Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 191

“Wow… Did you maybe do something like gymnastics in real life?”

As I stepped down from the Butcher’s corpse, the Paladin User gazed at me in awe.

Gymnast? No way. I let out an awkward chuckle and turned my gaze away.

The Knight User, crawling on the floor, started to rise slowly, panting for breath.

It seemed the Knight character didn’t have any means to recover on their own.

I looked at the blue Gauge Bar above my head.

It indicated the Occupied Territory. Thanks to the absence of enemies nearby, the occupation gauge was rising quickly.

“Excuse me, Samurai?”

“Yes?”

“Since there’s a Butcher around, it might be better to pull out a Nodachi. We can repair once we take this area. How about switching weapons then?”

“Nodachi…?”

I recalled the weapon I had initially chosen based on the Paladin User’s words.

Indeed, wielding that enormous sword seemed like it could damage a Butcher clad in full plate armor.

“But my Strength stat is too low.”

“From what I saw earlier, you dodged everything; why not just take off your armor?”

“Take off my armor?”

“Yes, convert all the Strength stat needed for armor into weapon stats.”

“Is that possible?”

“Yep, there are people who play like that. It’s not the best method, though…”

While chatting with the Paladin User, the staggering Knight User approached and spoke.

“Oh… Thank you. I showed a foolish side.”

The Knight User said this as he sank down to the floor.

His heavily dented armor was caked with dirt and blood, looking quite filthy.

“Yeo… That’s how you read it, right?”

“Yep, that’s right.”

“Yeo, are you a secondary character? Or did you come back from being a gymnast outside?”

It was a question similar to what the Paladin User had asked.

I shook my head. Athlete? In real life, I’m just a schoolgirl lacking exercise.

How could I, who spends all day stuck in a capsule playing the game Deron, be an athlete?

Despite that, I understood their reactions.

It must have looked impressive. They were in awe of my great skills.

I cleared my throat, hiding my rising smile.

“Ahem… So, once the gauge above my head is full, that means we’ve successfully occupied this area, right?”

“Oh, yes. This is an Occupied Territory. See those strange signs around?”

At the Knight User’s words, I glanced around.

Then, I began to notice things that had been invisible amidst the fighting.

Just as the Knight had said, faint and transparent walls rippled around us.

“Yes, so all of this is considered Occupied Territory, right?”

“That’s right. Once we occupy it, we can repair our gear and restore any lost Health.”

“That’s pretty slow.”

“This is actually fast. There are three of us in this area.”

Time passed as we conversed.

It took one minute to occupy the territory, and we shortened that time considerably by having all three of us work together.

I wondered how long one would have to hold an area alone.

I shook my head and began to configure my gear status that had popped up in front of me.

As the Paladin User suggested, I removed my armor.

The gauntlets, shoulder pads, body armor, and helmet, which took up the most weight, came off.

I rolled my shoulders and pulled out my new weapon.

“Oh…”

What the Paladin User said was true. After taking off the armor, it didn’t feel heavy like the first time I picked the Nodachi.

With this kind of weight, I seemed capable of wielding it in practical combat.

Swinging the large sword around, the Knight User, who had finished recovering, looked surprised and asked.

“You took off your armor to use the Nodachi, right? What’s your Strength stat?”

“Oh, my Strength stat is 6. That’s all I could set with this height.”

“Wow…”

Is that really something to be shocked about?

Even the Paladin User next to me showed surprise.

“Oh, Yeo, did you set any skills?”

“Skills?”

“The Samurai starts with two skills, and the default setting is a skill called ‘Drawing Sword.’ You know that, right?”

“Yes.”

“When your level increases, you can use multiple skills at once, but since you’re level 1 right now, you can only activate one skill at a time.”

“Oh…”

The Knight User was indeed kind.

Listening to him, I entered the skill menu.

Just as he said, I could see two skills glowing.

[Drawing Sword]

[Spirit of the Samurai]

“It’s better to use the Drawing Sword skill with a Katana, but when using a Nodachi like now, the Spirit skill will be more beneficial.”

Taking the Knight User’s advice, I checked the details of the Spirit skill.

[Spirit of the Samurai]

Activates only in a One-on-One situation against an enemy.

Ignores 5% of the enemy’s defense.

With a Nodachi, the defense ignore rate increases by 20%.

It seemed the Nodachi, one of the Samurai’s weapons, was specialized in slicing through those pig-like creatures with high defense.

