Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 34

The next expansion pack update is just around the corner.

There’s about a month left.

The announcement heralding the next expansion not only serves as a cue to prepare for what’s coming, but also sends a message that the values of all current items will drop.

The prices of equipment began to plummet. This was due to the new items that would be added in the upcoming update.

More and more players started to skip raids. It was an unavoidable phenomenon.

It might be better to spend the remaining time leisurely rather than running raids.

As the party leader, I made an important decision.

The two active parties took a break.

People began to immerse themselves in field farming. Just like wild beasts hoard food to survive the winter, users started to pile up gold.

Among all this, what piqued my interest was the arena.

It equalizes all stats. Starting on the same conditions allowed me to realize a lot.

Going beyond silver and gold ranks, I stepped into the realm of swords.

The sword was a domain often spoken of as the territory of the talented.

Those who honed their senses as keenly as a sword competed with their skills in this realm.

I too stepped into the realm of swords.

I thought all my opponents were decent. I felt like I could win.

Innate talent had led me to victory in all situations.

I was on a streak in the arena, relying solely on my natural instincts.

But then I faced a crushing defeat. A streak of consecutive losses was recorded.

The face of my opponent, smiling as they looked at my bewildered expression, was something that stuck in my mind.

It wasn’t a normal match.

To start the rank anew from the initial level, I needed to surpass the rank of the tenth sword to reach the rank of emperor.

That rank was only granted to the top ten in the arena.

Just as I had recently been promoted to the rank of eighth sword, I found myself matched with the emperor.

It was because my MMR was excessively high due to my continuous victories.

And I lost.

Every encounter ended in defeat. Not once did I taste victory.

Why? My talent was overwhelming.

The moment we pointed our weapons at each other, I felt certain I would win.

I absolutely had to. It was normal for me to win.

That innate arrogance made me think so.

There was surely a difference in talent between my opponent and me.

But I couldn’t win. The confidence conveyed by my senses shattered.

I kept matching in hopes of meeting that opponent again.

Before I knew it, I had reached the very brink of the tenth sword rank in the arena.

If I kept this up, I would receive the rank of [Emperor].

Just as I was spinning for a match, I finally found myself matched with the long-awaited opponent.

He looked at me and smiled faintly as he twisted his wrist and spun his sword.

His movements exuded confidence.

[Emperor]

xiao

He had no guild and wore the look of a shabby shop item.

He didn’t speak a word. I never heard a response from him during our fights.

“Are you really Chinese?”

It wasn’t uncommon to encounter foreign players in this game.

I had often found foreign players even in the world of Deron.

This time too, there was no answer. I steadied my breath and pointed my sword at him.

His class setup was the same as mine. He chose Highlander for rank 1 and Paladin for rank 2.

In a state of silence, our swords pointed at each other.

My head tingled. My talent whispered that I could win against him.

But I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t win. Not again.

Time passed and the duel began.

The sword swung rapidly, gliding down the opponent’s blade.

His movements were fluid like water. The power he exuded twisted the direction of his sword, and suddenly, it began aiming at my neck.

The sharp thrust of his sword threatened to be deadly.

I quickly evaded, but my opponent deftly followed me with an odd movement.

If I kept retreating endlessly, I’d be backed against a wall and die.

I immediately extended my right leg, dropping my body low.

As my left leg which was stretched forward buckled, his sword grazed over my head, and I too swung my sword.

My sharp attack aimed for his waist.

It had to hit. But in the moment that followed, I heard a clink, and my sword was deflected.

While I may have had an edge in talent, my opponent was no slouch either.

My attack missed, exposing my upper body. I used Charge to close the gap quickly.

The burst of blue mana erupted from my body, enveloping my unstable stance.

As my system-optimized body lunged forward, blue mana exploded from my opponent as well.

Smack!

Our bodies collided. In that moment, a silvery trajectory slithered like a snake toward me.

My eyes focused on my opponent’s sword. Despite being aware, parrying was all I could manage.

As I attempted to dodge, he followed up with a strange movement.

Clang!

A blur of light flashed as my sword ricocheted off. I quickly regained my footing and swung my sword again.

A white-hot sensation of adrenaline began to build in my head. My senses sharpened, keenly observing my opponent’s movements.

The upper neck and lower thigh. The burning pain birthed an instinct that predicted my opponent’s attack direction.

I read two attacking paths at once. Yet I couldn’t block both. I moved my sword to guard my neck.

At that, I noticed a brief glimmer in my opponent’s eyes.

Swish—!

His sword swept swiftly. As expected, it deeply grazed the inside of my thigh.

A sharp sensation twisted my expression.

After that, about ten exchanges of blows took place.

