Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 204

Victory!

Seeing the message pop up in front of me, I set my sword down.

The series of short, frantic battles had started to give me a headache.

“I won!”

As a Snow Mage, my in-game nickname here was Blood Demon King’s Love Dog. Clad in heavy armor, she bounded around with excitement over the victory.

Maybe it was because I had just lost to a none-too-pro Deron user in a single combo. The Knight Raven player, revived, was acting like someone who was malfunctioning.

With barely any focus, he kept charging at me, only to die again.

Just like our first encounter, I couldn’t take him down in one hit, but the outcome remained unchanged. The blade of my massive Nodachi once again severed the Assassin user’s neck, leaving him a cold corpse.

I couldn’t shake the feeling of the resentful glance he shot me, as if he couldn’t believe it.

But what could I do?

You’re my opponent.

The one to blame was wrong.

They should be cursing the world instead of me.

I turned away, chuckling lightly.

“Wow…”

Not just the enemies, but my teammates, the pro players on my side, were looking at me in awe.

Their gazes flickered around at the empty air, as if reviewing the match we’d just played.

“I’ve heard a lot about you… as expected…”

“You’ve never played the real VRS, right?”

I had only played Deron so far, not even glancing at other VR games.

Nodding with a confident expression on my face.

In that moment, bright light surrounded us, and my body began to move.

Not just me; the entire team was together.

The light took us not to the dusty waiting room I was always alone in but to a space designed for several people to rest together, with fluffy sofas and a small table showcasing the map of the conquest area laid out in front of us.

“Oh…!”

The Snow Mage, decked in heavy armor, jumped onto the sofa. I worried it might break under her huge frame, but thankfully, it held up just fine.

It seemed like we would stick together with this team until the end after our first game.

I took a look around, then moved to sit next to the Snow Mage.

The sofa was super comfy.

The three pro players who’d teamed up with me also approached and sat down.

While playing, we’d been noisy and chattered away, but now that the game was over, it got eerily quiet.

As that subtle silence stretched on, unable to bear it any longer, I decided to speak up.

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, me?”

I hadn’t really singled anyone out, but I shot a glance at the Viking user sitting across from me.

[VIA-Bisu]

It wasn’t a very well-known team, judging by its unfamiliar name.

The Bisu player looked surprised by my question.

“Yes.”

“Oh, please go ahead.”

“What do you think about our team?”

“Huh…?”

“I mean, our chances of winning. Do you think we can make it to the finals?”

The Bisu player, looking around cautiously after my question, began to reply.

“I think it might be a bit tough…”

That was the opinion of an active professional player. I was curious why.

“Why do you think so?”

“Because we don’t have a first-string player among us.”

His words came out carefully. Bisu glanced at the two Knight users sitting next to him for approval.

But they didn’t look offended at all. In fact, they even nodded, agreeing with Bisu’s opinion.

I tilted my head, observing their reactions.

Aren’t they all pro players? Even if there’s a skill gap, it seemed really strange to see them this downcast.

“Is the difference between first-string and second-string that significant?”

“There’s a wall that’s hard to express in words. You can feel it right away when you fight against first-string players.”

Is that so?

I stroked my chin and nodded thoughtfully at Bisu’s words.

I hadn’t noticed much of a difference in skill between the pros I faced in Deron.

Of course, there were tricky opponents, but still.

“Were there any first-string players on the team we just fought against?”

“There was someone who used to be in the first-string. But now, he’s been demoted to second-string.”

“Who was it?”

“It was Abox from Knight Raven.”

“Oh…”

I recalled the Assassin user from Knight Raven who had lost to me in that first encounter. After his defeat, he kept charging at me, denying the truth of his loss.

He exhibited some erratic behavior, suggesting mental issues.

“Now that you mention it, didn’t he participate in the Deron event battle?”

“That sounds right…?”

So he was a participant in Deron’s event battle?

But why didn’t I remember him?

As I listened to the two Knight users, I tried to sift through my hazy memory.

But I quickly shook my head.

If I couldn’t remember that player, he probably wasn’t a formidable opponent.

Just someone I didn’t need to keep in mind.

At that moment, a message popped up in front of me.

[5:00 remaining until the next match starts]

“Looks like all the matches are done. Let’s check the records.”

Bisu said this as he tapped the small table.

Then, a transparent window appeared in the air.

Inside, all the results from the matches so far were recorded in a dense format.

