Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 261

Unexpected strategy!

Since no raid has ever progressed this way, all party members looked at the collapsed Lunaris with disbelief.

“Wow…”

“Is this it…?”

No, it can’t be the end.

The moment the goddess Lunaris fell, I regained control of my body.

Perhaps because I was spewing blood all over. The effect of the Transformation Potion had worn off since I was judged dead and then revived.

“Not yet! The battle isn’t over!”

The main tank, Dogrik, raised his shield and focused on a spot.

That spot.

The neglected corner next to the altar.

That’s right.

Just because the goddess Lunaris has vanished doesn’t mean the originally named Iona has disappeared.

With the Holy Sword, Moonlight Blade, clasped in both hands.

Heavily muscled arms.

Even her severely distorted face.

Everything was telling me.

Iona was furious right now.

[Ah… Goddess Lunaris…]

Bang!

Iona began to move her massive body, signaling the onset of a new battle.

Rising from the ground, she started summoning ducks.

I wasn’t worried about what pattern would come forth.

I had the invincible Duck Bomb.

Iona didn’t rush in immediately.

She moved according to a set pattern and spat out predetermined lines.

The extra time meant that healers could revive the downed dealers.

The quick-witted healers had already begun casting Resurrection skills as soon as Iona started her lines.

The ones who had fallen to the blood magic were Helena, the Snow Mage, and Yerin.

All three stood up thanks to the resurrection skills.

After the death judgment, their bodies returned to their original state.

Helena sighed in relief as she looked down at herself.

Just when the fallen had all been revived and the party had plenty of time to regroup, Iona started moving.

[Dieee!!!]

Iona’s gigantic body charged forward.

Dogrik stood his ground, raising his shield to block all her attacks.

Bang! Crash! Thud! Bang!

Exceedingly rapid attacks for such a massive physique.

The Holy Sword she clasped in both hands ruthlessly battered Dogrik’s shield.

“Gah!”

Dogrik’s expression was strained.

That meant he was having a hard time holding up. His health was also wavering significantly.

We needed to minimize the battle time as much as possible.

“Come out!”

I shouted, spreading my arms.

Immediately after, the quacking ducks started pouring down.

Quack! Quack!

With healers standing by to recover my health, I quickly summoned 200 ducks.

Quack! Quack! Quack!

“Ducks!”

200 ducks followed my orders and charged towards Iona.

The appearance of ducks was out of sync with the dire battle situation.

As ducks swiftly ran alongside Dogrik, who was blocking the massive Holy Sword, everything was ready.

Now it was time to land a big hit.

“Take this!”

Like releasing bottled-up frustration, I hurled the magic engineering bombs with all my might.

With a wide arc, the bombs flew towards the ducks, igniting a chain reaction of explosions.

Boom-! Kaboom!

Health points dwindled in an instant.

Aggro levels shot up dramatically.

Iona’s gaze naturally turned towards me.

The intense stare felt almost like an aggressive challenge.

I flicked my tongue and cast the Ice Shield.

Just because a monster with basic AI was staring at me didn’t change anything.

[Kuwaaaa!]

But.

Iona exhibited patterns unlike any monster we had faced before.

A straight charge.

Swinging her Holy Sword wildly as if aiming to destroy everything in front of her, she charged toward me.

From behind the Ice Shield, I laughed at her.

Thinking about the foolish monster AI.

However.

Thud-thud-thud!

The moment Iona’s sword hit the Ice Shield, a sickening crack echoed in my ear.

Then calamity accelerated.

The surrounding scenery slowed, and the sounds began to fade.

I locked eyes with Iona through the shattered Ice Shield.

That monster, once a nun, was now looking at me with a fiery gaze.

Was the invulnerability skill bypassed?

Then I should have chosen to evade instead of relying on the Ice Shield’s defense?

I squinted, pondering.

In this frozen moment, only I was free.

Calmly think. There’s plenty of time.

The shield had definitely shattered.

Even with remaining duration.

That means Iona’s pattern transcends invulnerability.

This was information that the main tank, Dogrik, needed to know.

If I’m resolved, it’s time to act.

Quietly—

[…Uuhhh!]

The first sound to return was the one that had receded, and the surroundings began to move again.

A massive Holy Sword approached me in a hurry.

Scattered pieces of ruby-colored ice splintered everywhere.

In that moment, I checked the skill’s delay.

I was back.

All conditions for my next skill were met.

[Blink]

The basic movement skill of a wizard.

Invoking a super convenient skill that allows short-distance teleportation.

Fwoosh-!

With a flash of light, I found myself behind Iona.

I dodged her attack. Just when I thought that, Iona’s charge halted.

[I won’t let you get away!!!]

The anticipated targeting pattern.

I frowned and ran quickly.

“Don’t come closer, Iona! This is a pattern with a higher level than the invincibility skill!”

I also didn’t forget to warn about Iona’s pattern.

I didn’t know how long this creature would chase me, but I planned to flee as much as I could.

“Hyah!”

Even though my body was that of a weak wizard, my health was better than in real life.

