Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 16

It’s not a regular party. These are just people who have just gathered and tried their first sync.

I couldn’t assess their skills, so I only looked at their specs. A wipe was quite predictable.

The flow that was going well was interrupted. It meant we needed to take a moment to regroup.

After everyone resurrected, we gathered in front of the boss and fell silent.

The atmosphere was different from earlier. It was completely subdued, and they kept sneaking glances at me.

I checked one by one the wizards who had died using Blink earlier.

Did they realize their mistakes? They only bowed their heads, unable to meet my gaze.

I didn’t sigh. The party leader always had to stay calm.

“Bad luck, everyone. Let’s take a 10-minute break and try again.”

Since everyone had wiped, the effects of our buffing items were gone.

A break was necessary.

With my arms crossed, I pulled up the footage from our earlier play.

Everything had been perfect. My own play was flawless.

It was just a mistake made by the wizards. I knew that situation well, yet I kept replaying the footage.

Ten minutes.

A very short time. I confirmed that the party members had gathered again after a decent break and opened my mouth.

“Let’s go again. This time, absolutely no using Blink.”

Thus, the retry began again.

The same situation as before repeated itself. I drew aggro from the boss and had the sub-tank pin the wizards in place to take the charge pattern’s aggro.

And again the transition. I calmly observed the situation unfold.

Up until this point, there were no problems. Everyone was doing well.

But the problem arose when the boss’s health dropped to 50%.

[Help Krasia!]

As before, with orc shouts, elite orcs poured out from all directions.

The attacks from a couple of elite orcs wouldn’t break the wizards’ barrier.

If they were wrapped in a mana barrier, they could hold on until the sub-tank picked up aggro.

However, the emotion of panic led to human errors.

“Ah!”

Along with the short scream of the sub-tank, a few orcs dashed toward the wizard line.

The orcs that had entered the dealer line began swinging their swords at the wizards’ barrier.

It was an emergency, but it wasn’t a lost cause. If we waited patiently, the sub-tank would come and grab aggro before dying.

“Dodge! Dodge!”

Not every dealer was slacking.

Over the retreating orcs, blue ice spheres began to fall.

Boom!

It was a frost-type magic, a skill that immobilized targets within a certain range for a period.

But even while binding the orcs’ movements, there were wizards who chose to use Blink.

“I said not to use Blink!”

This time, three wizards used Blink. In that moment, Krasia seemed to wait for the opportunity and charged toward the wizards.

Thud thud thud thud!

The massive body quickly closed in on the wizards.

Boom!

Krasia’s gigantic greatsword struck the ground, sending a huge shockwave radiating out.

The three wizards who didn’t use Blink fell.

But it was okay. We still had enough dealers.

“Don’t attack the boss! First, deal with the orcs!”

The sub-tank quickly relinquished the aggro of Krasia and pulled away from the dealer line.

Elite orcs continued to spawn periodically. The longer the battle lasted, the worse it would be for us.

“Once you’re done with the orcs, go for the boss!”

Once we swiftly dealt with the elite orcs, the ranged mages began to rain down damage again.

Krasia’s health quickly dwindled.

When the health went from 50% to 30%, orc shouts erupted once more.

[Help Krasia!]

In that moment, a sudden charge pattern was activated.

Krasia’s massive arm slammed into the ground, pushing me away.

Boom!

I bit my lip. The pattern was all tangled up. The sub-tanks hadn’t picked up aggro from the elite orcs before the boss’s charging pattern came out.

[Dieeeee!]

Krasia’s sudden charge heavily shook the dealer line.

Those who managed to escape with Blink and those who didn’t were separated.

The wizards were using long-casting spells to deal with the elite orcs. The number of wizards who interrupted their casting to use Blink wasn’t even half.

Half of them fell in one blow. It was an unavoidable situation. No one was at fault.

“Retry!”

Second wipe.

*

Everyone watching the broadcast thought.

– Are we going to clear this today?

It was already the 10th try. As time dragged on, the concentration of the users began to wane.

What hadn’t initially gone wrong started to pile up, leading to total wipes for the party.

The girl didn’t smile. She didn’t get mad. She just spoke to the party members in a flat tone.

[Looks like we won’t clear today?]

[Isn’t it almost 10 o’clock?]

[Oh no… I need to go to bed by 10… young girl.]

At first, I had expected to clear the third try.

I thought we could actually do it. On the third try, we had managed to whittle the boss’s health down to 15%.

But that was the only moment. After that, we never saw the boss’s health drop below 30%.

[But we caught the named monster on the first day, right? Isn’t that good?]

[At this point, we could probably run a regular party.]

[In my opinion, it’s those wizards that are the problem. If we bring in higher-tier dealers instead of those dealing under the tank, we could clear it.]

[For real lol, I’ll remember those idiots’ names so I can avoid them haha.]

The chat continued, but then the party wiped again.

People thought that the girl would once again soothe the party members with her calm voice.

But that was not the case.

“Ah—”

The girl’s short sigh carried a great fire within it.

“Why can’t they do it?”

It was a mutter, yet everyone could hear it.

