Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 82

Kueeeek!

There were two types of monsters you could see in the Underground Cemetery.

One was a zombie that had risen straight from the dead corpse, and the other was a skeleton that didn’t even have decayed flesh left.

Swinging my sword, I quickly took care of the monsters. This area was quite a good spot for farming due to the high density and rapid respawn rate of monsters.

The sheer number of monsters made it easy to fulfill the quest conditions in no time.

“I’m done! How about you two?”

“I’m finished too!”

“Me too!”

With the quest completed, it was finally time to head back.

The three of us immediately used our Return Stones to get back to Plague Village.

Now all the important quests in the Plague Village region were done.

There was no need to proceed with side quests solely for experience, so we could consider our business here done.

My two guild members wanted to tackle some side quests, so we decided to part ways.

“Let’s party up again next time!”

“Thanks for helping with the quest!”

After saying goodbye to my guild members, I started to complete the quests.

As expected of a main quest, I received a hefty amount of experience, and as a reward for the side quest, I got a small medal.

This medal was an item that could be equipped in the newly created accessory slot.

[Medal of Paladin Shun]

All stats +10

Level Requirement 45

Resistance to bleed/poison effects for characters below level 60.

It was an essential item for farming in the plague area.

Of course, it was limited to the use against normal and elite monsters.

The status effect level on bosses or during PvP was 65, so it wouldn’t be useful in those situations.

“Come on out!”

Since the quest promptly pointed to the next area, I planned to hurry out of the village.

The combat hell wolf that answered my call approached me with a magnificent howl.

“Growl.”

It was truly disappointing that my mount didn’t come with any pet capabilities.

I mounted the wolf and exited the village.

Tap-tap-tap—

The place I arrived at with the wolf was the outpost where the Lunaris Knights were dispatched.

I could see tents set up everywhere and NPCs gathered in one place eating.

Even when playing Deron in another world, I never paid much attention to the story of the quests.

It wasn’t much different here either.

As the quest refreshed, I turned away even while the NPCs were still having their chats.

The Deron in this world didn’t have any dialog skip options either.

The new quest pointed to an area called [Breezy Ruins].

They said it used to be a village before the plague, but it had long since turned into a den of the undead.

The entrance to the village was covered in piles of stones, and undead monsters like ghouls and zombies were wandering around nearby.

The conditions for this quest were to hunt elite monsters respawning in this area and smash the devices spreading the plague.

Maybe because I skipped all the side quests, this area was quite empty.

Faint memories were starting to clarify.

The quest for hunting elite monsters in this area was notoriously difficult.

The monsters were densely packed, and the travel distance was considerable, which meant regular monsters would often swarm in while I was targeting elite ones.

Deron in this world wasn’t any different.

For now, bypass the elite monster. No angle there.

I charged into the ruins with my wolf toward the plague devices set up in the north, south, east, and west.

The plague devices looked like giant globes, with chimneys rising proudly from the top.

Inside, a strange green liquid was bubbling, and its sound was clear even from afar.

I squinted my eyes and surveyed the area.

At the plague device, there seemed to be monsters guarding it.

But I didn’t need to fight them. I just had to destroy that device and slip away.

“Let’s go!”

“Wooof!”

I began to run alongside the wolf. The completion condition of the quest wasn’t about hunting monsters.

I attempted a method that wouldn’t have been possible in the Deron of the other world.

It was precisely the mounted attack.

As I swung my sword from atop the quickly galloping wolf, a large Demon Sword struck the plague device.

Kaaang!

With a strong shockwave, the plague device spewed black smoke and rolled to the ground.

At that moment, the quest condition was updated.

What had displayed as 0/4 changed to 1/4.

-Kweeek!

The monsters guarding the plague device rushed toward me, but the hell wolf that I was riding was already running in another direction.

Mounted attacks made possible by the reality that didn’t exist in the original Deron.

Unlike that world where pressing the attack button or using a skill while mounted instantly dismounted you, this was different.

Tap-tap-tap!

The wolf jumped over the half-collapsed fence and started running over the stone walls.

The monsters below were drawn to my aggro, but the slow speed of those guys couldn’t catch up to my wolf.

I continued the hit-and-run tactic with the hell wolf, sneaking past the plague device they were guarding.