Running with all my strength didn’t wind me at all.

Derron was definitely better than reality.

Even while I entertained such useless thoughts, Iona continued her pursuit.

Thud thud!

The ground shook violently.

A Holy Sword flew toward me.

Everything around spoke of my impending death.

But not yet.

I didn’t give up.

If I lacked invincibility and Blink, I would just use Time Acceleration instead.

Eeeeeeek!

The ultimate utility skill, available only to wizards.

[Time Acceleration]

A massive clock-shaped effect spread from under my feet.

Right after, my physical time began to speed up.

My mind started to accelerate too, keeping pace with my altered speed.

I felt something that had been misaligned suddenly snap into place.

Shooosh—

Though it was brief, I could do a lot.

Dodging Iona’s attacks, I started summoning as many ducks as I could.

Quaaack—

Five ducks per one swing of her sword.

Iona swung her sword three times per second.

I barely let every one of her attacks pass while continuously summoning ducks.

My mana levels began to dwindle rapidly.

There was no time to use blood magic to consume my health instead of mana.

The end of the permitted time was approaching.

Swish—

I dodged Iona’s attack to the right; however, my body wasn’t as fast as before.

The Holy Sword brushed past my cheek and slammed into the ground.

Boom-!

My body swayed violently.

I bit my lip.

The duration of [Time Acceleration] began to wane.

But Iona’s charge hadn’t ended.

It seemed like it would only finish after claiming the life of a target.

Then I had no choice.

But I couldn’t just let it happen.

At the end.

The moment the effect of Time Acceleration ended, I came to a halt.

I wouldn’t dodge the attack.

I willingly accepted the attack aimed at me.

Shoow-!

The massive swing of the Holy Sword.

The moment the massive piece of moonlight touched my shoulder, the transparent bombs I had prepared dropped atop the ducks.

I would pay back for what I took.

Boom-! Kaboom!

At the moment of the explosion, my shoulder crumpled.

With a sharp pain, half of my body collapsed inward.

Naturally, the opposite side began to fall too.

Through the greying vision, Iona’s gaze pierced me.

“Yeoonaaaa!!!”

Dying in Derron felt light, but it seemed to hit Helena a bit harder.

She had mourned each time I died.

I died again.

How many times was this now?

I began to worry whether I’d achieve the achievement of “Unfazed” as party leader.

Yet contrary to my worries, Iona didn’t fall easily.

As her health dipped below 50%, another pattern activated.

Iona, now even larger, unleashed a crescent of moonlight from her Holy Sword, obliterating the party members.

[Kyahhh!]

Now, Iona had lost the ability to communicate in human language.

As I grimaced at her grotesque form.

All party members made their way back to their resurrection spots, awaiting revival.

“Ah… I think we can break her after a few more tries.”

“I felt the same… At least as long as we don’t die.”

“The last pattern was pretty absurd, right? She was firing off strange moonlight attacks at such speed…”

“Why don’t we save the wizards’ Time Acceleration skills until then?”

“Don’t use them for dealing damage?”

The party members were discussing strategy even before I arrived.

An admirable posture to see.

I nodded as I settled next to Helena.

“Yeoona…”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have to drink that?”

“That… which strange potion?”

“That… weird potion.”

Weird potion? Could she be referring to that toy potion?

But that was an essential item to use for the strategy.

I shook my head and replied.

“No. I must absolutely use it.”

“If it’s just Yeoona who doesn’t use it…”

“Helena.”

“Okay…”

I understood why Helena was saying this.

It must be hard for her to see my transformed appearance.

Still, I didn’t want the entire party to suffer for one person.

“Alright everyone, if you’re ready, we’ll start right away!”

We had been given ample break time.

I clapped my hands and drew the party members’ focus.

Thus began the next attempt.

But ultimately, that day I couldn’t breach Iona’s defenses.

*

That evening, after the time of the raid strategy was over.

Leisurely lying in bed and scrolling through the Derron gallery, an announcement popped up on the Derron homepage.

I felt a bad omen and clicked on the announcement.

[Temporary Maintenance Notice]

Hello, adventurers.

A temporary maintenance is scheduled to stabilize the server and balance skills.

Expected maintenance time.

2 AM to 3 AM (1 hour)

Patch details.

Server stabilization maintenance.

Magical Engineering Toy: Duck Quack Summon Skill’s “Magical Engineering” tag will be removed.

The moment I read the announcement, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

This time, I hadn’t explained the build to anyone nor spread it.

Yet this was something else.

It felt like a targeted strike against me, the malicious intent of Derron palpable through the announcement.

“My… My ducks!!!”

I couldn’t help but scream.

I loathed Derron for taking away my ducks.

While lying face down on the bed and shrieking, I heard loud banging from the other side of the door.

I didn’t even need to ask who it was.

There was only one person capable of knocking on our door like this.

It was Harang.

[Shut up! You crazy woman!]

“Ducks!!!”

Quack quack.

The sound of ducks’ cries still echoed in my ears.

With tears brimming, I pulled the soft pillow close to me.