Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 32

After entering the Underground Maze, I immediately started running towards the center.

At this point, even the oblivious users must have realized.

That the boss monsters respawn in a clockwise order. And that nothing had appeared at the center yet.

[Soft & Chewy Cow] Yeo – [I’m heading to the center. If you spot any enemy alliances, please brief me on their locations.]

Right after sending a message to the guild leaders of the alliance, I quickly received a reply.

[Chunpoong] Jihak – [The Shing Shing kids are running to the center at 12 o’clock. We’ll hold them off, so please get ready.]

[Soft & Chewy Cow] Yeo – [Can you hold out?]

[Chunpoong] Jihak – [Not for long.]

Jihak from the Chunpoong guild was the guild leader on our alliance’s side.

Chunpoong’s guild had barely any members, not even hitting 100.

With our group only slightly exceeding 70, their help wouldn’t be significant.

Could they manage to hold them off for just about a minute?

As we exchanged information, we finally arrived at the altar in the center.

Other guilds had taken their positions in front of the altar and immediately turned wary upon seeing us.

We were currently outnumbered. We needed to keep an eye on the situation and push the enemies back once our alliance members arrived.

While waiting, the first guild to show up was the [Requiem] guild.

Led by the guild master Jejeongsin, who was seriously deranged, they were a group of true killers who preferred conflicts.

I exchanged glances with Jejeongsin, arriving from a distance. Together with our group, we now had about 300 members.

That was enough to push the other guild occupying the center back.

“Attack! Push them back!”

We needed to deal with them quickly and set up positions inside for effective defense later.

With that in mind, I drew my sword as well.

As the Holy Sword of Sunlight emerged, illuminating the dark surroundings, blessings from the healers fell over me.

Right after that, a golden glow surged from my sword, stretching long.

Our guild and the Requiem guild were fighting side by side.

I rushed forward and disrupted the enemy’s tank line.

The buffs enveloping my body along with various boosting potions ensured I wouldn’t die.

Even as my health dwindled, I held on. An incredible healing shower poured down from behind, ensuring I wouldn’t perish.

A white pain ignited in my head, and countless lines flickered across my vision.

As my instincts kicked in, I started to move my body, and the rapidly depleting health began to stabilize.

I’d heavily shaken the tank line holding the front. This meant that melee classes would have an easier path to charge in.

As a result, the enemy faction began crumbling from the front, unable to withstand the incoming forces from Requiem.

Once the last foe fell, I ceased my attacks.

Though we were bound together under the name of an alliance, there was still no formal alliance system, so the Requiem users’ nicknames appeared in red.

If any area-of-effect skills were cast, it would result in catastrophe.

[Jejeongsin]

The guild master of Requiem. From the tone of voice, he seemed to be an older middle-aged guy, and his skills weren’t bad.

Dressed in a distinctive red robe typical for wizards, Jejeongsin approached me, bursting into laughter.

“Wow~ It’s my first time seeing a real fight, and you’re as amazing as I thought.”

“Nice to meet you. It’s my first time seeing you in person too.”

I’d had to avoid the gazes of others when forming an alliance, so we had only exchanged messages.

Jejeongsin stepped closer, scanned me up and down, then took a slight step back with a somewhat amused grin.

“You made it smaller than I expected.”

“It’s exactly my height in reality.”

“Right, right. That was your setting. I get it. It’s a role-playing game after all. We have a few members in our guild who play like you too.”

Though it was an honest compliment, I could tell he didn’t believe me.

I crossed my arms and tilted my head defiantly.

“Ugh…”

“Let’s just get in position first. But who gets first loot from the central boss?”

The first loot was important. There was no guarantee that we could stake the next loot rights, so I wanted to get the looting rights myself.

I was sure other alliance guild masters were thinking the same.

“Let’s let those who can land the finishing blow take it.”

“Hm… I’ll consider it done.”

There were four directions where one could enter the central altar.

I moved to the side facing 6 o’clock and settled in.

Requiem moved to 12 o’clock, seeming to want to stay as far from each other’s attack ranges as possible.

While waiting at the entrance, our alliance members began to arrive one by one.

Of course, it wasn’t just our alliance guild. Other guilds were also rushing to the center just like we were.

Getting into position first was crucial. Having the high ground provided significant defensive advantages.

To reach this altar, one would need to climb the stairs, but if there was a tank line with large shields guarding the front, it wouldn’t be easy to break through.

We unleashed attacks on other guilds as a warning and only let in our alliance members.

Thus, the inside of the altar gradually filled with our alliance.

“I don’t see the Shing Shing kids around?”

I could hear the murmurs of the alliance members.

That was true. I couldn’t spot the Shing Shing guild emblem anywhere.

