Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 223

The unexpected appearance of an opponent.

But my surprise lasted only a moment.

It wasn’t uncommon for a doppelganger-style monster to show up in RPGs.

“Be careful. According to the information, it’s supposed to use some skills of the transformed target…”

The character’s performance shifted to that of a boss monster.

The skills it used must have also become stronger than usual.

I looked at myself holding the Demon Sword and slowly opened my mouth.

“Um… I’ll proceed.”

Dogrik said that and charged ahead.

The entrance of the main tank.

The attention of the healers in the party shifted to the clash between Dogrik and Shadow Yeo.

Kaaang-!

From the rapidly swung Demon Sword, red bloodlust erupted.

A unique effect of the Berserker class.

But that wasn’t all. A stream of white breath continuously poured from his mouth, while a black form rippled behind him.

Bang!

Taang!

Kaaang!

Dogrik, blocking the attacks, utilized all the skills he could to quickly build up Shadow Yeo’s aggro.

Next to the meter showing the damage output of the party members, Dogrik’s aggro level was displayed.

Now was the time to enter.

There was no order to announce the start of the attack.

How long had we all been together? Even aside from that reason, after participating in this kind of raid, one becomes quite perceptive.

Pata-dak-!

The moment I kicked off the ground, a white dragon shape formed above me.

I became a cold, chilling white dragon and charged towards Shadow Yeo.

Sugar-!

The fangs of the rapidly running white dragon grazed Shadow Yeo’s back, and at that moment, I returned to my original form.

As the skill’s effect ended, white frost settled around my body.

However, Shadow Yeo, seemingly unconcerned by the attacks aimed at her, swung her sword at Dogrik with terrifying speed.

Frowning as I watched, I noticed several spells whizzing around me.

The hit rate of the ranged dealers wasn’t high. This was a problem caused by the named monster’s smaller size.

“Hey, it’s too small to hit!”

“The named is way too small!”

Complaints poured out from the party members, especially the ranged dealers.

I knew it. I was aware that my height was small.

But there was nothing I could do about it.

Who could have guessed this named would turn into my form?

“Ah!”

At that moment, a short gasp escaped Dogrik’s lips.

A word that should never come from the main tank.

As a foreboding instinct turned into reality, it swiftly led to an incident.

Kwang-!

Shadow Yeo, who was attacking Dogrik, suddenly crouched down and transformed into a massive white dragon, charging towards the location of the ranged dealers.

It was the same skill I had used, but the power and speed contained within it were utterly incomprehensible.

“Th-the party leader is coming!”

“Party leader! Don’t come here, just deal damage!”

“No! It’s a named monster!”

A common occurrence, the charge pattern.

But perhaps it was due to the appearance of the named monster that the mages’ evacuation was slightly delayed.

One misguided mage even waved at the approaching named, thinking it was me.

As Shadow Yeo charged near the mages, she returned to her original form and raised her hands to the sky.

Crackle—

From the tips of the small girl’s fingers, faint black lightning shot up into the air.

Seeing that, I realized what skill she was preparing to use.

It had to be the Demon Lord’s area skill, [Lightning of Destruction].

“Everyone—!”

Everyone, dodge!

Before I could finish that sentence, a colossal lightning bolt descended from the sky.

Kwang-!

When the air was filled with a tremendous noise and blackness, the enormous lightning struck the ground, roasting the mages who failed to react in time.

The aftershock of the lightning was overwhelming.

Standing alone amidst the upturned ground, Shadow Yeo looked down at the scattered corpses around her, smiling.

But I wasn’t shaken. She wasn’t special. She was just borrowing my appearance.

Even if she had transformed into the form of another user with the same class, she would have shown such prowess.

“Sub tank! Grab the aggro and transfer to the main tank!”

The raid does not stop.

While checking the number of the dead, I ingrain the patterns of the named monster into my mind.

A charge-wide area attack pattern that appears when health drops by 5%.

I had firmly recognized it.

“Hyahh!”

As my order fell, the sub tank that had been waiting nearby charged towards Shadow Yeo.

The seasoned party members performed their tasks without needing further orders from me.

The dealers, having restructured their setup, began dealing damage again as the boss’s aggro level returned to normal.

It was a moment to be satisfied with the stabilized party situation.

But then I noticed something very strange.

“Helena…?”

When raids occurred, Helena always battled for the top spots in the DPS rankings.

But what on earth was going on?

Even checking the recorded statistics, I couldn’t find Helena’s name.

