain."
"Perfect Domain was a rare and powerful skill. It took control of the space around the user and made it absolute that the sword skills of the wielder were the greatest ones to ever exist.
Opponents to the user found their slashes to always hit a little slower, a little weaker and so on. It was less of a skill and more of a law of nature revolving around the swordsman and his techniques."
Airi frowned, "So how did he die so easily if he was so overpowered?"
At the question, Aiko’s expression darkens.
"He died because he used the Perfect Copy to save me from the conflict that occurred, even if he didn’t use that skill, he would eventually die anyways."
She pauses, "It was my master’s teacher that killed him, she’s the strongest swordmaster within all of Alderia."
Airi tried to understand, "So you’re saying we have no hope of defeating them in our current state?"
Lyra answers instead, "Defeating any true swordmaster would destroy us instantly, it differs with the mages because they are all too reliant on their Mana, which makes them a little easier to fight."
"They’re still really strong," she says, "but we do have skills that can damage them, we would have almost killed Hiden, if it wasn’t for the Ice Mage that saved his butt."
John was silent, listening to every bit of information.
After a while, Lyra speaks, "I forgot to mention one thing, Master. I do not think we can defeat the remaining swordmasters."
John looked at her strangely, "Why is that?"
"Because true swordmasters have no status screens, they are beyond that."
Airi’s eyes widened, "Huh... Wait, what?"
Lyra’s voice was serious, "Swordmasters are monsters; Glenn only died because he saved Aiko. If he did not use Perfect Copy at the moment he did, the battle between him and his former master would have lasted for days, until one of them would be too exhausted to continue."
Outside the Goblin Lair, Aiko stood by herself with her katana at her side. She stared into the distance, calculating on how they could possibly defeat these foes, without losing anyone.
Footsteps were heard from behind. "Aiko," a voice spoke, "do you think we should even fight them? We could just stay here with our allies and live out our lives."
Airi stood there with her four silent puppets.
Aiko shook her head, "No, I’m not going to live my life knowing that I never avenged my master, and I don’t think John would agree with that statement."
She turns to look at Airi, "John is a man of his word, even if he fails, he’ll do his very best until the very end, maybe that’s why he did not die and why he got an evolved class."
Airi looked at her, "I thought so, you three seem to know each other from an extent, but it is only a few days since you three became allies, does it not seem a little long?"
Aiko gave a small smile, "It does not seem long, because for a few months before, I was under his protection and I already knew him, Lyra was one of his greatest enemies. He killed her and turned her into his undead servant."
Airi gives a teasing smile, "You like John, don’t you?"
"No—no I don’t,"Aiko said in embarrassment.
"You do," Airi teased.
They bantered for a few minutes, with Airi teasing Aiko that she was not moving, Aiko denying the statement and so on, until Aiko speaks in a more serious tone.
"If... If I do like him, there is no way I can be with him, he already has Lyra and I’m focused on revenge."
Airi giggled, "Such an odd thing to say, if I had the chance, I would totally go for it, John is your typical main character that would have a harem."
Aiko looked away, "It’s not easy for me to confess my feelings, so I’ll focus on other things first."
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps was heard.
When both girls turned around, the presence was gone. They immediately pulled out their weapons and looked around. Seeing nothing, they slowly sheathed them. That was a big mistake.
The presence was right in front of them.
It was Lyra, her eyes were dark, her smile stretched a little too far and both of her twin daggers were in her hands, her aura was that of yandere.
"Who were talking about taking my John," she asked sweetly, "and what was that about a harem?"
Aiko and Airi were frozen in place. In that moment, both of them knew that they had totally fucked up.