Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 242

“Hyah!”

With a loud shout, I swung my staff.

The wizard had to stop moving when casting, so I needed to time it just right.

I calculated the upcoming patterns and prepared my casting in advance.

Since the casting time was long, I could use powerful magic, but to dodge the gunfire from the Named monster flying towards me, I would have to cancel the casting.

If I canceled before the long casting was completed, it would lead to a DPS loss.

That was the only downside of being a wizard.

Meanwhile, the archer Hwarang was rolling around on the floor, firing his dual pistols like a moving machine gun.

I bit my lip as I glanced at the DPS numbers of the dealers in the party.

1. Hwarang

2. Helena

3. Snow Mage

4. Princess Yeo

5. Yerin

6. Iyap

Hwarang ranked first among the dealers, but Helena was trailing closely behind.

If Hwarang paused for even a moment, he would surely lose his rank to Helena.

Helena was showing off incredible firepower.

Helena and I had the same Ether grade on our equipment.

Our job trees were also the same. The order of the skills we used was identical.

Yet, my DPS rank remained at fourth.

So, why was there such a large gap?

The answer was in the special Transcendence Stones.

These stones granted additional special abilities to equipment and could only be obtained in dungeons.

Since they dropped in a non-exchangeable state, of course, they couldn’t be bought with money.

Currently, the Princess Yeo I was playing had no such special Transcendence Stones.

I had leveled up using only exchangeable Transcendence Stones.

It was a mistake to exclusively push the main quests and not log in earlier.

That moment, Hwarang, still rolling on the floor and firing bullets, suddenly stopped and flashed a smirk at me.

Something shot through my chest and lodged deep inside.

A huge shock. My face heated up, and my shoulders began to tremble.

As Hwarang stopped moving, there was a shift in the DPS rankings.

Hwarang’s nickname, which had been maintaining first place, slowly dropped and settled in third.

Naturally, those below him moved up a rank.

1. Helena

2. Snow Mage

3. Hwarang

4. Princess Yeo

5. Yerin

6. Iyap

It was close. If I pushed just a little harder, I felt I could catch him.

I glared at Hwarang with my brows tightly knitted.

Bang-!

Bang-!

Bang-!

Hwarang was running around the floor again, shooting his gun.

But there was no longer that desperate feeling from earlier.

That bastard…

He was taunting me!

He was definitely teasing me, hovering just above my rank.

Of course, it was just my suspicion.

To outsiders, Hwarang appeared to be putting his full effort into dealing damage.

“Grrr…!”

I gritted my teeth and continued to unleash my skills.

I even used the event doping potion I had been saving.

Yet, I still couldn’t catch up.

Whenever my DPS rose slightly, Hwarang would mirror my increase like he was playing with me.

My head was heating up. It felt like my insides were bubbling and boiling over.

But there was nothing I could do.

“Yeo!”

“Huh?”

Just then, a sudden scream echoed.

A familiar voice. It was Helena.

I turned my head to see Helena, who had distanced herself from me, reaching out her hand.

When had she gotten so far away? She had been spewing fire right next to me before.

The distance increased. Due to the nature of a stationary casting wizard, there was only one reason for her to move.

To evade the Named’s pattern.

Meaning, the AoE attack had dropped where I was standing.

“Ah-!”

The moment I realized this, a massive shadow loomed above me.

The movement of a heavy and enormous object.

Along with a gigantic wind, it was Bahamut’s thick tail coming down.

Boom-!

The tremendous impact shook my entire body.

The instant I understood the shock, my body was squished against the ground.

“Ugh…”

My vision blurred gray.

I was punished for not focusing on the raid.

I became flat as a pancake under Bahamut’s tail attack.

“Yeo!!!”

Helena screamed upon seeing me down.

Of course, even though I was dead, the raid didn’t stop.

The party members who skillfully avoided the patterns returned to their positions and started blasting their skills.

Seeing me dead, Hwarang let out a small snicker.

I stared hopelessly at my dropping DPS numbers with my mouth agape.

My name, which had been sitting at fourth, was plummeting.

In contrast, Hwarang’s nickname rose back to the top.

He could reclaim first place anytime.

But he didn’t. He chose to dangle in front of me just to mock me.

What a jerk.

What a bad guy.

What an awful person.

“Whimper…”

“Guild Leader! I’ll save you!!!”

One of the backup healers with spare capacity reached out to me and cast a resurrection skill.

I closed my eyes at that sight.

What did it matter if I resurrected now?

I’d need even greater strength to pull my plummeting DPS back up.

Of course, that was just my personal thought.

The moment I was revived, I would unleash magic with all my might.

Whoosh-!

The casting time for the resurrection skill is ten seconds.