When I reviewed the roster of the party members, I had confirmed that Helena’s name was indeed there.

She was the one who had sprinted to the front of the raid dungeon.

“What’s going on…?”

Helena’s DPS reading was 0.

Which meant she hadn’t attacked Shadow Yeo even once since this battle began.

I turned my gaze to the area where the mages were gathered.

In past raids, Helena had always belched flames from her entire being.

Her persistent output was the hallmark of a fire mage.

But Helena wasn’t displaying any of that.

She just stood there blankly.

There must have been a problem.

I sent a message to the party members, announcing a halt in the raid.

It was one of the privileges only the party leader could use.

“Stop?”

“Party leader? Is there a problem?”

Once everyone’s consent was secured, we relocated to outside the named monster room, still in the midst of combat.

The party members looked at me with questions in their eyes.

Their doubts were understandable. Despite three users having already died, the raid’s progress hadn’t been too terrible.

The first try. It was natural to extend the battle as much as possible before total annihilation to learn the patterns of the named.

I didn’t say anything specific to the party, but it seemed some of the perceptive ones recognized an issue with the DPS graph.

A few party members began whispering softly, stealing glances at Helena.

“Helena?”

I moved to a spot a little away from the party members and called for Helena.

If it was a connectivity issue, she wouldn’t be able to respond to my call.

But Helena did respond.

She lifted her head, which had been hung low, and slowly came towards me.

“Is there a problem…?”

Since Helena’s expression didn’t look good, I cautiously asked.

With a crumpled face, Helena suddenly reached out and hugged me.

It wasn’t too rare for Helena to give such a sudden hug, so I wasn’t too shocked, but the gazes of the party members still made me uneasy.

I pushed away Helena’s soft belly and looked up.

“Um?”

“I can’t do it…”

“Huh…?”

Can’t do it? What’s wrong?

Helena slowly opened her mouth, her expression twisted.

“I can’t attack because she looks just like Yeo…”

Can’t attack because she looks just like me?

Is she talking about that Shadow Yeo?

I was shocked by the absurd situation, but I felt something vague and hard to express in words—a complicated emotion.

My heart fluttered, pounding, and it was swaying uncontrollably.

Hah—

I slowly collected my breath.

Though my cheeks were a bit warm, I shook my head to brush off those feelings.

If Helena truly valued her friend, it would make sense that she would feel that way.

I too would have hesitated to attack if that named had transformed into Helena’s form.

But that’s not me.

It’s just a monster.

It’s a barrier that must be overcome.

“Helena. That thing is a fake.”

“But…”

“Get a grip. If she invites you to hang out, you wouldn’t go, would you?”

“Mhm…”

“Your Yeo is me here. She’s not that fake.”

“My Yeo…?”

“Yeah. Your precious friend is me, right? Don’t confuse her with that dark one.”

“My… precious Yeo…”

“Exactly, so don’t fall for a fake. That thing is just a fake.”

“Okay…”

Helena, though she displays maturity beyond her years, was still just a girl on the brink of high school.

I had to understand and appreciate her delicate sentiments as much as possible.

Helena nodded her head, as if she felt something from my words.

Slowly, a smile began to bloom on her face.

Taking care of the party members’ state of mind was also the role of a party leader.

I waved cheerfully at the party members who were observing silently from behind.

Problem solved.

I firmly grabbed Helena’s hands and asked.

“Are you ready to do well now?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you going to get rid of that dark one?”

“Yeah…!”

Helena nodded enthusiastically in reply.

Her answer was satisfying.

I approached the party members alongside Helena and spoke up.

“Sorry for the trouble, but… we’ll proceed again!”

For Helena’s sake, I didn’t elaborate on the details.

The party members also exhibited no deep interest in personal matters.

We took a brief maintenance break before resuming our strategy.

Since the combat had ended ambiguously, the cooldowns and durations of the potions had been misaligned.

The time spent on maintenance was just over five minutes.

After such a short period, we began the next attempt.

“Let’s go!”

The beginning of the battle hinges on the main tank successfully grabbing aggro.

“Hahhhh!”

Dogrik charged forward with his massive shield up, rushing towards Shadow Yeo with a spirited shout.

The moment Dogrik secured the aggro from Shadow Yeo, a torrent of flames fell from above.

The powerful firepower of a flame-type ranged attack.

Despite being a non-targeting skill, its hit rate was incredible.

And naturally, it was Helena’s skill.

Now free of hesitation, Helena unleashed flames with a cold glare.