Could they have avoided us? Just as I was pondering this, a massive tremor erupted behind me, and a giant magical formation soared into view.

The final king of the 12 giants, [Chronos], had respawned.

[Kraaaah!]

With Chronos’s roar, the raid had begun.

The melee classes didn’t approach. Aside from the tanks holding aggro, all the damage was left to the ranged dealers.

Since the alliance system wasn’t in place yet, this was the only choice we had.

With hundreds of dealers focusing their fire, the boss’s health began to plummet swiftly.

Honestly, I still didn’t know the boss’s patterns. In the world of Deron I had been in, this guy would die in 10 seconds, leaving no time to see any patterns.

The only thing I had seen was him using a massive punch to slam the ground as an area-of-effect move.

At that moment, the players from below, who had been observing, suddenly rushed in together.

It seemed they were planning to take advantage of the situation.

“Wizards, hold the entrance with 20 of you! The rest, install traps in front of the stairs, alternating!”

Since another alliance guild was handling the boss tanking, all our tanks turned to block the entrance.

I began placing traps behind them.

The other guild members did the same, and they quickly started installing traps in front of the stairs as well.

Just as the boss’s health dropped to 50%, in the distance, the distinctive whirl of the Shing Shing guild emblem became visible.

“Shing Shing is coming!”

The Shing Shing guild began charging in. However, they were also in an alliance.

Next to Shing Shing’s guild emblem were two unfamiliar guild emblems.

It looke like they had over 500 members at a glance. The rapidly approaching Shing Shing alliance began their assault towards the stairs.

Yet the number of people that could ascend the stairs was limited.

They broke apart into four paths to push through the entrance.

A light of faint sunlight hovered around every member present.

Every single one of them had activated the Divine Blessing buff.

This was an overpowered doping item that reduced damage taken by 30%, meaning everyone, allies and enemies alike, were under its effect.

With that, the fight began.

It was a battle between those trying to break through and those trying to hold them back. Spells flew in from all directions, while healers cast a torrent of healing on the defending tanks.

Though the wizards’ area-of-effect skills fell upon the tanks, they had to use their survival skills to endure till the end.

The moment they give way, the line would break. That would mean giving way to the dealers conducting the raid.

Once the boss’s health dropped to 20%, cheers and screams erupted from the 3 o’clock direction simultaneously.

“We broke through!”

“We broke through!”

One side of the entrance had been penetrated.

I immediately drew my sword and focused on the 3 o’clock position.

As news about breaching the entrance spread, those attacking from other directions began rushing out. They aimed to push in through 3 o’clock.

The boss’s remaining health was now at 15%. As the enemy alliance flooded in, the boss’s health began to decrease at a slower rate.

This was the moment to strike.

I planted my Holy Sword into the ground and shouted.

“Proclaim the Holy Sanctuary of the Sun God!”

“Everyone, pull out the bombs!”

The special bombs that could be created using magic engineering had fixed damage that ignored defense. But the values were minor.

In other words, they weren’t significantly helpful.

But down here in the Underground Maze, that all changed.

Every boss monster respawning down here had low health and high defense.

Which meant using bombs could yield massive efficiency.

That’s why in the other world of Deron, this fellow would die in 10 seconds.

The fixed damage from the bombs would also benefit from all buffs that increase stats.

So the activation of [Proclaim the Holy Sanctuary of the Sun God] by driving my sword into the ground would also amplify the bomb’s damage.

“Throw them all at the boss!”

The guild members obediently followed my command.

They hurled the magic engineering bombs I had provided at the boss.

As nearly 100 members threw bombs all at once, the explosion effects overlapped, releasing an enormous sound.

Boom!

At the moment the bombs detonated, the boss’s remaining health, which was about 10%, vanished in an instant.

As the massive giant fell to the ground, a message visible to everyone in the Underground Maze appeared.

[The ‘Soft & Chewy Cow’ guild has defeated Chronos.]

Looting rights had been firmly established.

But there was no time to check it now.

I quickly pulled my sword from the ground and dashed forward, shouting.

“Let’s go down to the altar and hit the Shing Shing flank!”

We had defeated the boss. Now all that was left was to push back the enemy alliance that had invaded this place.

The front line was being robustly held by the Requiem guild.

I exchanged glances with Jejeongsin and then jumped down from the altar with my guild members.

We were not the only ones leaping down. Other alliance guilds also jumped down to start pushing back the Shing Shing alliance.

In an instant, the backbone of the enemy’s main force crumbled. The melee classes, unable to receive support from healers and ranged allies, began to fall one after another.

As the situation unfolded, the enemy main force turned to flee.

I smiled, with my Holy Sword resting on my shoulder.

It was a total victory.