Which meant one healer would be unable to do anything for those ten seconds.

In a pressing situation, I wouldn’t have used the resurrection skill.

But right now, it was a pretty relaxed moment.

Boom!

As a result, I was able to stand up again.

“Resurrection!”

Don’t worry about DPS.

Enjoy the game itself.

I began to immerse myself in Princess Yeo, my designated character.

The raid party gathered to face the colossal Hellfire Dragon Bahamut.

Within it, Princess Yeo was an incredibly prominent figure.

Everyone gathered to see her. They believed in and followed her because of her beauty, cuteness, and tremendous magical prowess.

“Ha…”

As the continuous self-suggestion went on, my heated head began to cool down.

“Everyone, eliminate that wicked dragon!”

I shouted, thumping the ground with my staff.

Immediately, countless skills from fellow party members rained down on Bahamut.

I couldn’t hold back either.

To use powerful magic, appropriate incantations were necessary.

I spread my arms wide, preparing to chant.

Swish-

“Darkness darker than twilight…”

“The Guild Leader is casting a spell!!!”

“…”

Of course, the talented Princess Yeo also knew how to skip incantations.

I shut my mouth and unleashed a powerful spell.

Whoosh-!

After a while, as countless spells struck Bahamut’s massive body, he began to take a deep breath.

Here it comes.

I shouted to my party members.

“Everyone, maintain maximum health!”

The Vampire Clan mutation pattern was approaching.

In that pattern, those who possessed antibodies were chosen randomly each round.

So until it was revealed who possessed the antibodies, everyone needed to keep their health at maximum.

[Kuwaaaagh!]

Bahamut began to vomit thick, bloody liquid with a terrifying roar.

There was no direct damage, but it was incredibly unpleasant to be showered with it.

At that moment, my vision turned red.

[You have been infected with Vampire Clan blood!]

[You are beginning to mutate into a Vampire Clan member.]

I wasn’t an antibody holder.

Shoving aside the message that appeared before my eyes, I yelled.

“Antibody holders, raise your hands!”

Thus one by one, the antibody holders started raising their hands.

I marked each of their heads with a large symbol.

Since it was a mark visible to all party members, those infected with Vampire Clan wouldn’t make a mistake.

The skill that occurs if infected with Vampire Clan [Bloodsucking].

It absorbs a fixed amount of the target’s health and uses it to restore their own.

Since there was no cooldown, if done incorrectly, it could suck a fellow party member dry like a squashed squid.

In that instant, an epiphany hit me.

If I couldn’t come in first, what if I brought the first down?

I looked at Hwarang.

He was also in the process of mutating into a Vampire Clan member.

Hwarang was approaching the antibody holders with his eyes glowing red.

My hesitation didn’t last long.

I leaped behind Hwarang and reached out my hand.

[Bloodsucking]

It was a skill usable without direct contact, so just reaching out like this enabled me to siphon blood.

Swoosh-

[Bloodsucking]

Swoosh-

“Uh…?”

[Bloodsucking]

Swoosh-

After three bloodsucking attempts, Hwarang, reduced to a shriveled corpse, collapsed to the ground.

It seemed he couldn’t comprehend what had just happened to him and looked up at me in confusion.

That moment.

In an unexpected turn of events, the achievement conditions for the ongoing quest ticked off simultaneously.

[Absorption of Vampire Blood]

As Dr. Haven said, collect the scattered Vampire blood throughout Deron and integrate it with the existing blood.

A separate purification process is necessary.

Human 1/1

Beast 1/1

Demon 1/1

Dragon 1/1

Fairy 1/1

Elf 1/1

“Gasp…”

All conditions were complete.

The moment I realized that, a message appeared before my eyes.

[New Race Unlocked]

[True Blood]

[Will you be reborn as this race?]

[YES/NO]

I didn’t think long.

I immediately selected the YES button.

Whoosh-!

Right after, the blood pooling on the ground surged upward and began to envelop me.

“Yeo!”

I could feel the gazes of my fellow party members on me.

I could also hear Helena’s voice.

But I couldn’t look at the party members.

I had to confirm the changes happening to my body.

The blood wrapping around me started to absorb into my insides.

Simultaneously, my white skin began to pale, and my round, blunt nails started sharpening slightly.

The horns sprouting from my head vanished.

The transformation was far from over.

As my floating body descended to the ground for reincarnation, the blood flowing around began to part like Moses’ sea.

“This is…”

I instinctively realized.

Princess Yeo had surpassed humans, no, demons.

I felt like I was evolving as a life form.

I ran my bloodied hand through my hair and smiled contently.

“Hehe…”

“Yeo… We’re still in a raid…”