But I wasn’t the one standing at the end.

With a thud, his sword pierced my chest.

It was a foreign sensation. A faint pain accompanied by rising irritation.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through, ruffling my hair.

In that moment, the sword that had penetrated my heart withdrew, displaying an odd movement in midair.

It moved like a serpent.

– A serpent.

His sword resembled a snake.

It had been that way from the start. If I had paid more attention, I would have learned much more.

After the result of defeat dawned on me, there was a brief waiting period.

I moved my restored body and attempted to replicate my opponent’s movement.

My right leg extended forward, and my left leg stretched back to balance my body.

There was no need for precise replication. I merely captured the feeling.

My slightly lowered upper body pulled the sword in my hands back like drawing a bow.

Suddenly, I felt my opponent’s questioning gaze on me.

Sensing his look, I lunged my sword. The slowly extending blade traced an odd curve before reaching its destination.

There was no sound. It moved like a serpent.

But it wasn’t satisfying. It was merely a mimicry.

“Damn…!”

The moment I was flung out of the arena, my opponent’s voice trembled in response as he looked at me.

Seeing that, I frowned.

This guy wasn’t just a concept fool. He was just ridiculously focused on his style.

Surely, he was about to say something like ‘what the hell…!’ It was unmistakably in Korean.

If I hadn’t been flung out of the arena, that word would have been completed.

“Phew…”

I let out a long breath. I was about to spin for a match again, but the tingling sensation that danced in my mind wouldn’t fade away.

I racked my memory to recall my opponent’s movements.

‘Was it like this?’

I began to move my body as guided by my instincts.

As time passed, my previously clumsy movements began to streamline.

Thoughts of ranking up in the arena had long disappeared.

Swish—!

A hazy white trail stretched out, catching the sunlight and spreading like a long tail.

In that moment, I realized.

This was a technique. A way to move the body. A way to wield a sword.

My opponent had added his own technique to his instincts.

He was a cunning one.

‘Not enough.’

There were gaps in the way I wielded my sword. The techniques shown by my opponent were incredibly limited.

I wanted to see more. I wanted to emulate it further.

I hurried to match again in the arena, but ultimately, I couldn’t meet that opponent again.

*

The expansion pack update was right around the corner. With a large-scale update, server shutdown occurred quickly.

The patch time had been prolonged.

As everyone was sleepless with anticipation, I bit my lip while scrolling through the arena ranking page.

It was the day when, at the end of the arena season, rewards based on ranking would be distributed.

But I couldn’t find the nickname xiao on the front page of the arena rankings.

He was the ultimate concept fool. It was possible that he intentionally created a smurf account to lower his rank.

Thus, I searched for his nickname separately, but no character with that name showed up.

He had undoubtedly deleted his character.

“Did you just focus on the arena all this time?”

Harang, who was sprawled on the sofa in the living room, asked, seemingly surprised.

I nodded. I had no intention of hiding it.

It seemed he checked the arena rankings on Deron’s website via his phone.

“Wow… you hit second place? They say you get a silver sword costume as a reward?”

“I won’t get it.”

The season ended with me finishing in second place in the arena rankings.

I had hit first place a few times. But I couldn’t maintain it.

Being a student and the restrictions from the shutdown law were heavy chains.

The limited time for scoring couldn’t match the freedom of a laid-off worker.

Eventually, I had to concede the first place.

Arena ranking rewards were only given to the top three.

They were sword costumes that could be attached to the back: a golden sword for first, silver sword for second, and bronze sword for third.

They were shining, gorgeous costumes. They truly looked amazing.

“Sell it to the uncles. I bet it’ll sell for a high price.”

“Why would I sell this?”

“It’s the kind of design that only uncles would like.”

I glared at Harang for his comment.

A design that only uncles would like? There was absolutely nothing like that.

The sleek curve of the blade, the dragon head engraved on the hilt, and the long trailing red thread.

This could easily be called a work of art.

“Are you just jealous?”

“… Do you really think so?”

“If I try to sell it, you’d try to buy it, right?”

“Why on earth would I buy something like that?”

“You’re just jealous. You want to steal my sword.”

Harang stared blankly at my words.

He seemed shocked at how easily I had seen through his wicked intentions.

I would definitely not sell it.

I raised the corners of my mouth. A mocking grin spread across my face.

Harang furrowed his brow at my smile.

“If you want it, you should hit the arena too.”

“I won’t do it.”

“Let’s be clear. It’s not that you won’t do it, it’s that you can’t.”

“Ha…”

Harang couldn’t argue with my statement.

He let out a long sigh and then stood up, leaving the living room.

He had clearly slipped away from my sharp fact attack.