Activating the Spirit skill, a gentle breeze swirled around my body.

“Looks like you’re all set? Let’s head out. The enemies should have respawned by now.”

“Oh, okay.”

I looked around, following the Knight User’s words.

The Paladin User, who had been standing here checking gear, was nowhere to be seen.

Checking the mini-map floating above, I noticed he had already sprinted ahead.

I had delayed too long.

Having played this kind of game before, I was able to grasp how things worked.

I raced away from the Occupied Territory alongside the Knight User.

With the armor off and my total of 15 in Agility, I was feeling a tremendous synergy.

I felt fast. My body felt so light as if I could run up walls.

WHOA!

Clink! Clang! Clang!

At that moment, the sound of clashing weapons reached my ears from not too far away.

The NPCs and the Paladin User who had dashed ahead had begun their battle.

“I’m going in first!”

The Knight User said, unable to contain himself, and darted forward.

Ignoring the rushing Knight, I surveyed the surroundings.

Unlike our team, vigorously swinging weapons against the NPCs, I couldn’t see any signs of the enemies.

According to the Knight User, this was the time for the enemies to respawn.

But why couldn’t I see them?

A sense of foreboding washed over me.

As I kept my focus on the situation, I lost track of time.

In front of me, a faint warning message appeared.

[The Occupied Territory is under attack!]

My ominous feelings were confirmed.

Rather than engaging directly, the enemies had skirted around and headed for the Occupied Territory.

I wasn’t the only one to notice this message.

Everyone on our team, who had been frantically swinging their weapons, caught sight of it.

It was a very basic tactic, yet it worked.

I bit my lip and turned to run.

This is my first game. I wanted to finish it with a win if possible.

Arriving quickly at the Occupied Territory, I found four enemies grouped together.

A huge Butcher User was blocking a wooden bridge while a Viking and a Knight User stood beside him.

I bit my lip and looked back.

Thanks to my high Agility stat and the speed gained from removing my armor, I had arrived quickly at the Occupied Territory, but I was too far from my team.

I couldn’t break through alone.

I grabbed the short bow hanging from my back.

The feel of the wood of the bow in my hand was so unfamiliar.

Gripping the bow in my left hand, I pulled an arrow from the quiver strapped to my right thigh.

Though a secondary weapon, the tension was quite significant.

I narrowed my eyes and aimed at the enemies.

Behind the sweat-smelling pigs blocking the bridge, I spotted a relatively thin user.

He didn’t even have a helmet protecting his head. He wore only thick gambeson armor.

I would aim for that guy.

My only experience shooting was at a Straw Dummy, but I felt confident.

The Hwarang had played Deron using this kind of bow initially.

He had done it, so why couldn’t I?

Creeeak—

The bowstring pulled taut to its limit, vibrating as if pleading for release.

I gritted my teeth, pulling back even further.

Now!

At the exact moment when the wind around me fell still, I released my grip on the bowstring.

Fwhoosh!

The cheerful elasticity launched the arrow forward.

However, the arrow I released did not hit the target.

It crashed to the ground.

“Ah…”

I shot way too low. I hadn’t considered the arrow’s drop.

I took a breath and picked up another arrow.

This time, I would definitely hit my mark.

Huff—

As I exhaled, pulling back the string, I sensed something approaching with acute awareness.

Sounds of footsteps that wouldn’t be heard without focus, breaths above it, and the delicate noise of clothes brushing against each other reached my ear.

I quickly scanned the area where the enemies had occupied.

Definitely four of them.

But this game formed a team of five.

In other words, there should be another enemy hiding somewhere.

In fact, I was accustomed to sensing such approaches. Always being under the threat of assassination had conditioned me.

As I let go of the bow, my hand instinctively reached back for the Nodachi strapped to my back.

The massive weapon already exceeded 120 cm in size.

If you counted the length of the handle, it was about the same height as me, so the motion would naturally be large and slow.

But it was more than enough to take off the approaching enemy’s head.

Vwuwuwu—

Using centrifugal force, I spun at the waist and swung the sword wide.

I felt a thud at my fingertips before a head clad in a Black Mask went flying into the sky.

Just as I expected, the enemy Assassin had approached cautiously, pulling out a dagger.

“Oh…”

This time, I had indeed beheaded the enemy.

It felt just like I was playing Deron.

I stared with a bright smile at the falling corpse of the Assassin User.