“First, let’s get rid of the records of the teams that lost…”

Bisu began sorting through the numerous match results, pushing down the records of the losing teams, and bringing up the information of the teams that would proceed to the next matches like us.

There were a total of 15 teams that made it up there.

Bisu then divided those teams again.

He classified those he thought would lose at the bottom, and those he thought would win at the top.

Among them, two teams stood out.

One had Jupiter’s nickname, and the other included the wild player from the W.S team.

Since Jupiter’s team was also sorted at the top, it seemed that all the pro players on that team were first-string players.

I narrowed my eyes at Jupiter’s team and spoke up.

“Which team should we be most wary of?”

“Probably the one with Wild.”

“And the other team?”

I pointed to the one with Jupiter, based on Bisu’s comment.

Bisu tilted his head a bit, then replied in a hesitant voice.

“Umm… they’ve got some recent first-string players. They’ll likely be stronger than us.”

As Bisu said this, he reverted the team information he had sorted back to its original state.

Noticing my puzzled expression, Bisu chuckled softly and said.

“This is just my opinion, based on my perspective. I can’t really gauge the skills of players who came over from Deron… What do you think, Yeo?”

Nodding at his words, I hopped off the sofa.

I also began to assess the teams through my lens, like Bisu.

Since I didn’t know the skills of those active in VRS, I would classify the teams strictly through the lens of a Deron user.

Of course, there would be some who, like the Snow Mage, didn’t integrate their names from Deron.

I would decisively push those teams to the bottom.

“Hmm…”

“Oh, that guy…”

The Snow Mage, sitting nearby, also got up to watch me from behind.

Occasionally reaching out to gesture, she seemed to recall an opponent we met in the arena.

“Umm… is this enough?”

“Oh…”

After finishing my classification and turning around, I saw Bisu nodding as he began to move his hand again.

He started a secondary classification for the teams I predicted would win, including a skilled VRS player.

Thus, three teams rose to the top rankings.

At that moment, a message appeared in front of me.

A warning message indicating that the 5 minutes of waiting time was coming to an end.

[0:30 remaining until the next match starts]

30 seconds left.

In the rush to classify potential champions, we hadn’t held any strategy discussions.

When I looked at Bisu with concern, he responded with a refreshing smile.

“Let’s just play comfortably. I’m not placing any expectations anyway.”

It had a self-deprecating tone to it. A laugh tinged with a sense of low self-esteem.

It wasn’t just Bisu. The two Knight users standing beside him wore similar expressions.

I felt uneasy. I didn’t like the atmosphere of defeat hanging over us from the start.

10 seconds left until the next match.

I glanced at the clock, my mouth moving in thought.

Would it be seen as overstepping? This was VRS, not Deron.

I couldn’t encourage them with the same confidence I would have in Deron.

5 seconds left until the next match starts.

“Don’t worry!!!”

At that moment, the Snow Mage, fully decked out in heavy armor, shouted with gusto.

Her bright, cheerful voice pulled the gazes of our downcast teammates to her.

“Just trust our Blood Demon King and we can win!!!”

“Huh…?”

In that instant, bright light enveloped us, and my body was transported.

We arrived not in the cozy and warm waiting room but on an expansive battlefield.

The cool breeze that blew from all directions carried a faint scent of oil and a chilling metallic tang.

Like they were preparing for a decisive battle, the expressions of the NPC soldiers were stiff and serious.

They stared ahead, gripping their weapons tightly.

All set to charge at any moment, as I took in this scene, a massive shadow loomed behind me.

The Snow Mage, my steadfast guild member who always kept watch over me.

“Do you think we can win?”

It was a sudden question. Just moments ago, she had claimed to trust only me, yet now she worried?

I chuckled lightly and replied, “But you just said to trust me.”

“Ah… can I really trust you?”

“Have you ever not trusted me?”

“I believe in you every single day!”

Then that was that.

I nodded and glanced around.

The only familiar character was the Samurai, so I had no plans to change my character.

The same went for the weapon. I had to stick with the Nodachi to compensate for my lacking strength stat.

“Hmm…”

At that moment, the two Knight users began to check the enemy team’s composition and changed their weapons.

From Long Sword to the hefty Claymore.

Bisu observed the opposing team’s information and began to speak.

“There are three Butchers on the enemy team. They’re definitely aiming to take control of the central area.”