“Is it so hard? No, is it hard? Everyone, is it really hard? Is that why you can’t do it?”

Cold words poured from the girl’s mouth.

Her gaze also waned. It was no longer the flat tone from before. The voice filled with scary admonishment began to dampen the spirits of the wizards.

“Why can’t you do it? That… why? It’s so easy.”

In that moment, the girl’s cold gaze fell on one specific wizard.

He was the one who had failed to deal damage compared to the tank all the way through.

And he was also the one with the most deaths in the party.

Everyone expected harsh words to come forth.

But the small girl let out a sigh, brushing it all away.

“Ah… Everyone, let’s do one last try. I’ll distribute the gold afterward. We’ll change tactics, so please focus in.”

She now mentioned changing tactics.

It was strange. To outsiders, the tactics of this party seemed perfect. It was simply that the dealers couldn’t keep pace with those tactics.

*

I gradually settled my breathing. Uncharacteristically excited. I almost burst out with intense curse words due to the frustrating party members who weren’t following along as expected.

The party leader had to take responsibility for the party until the end. I couldn’t betray the trust of the party members who had come to rely on me.

No matter how incompetent they were, speaking out in front of everyone was not a good idea.

I shelved the idea of swapping the dealer line for later. Today, I had to carry this party through to the end.

My head was burning white. Overwhelming talent continued to conjure various possibilities even in this moment.

Tactics… I had to change tactics.

“I’ll change the main tank.”

“Huh? All of a sudden?”

I mentioned changing the main tank. Everyone began to murmur in shock.

“Dogrik will be the main tank, and I’ll take the sub-tank position.”

Dogrik’s skills were trustworthy. As long as we had enough healers, just holding out wouldn’t be too difficult.

Dogrik nodded at my words while checking his equipment.

I was calculating how many healers I would need for the tactics I was conjuring.

At least one, but at most two.

“Attach four healers to the main tank, and two to me. Give one to the rest.”

The priestess nodded with a puzzled expression.

It was time to explain the tactics I had in mind.

“Dealers. This time, do not touch the elite orcs. Only deal damage to the boss. For sure, only attack the boss. Do not use Blink at all, and save it for the charge patterns.”

It might seem strange. But this was the right call for now.

We had to drastically shorten the battle time. We needed to decide before people’s concentration fell even further.

“Dogrik, you’ll do what I did. After the charge pattern, transfer aggro to the sub-tank and remember to move to a corner. I’ll take care of all the elite orcs.”

After finishing my statement, I exchanged glances with the party members.

Everyone wore puzzled expressions, but they had no choice but to nod along.

Thus, the retry began once again.

Dogrik charged forward, tanking Krasia just like I had done before.

Krasia’s patterns weren’t particularly difficult. The problem arose when the health dropped to 50%, spawning the elite orcs.

As the battle dragged on, Krasia’s health was quickly declining.

Then it happened.

[Help Krasia!]

The shouts of the orcs that I had grown tired of echoed out.

Immediately, I charged towards the elite orcs.

My head was burning white. No matter how much I was in the tanking position, if I just stood there absorbing the attacks from 30 elite orcs, my health would drop faster than from the boss’s hits.

I dodged what I could and raised my shield to deflect attacks. Still, I diligently grabbed the aggro of all the orcs.

To prevent the aggro values from bouncing due to continuous healing, I had to keep swinging my sword even while moving.

I navigated through the orcs at high speed.

I firmly secured the aggro of 30 elite orcs outgunning from all directions.

“Focus all damage on the boss! Dealers, don’t worry about here! Sub-tank, just keep an eye on the boss’s charge pattern!”

I soloed everything. Continuously dribbling the 30 orcs.

I had to keep a proper distance while not straying far from the 30 orcs.

With the elite orcs unhandled, all firepower was fully concentrated on the boss.

The health quickly decreased until only 20% remained.

At that moment, the orc cries erupted once more.

[Help Krasia!]

Once again, 30 orcs appeared.

I had to take on all of them again. Not a single one could be overlooked. Calmly and quickly, I swung my sword.

As the golden shimmering sword swept past the orcs, 60 orcs trailed closely behind me.

If I stopped for a moment, I would die. If I let them stray too far, the 60 orcs would spread out and wipe the party.

Mistakes must not happen. My head was sizzling in heat. I felt like my brain was frying.

I dodged and swung. The widespread shimmering sword refreshed the aggro numbers.

Only that thought occupied my mind.

More focused than ever. The sensation of the sword in my hand became increasingly vivid.

While I was lost in a no-mind state and moving my body.

The 60 orcs trailing me suddenly collapsed en masse, and I heard a booming and majestic voice.

[This… this cannot be… My… my empire…]

Boom!

Krasia’s vast body fell to the ground.

[Server’s first achievement accomplished!]

The title “Breaker of the Empire’s Ambitions” was delivered to my mailbox.

Through my blurry vision, a translucent message window appeared.

My hands trembled. My head, pushed to the limit, throbbed painfully.

My legs gave out under me, and I collapsed onto the ground.