As the quest condition completed, there was only one quest remaining.

That was to defeat the elite monster in the center.

[Hilderim of the Plague]

The black-robed Warlock was praying at the rat statue set up in the center of the ruins.

I thought to myself as I watched the scene.

-How can I sneak past that guy?

Just then, undead monsters circling the ruins began to charge towards a certain spot.

I turned to see where the monsters were headed, and I noticed a party of Humans starting to hunt over there.

I thought to myself, now’s my chance.

“Let’s go!”

I started to run with the wolf, making sure to stick to the walls so the Humans wouldn’t notice me.

The moment I approached Hilderim, he finally recognized me.

“How did a living human get here…?”

As soon as I heard Hilderim’s voice, I immediately spun around and started running. Hunting elite monsters here could lead to being ambushed by those treacherous Humans.

“Die!”

Surprisingly foolishly, Hilderim chased right after me.

I lured him behind a half-collapsed house and drew my sword.

As Hilderim turned the corner and came around the back of the house, I swung my sword and started to rain blows on him.

Every time the sword, imbued with dark magic, grazed his body, chunks of health started to vanish.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Hilderim didn’t die as easily as the other human monsters.

The white bone shields protecting him were the reason.

Whenever I swung my sword, a bone shield would rise to protect him.

However, without any help from other monsters, Hilderim was nothing but a punching bag.

“Grrrr!”

In that moment, Hilderim went down on one knee and prepared a skill.

He was a Necromancer class setting capable of summoning the undead.

Hilderim summoned undead. Five ghouls and two elite monsters called Patchwork Giants.

But the summoned location wasn’t here.

The undead of Hilderim appeared near the rat statue where he had initially stood.

-Gwoooo!

The summoned monsters charged towards the Human party nearby.

The Human party seemed startled and began to panic as they were suddenly ambushed by monsters.

“What the heck! What are these guys?!”

“Where did the quest mobs go? Look for Hilderim!”

Those treacherous Humans were indeed targeting my Hilderim.

If I hadn’t lured him behind the house, it would have been me on the receiving end.

Craaack!

The Necromancer, without protection from his summons, was extremely vulnerable.

“Ugh, no way…”

As I extracted the Demon Sword that pierced Hilderim’s chest, I picked up the item he dropped called [Trace of the Plague].

All quests completed.

Now I had no business left here.

As I was about to leave the ruins, I peeked back to watch the Human party.

Even though Hilderim was dead, the monsters he had summoned didn’t disappear.

They were dealing relentless damage to the Human party.

Contrary to the initial panic from the sudden attack, the tanker user was managing to keep control of all the monsters’ aggro, stabilizing the party.

But in that instant, a zombie began to respawn right behind the healer.

-Groooaaaar…

“What the hell is this?! Help me!”

The zombie clawing its way out of the ground grabbed onto the healer user and began to gnaw at their shoulder.

Icons indicating bleed and poison debuffs appeared over the healer’s head.

This wasn’t the end. Following the attack on the healer, the other summoned monsters began to respawn as well.

“Heal! Heal! Aaaah!”

The healer and wizard users found themselves overwhelmed and captured by the zombies.

The rogue user next to them swung their sword wildly at the zombies, but a Patchwork Giant that the tanker user had let slip was throwing chains, pulling back the rogue.

“Argh!”

The first to die was the rogue user, caught in the assault of the Patchwork Giant.

The Patchwork Giant opened its massive mouth on its belly and gulped down the rogue’s corpse.

Next to die was the tanker user, and shortly after, the wizard and healer fell as well.

Just like that, the entire party was wiped out.

“Gah…”

It was a terrifying and gruesome sight.

But it was a fitting end for those greedy and treacherous Humans.

“Come forth…!”

I rode my wolf and exited the ruins.

I was thinking of moving straight to the next quest location.

Tap-tap-tap!

Leveling after that went smoothly.

At the moment I hit level 55, it was time for a new job change.

The 5-rank class had opened up.

Before choosing a new class, I started to think.

If the New Expansion Pack’s patch had gone as I knew it would, I wouldn’t have had any dilemma in class selection.

I would’ve opted for the 5-rank dealer class, [Sword Master].

However, a class I didn’t know about appeared.

It was a class called [Demon Lord].

Just the name alone sounded incredibly cool.