Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 23

Having finished the biggest homework of Deron Online, the raid, I found myself with nothing special to do.

I could farm for gold by running through dungeons or hunting in the fields, but my gaze was set on the battlefield.

The battlefield, which involved 50 vs 50 players, ended when we captured the enemy commander NPC.

We could also claim strategic strongholds along the way to gain buffs for our side or summon NPCs, and the opposite could happen too.

With 100 users and various NPCs present, the map was quite large, and as a result, there were a lot of users going AFK in the Deron battlefield in this world.

But would it really be any different here? Not that I cared. My goal wasn’t about winning or losing the game but about gaining honor points and loyalty points for a specific faction from this map.

Most users would buy items with the seals awarded after a battlefield concluded, but from the perspective of someone who just finished a raid, the items in the battlefield weren’t particularly appealing.

In front of the board where you could enter the battlefield, many people had already gathered.

Although it couldn’t compare to raid gear, many seemed interested because it was a content that offered higher-tier equipment.

People appeared and vanished within moments. I passed by those users and approached the board to interact with the system.

Which faction would I fight for? Without hesitation, I made a pre-determined choice.

[Faction Selection – Frost Wolf Faction]

The moment I selected the faction and initiated matching, a loading screen popped up.

[Matching – Frost Wolf Valley]

*

After the matching ended, I was welcomed by a white, snowy plain.

The cold breath escaping my mouth and the crunching of steps beneath me reminded me that this was indeed a battlefield, echoed by the distant battle cries of the NPCs.

It was both a familiar and a strange place.

Before long, other users began to appear around me.

Surrounded by a shimmering light, the number of users had reached a total of 50, including me.

I turned my gaze to check out the classes of the users.

Most were at an average level in their early 20s. The lowest level was a 15-level archer.

The stares directed at him weren’t kind. Was the archer really such a bad class?

I tilted my head as I observed the gazes of those around me.

At that moment, a man standing next to me exclaimed in shock.

“Whoa, it’s Yeo!”

“Yeo?”

“It’s really Yeo?”

“Who is that?”

“Isn’t she a broadcaster?”

“She’s the middle school party leader…”

I frowned. I had become too famous.

Of course, I didn’t dislike this situation. Back when I played Deron in another world, I secretly hoped for something like this.

But this was different. Here, I wouldn’t face people through a monitor, mouse, and keyboard.

I had to face them directly, as if they were right in front of me in reality.

Those gazes were somewhat burdensome.

10, 9, 8.

As the countdown signaling the start of the battle began, a female healer beside me cautiously spoke.

“Um… could you show me your holy sword?”

Nodding, I drew my sword.

With a smooth sound as I pulled it out, the holy sword scattered soft sunlight.

“Wow…”

Murmurs of admiration resonated from all around me.

I shrugged off the glances filled with envy and jealousy.

At that moment, the paladin standing at the front let out a sigh and muttered quietly.

“Ugh… there’s too many archers.”

The healer user next to him seemed to respond to his voice.

She nodded in agreement but was gazing at me.

“Still, with that person here, isn’t it worth a shot?”

“Is it…?”

I frowned at that remark.

Does the number of archers determine the outcome of the game? It was incomprehensible.

Just as I was about to voice my curiosity, the transparent curtain blocking our view lifted.

The battlefield had begun.

As the curtain disappeared, people bolted out quickly.

Each had a determined look in their eyes that swiftly began to fade into the distance.

Among them, the one who sprinted ahead was none other than the archer user.

I followed right behind.

Utilizing my quick mobility, I showed remarkable speed over the mountainous terrain.

Rushing swiftly over the snowy mountains, I stopped at a high place where I could overlook the battlefield.

Most of the archer users also began to settle near me.

As the paladin said, there were 15 archers matched in the battle.

Seeing that it was more than expected, it didn’t take long to validate the paladin’s worries.

The archers climbed to higher ground and began to nock their bows.

I stood aside, observing them without rushing forward.

Fwoosh! Bang! Ping!

With so many archers, the sheer number of arrows showering down was staggering.

Watching the arrows raining down like a storm was impressive, but somehow, their accuracy was not high.

However, the archers’ expressions remained unchanged.

They seemed extremely familiar with this situation, simply looping the bowstring for another shot.

I wore a blank expression. Even as the deluge of arrows continued, all I could confirm was their terrible accuracy.

Only then did I understand why archers were looked down upon.

In this world, all attacks were non-targeting.

This world was different. Deron here had made the inherent difficulty of the archer class extraordinarily high.

If most archers were in this state, then it made sense why the Hwarang had received poor treatment all this time.

I wiped my dry face.

It was then that I heard a short scream coming from not far away.

“Ugh—!”

I turned my head to find a blurry shape that began to sharpen. A thief user was stabbing a dagger into the neck of an ally archer.

“It’s a thief!”

The archer users screamed and began dispersing in all directions.

Running away without even thinking of fighting?

With so many people?

In that moment, a white flash shot towards the thief.

The very lowest level archer user had fired an arrow at the thief.

But it missed. The archer, displaying his abysmal accuracy again, bit his lip and aimed for a new arrow.

Thwack!

Of course, no new arrow was shot.

The newly appeared thief had stabbed a dagger into the neck of that low-level archer.

I sighed. Winning this battlefield was going to be tough.

In that moment, I agreed with the paladin’s statement.

The thieves turned their gazes towards me. It seemed odd to them that a melee user stood among the archer faction.

The thieves did not approach. They simply met my eyes and observed cautiously.

It seemed they recognized the holy sword I held.

How could they not? The effect of that holy sword wrapped in sunlight was excessively flamboyant.

Step, step, step—

Footsteps carried by the cold wind drew closer.

The thief might have an invisibility skill to disguise himself, but he couldn’t hide the sound of his steps.

Step—

– Right now.

I swung my sword behind me.

A swiftly swung sword created a golden beam filled with divine power.

The golden strike split the chest of the thief approaching me.

Since he was invisible, I couldn’t aim for his head. However, now that his invisibility had broken, the story was different.

Without delay, I spun and swung my sword.

Swish!

As the golden trajectory cut through the air, the thief’s head was removed in an instant, but it was then that other thieves began rushing in from all sides.

There were too many. It seemed the enemy team had matched more thieves than archers.

I began to sprint down toward the valley.

Whoosh!

Sliding down the frozen valley, I sailed over the snow.

The thieves chasing after me quickly used their invisibility skill to conceal themselves.

But just because they hid didn’t mean their footsteps disappeared.

As I descended the valley, I assiduously started to reduce the number of thieves.

The thieves, clad in light leather armor, suffered lethal damage regardless of where they were hit.

At the moment I had cut down seven thieves as I reached the bottom of the valley, those who had been following me suddenly turned to charge in a different direction.

It seemed they chose to deal with the respawned archers rather than me, who was a hassle to kill.

I started running along the path.

While cutting down the mages and warlocks I encountered, I finally arrived at the enemy’s first watchtower.

If we claimed this area, it would change the respawn location of our team members.

That meant we could swing the battle in our favor.

I held my breath and looked around.

Aside from me, there didn’t seem to be any of our faction’s users.

At this point, they should have arrived or even passed by, but where had they gone?

The moment I carefully entered the watchtower, a sudden shower of users dropped from above, unleashing an overwhelming myriad of skills.

Just before the first skill struck my body, my vision expanded, capturing the scenery inside the watchtower.

My mind went blank.

This was a trap.

I swung my sword. The moment I slashed through the quickly coming ice sphere, a massive fireball followed, hitting my body directly.

My vision shook from the powerful impact, but I continued swinging my sword without backing down.

The sunlight cloak spreading behind me won’t protect me from the rapidly diminishing health.

Using the paladin’s healing, I endured, but the overwhelming number of ranged attacks flying from all around left me with no means of defense.

I couldn’t move forward. I was simply being pushed back endlessly.

Eventually, I thrust my holy sword into the ground and collapsed.

“Wow… how many seconds did I last?”

“About 10 seconds?”

“Did you see how he deflected everything that was flying in?”

“Feels insane…”

Through the foggy, blurred vision, I could hear the enemy team’s voices.

After a brief loading time, my vision slowly started to restore.

The respawn area was the place where I initially loaded in, and already, many users were gathering there besides me.

It seemed everyone who charged in ahead had fallen for that trap.

“Uh… what should we do? Should we just defend like this?”

“I think it’s better to just charge. The towers in front have all probably been claimed.”

“It’s risky with changed respawn areas because the enemy can join quickly. We might as well give up this round and restart.”

Users experienced in the battlefield shared their opinions.

I also agreed with that remark. But I didn’t want to lose.

“I’ll hold them off.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll hold them all off.”

The users’ blank stares were cast at me.

I took a confident stance, resting my sword on my shoulder.

“I’ll block at the front. You all circle around and get the enemy commander. They won’t reach there since the respawn area is far.”

“No, Yeo… even so…”

“Aren’t you planning to give up anyway? Just trust me for now.”

Whether I win or lose, it would be the same.

The users nodded in agreement.

I turned toward the users trying to leave the respawn area.

“Only three healers stay back.”

I couldn’t endure alone.

But with three healers, it was a different story.

Once the users had exited, I climbed onto the large bridge, accompanied by the three healers.

To reach the enemy commander NPC in our faction, we had to cross this bridge.

“Can we really hold?”

I nodded at the healers’ question.

Then I pulled out the shield I hadn’t used.

Time passed.

At that moment, red usernames began to appear in the distance.

I took a deep breath and drew my sword.

“They’re coming.”

The enemy users flinched slightly at my presence but didn’t stop their charge.

The first clash was against a knight wielding a large shield.

Though he attempted to use the massive shield to sway my body, the disparity in strength stats from my equipped items was significant.

Instead, it was the charging knight who was sent reeling.

I pushed his body off the bridge as I swung my sword.

Boom!

A powerful shockwave erupted. The paladin following the knight couldn’t endure the force of the attack and was pushed off the bridge.

The moment the melee classes rushing ahead hesitated, the enemy’s ranged attacks began flying in.

I raised my shield and sword.

With three healers backing me, I could tough it out until their mana ran dry.