Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 43

As time passed, the promised date drew near.

I checked the gear specs of my party members and nodded.

It seemed everyone had prepared diligently for this day, as most of the equipment was of unique grade, level 45.

I too had an item prepared for this day.

It was the headpiece from the field boss [Thunder Ross], which randomly respawns in the level 45 field.

[Thunder Ross’s Head]

The severed head of Thunder Ross, the dragon that controls storms and lightning.

When submitted to the Knights of the Capital City, it activates the [Thunder Ross’s Roar] buff for all players in that map.

Yeo – [Please gather at the Capital City before departure. We’re casting the full buff.]

Before using the item, I summoned the party members.

After confirming that everyone had arrived through the raid interface, I handed Thunder Ross’s head to the knight at the center of the plaza.

The tall knight took the massive dragon head and placed it on the large altar in the middle of the plaza.

Then, a thunderbolt struck down from the sky, hitting Thunder Ross’s head directly.

The lightning that fell on the head didn’t stop there.

The crackling lightning began to illuminate Thunder Ross’s dull eyes and unleashed immense power in all directions.

Boom-!

[Thunder Ross’s Roar]

10% damage reduction.

10% increase in all damage.

Duration: 2 hours.

“What?! We’re using this buff right away? Are we not supposed to practice first? Only use it when you’re sure.”

I shook my head at Hwarang’s words.

“We’re clearing it on the first try. No doubt about it.”

I wasn’t worried. There was no need to be. This season, the raid had a major oversight from Deron’s development team.

They had overlooked the [Divine Blessing of the Sun] buff from the previous season.

This item, with its crazy stat boosts and damage reduction effects, made it possible to ignore most of the patterns that appeared in raids.

Surely, most raids would clear it on the first try.

After confirming the various buffs, we set off with the party members.

Everyone followed me with a mix of anxiety and anticipation on their faces.

The portal transported us to an area called [Fallen Sanctuary].

A large building stood half-collapsed to greet us.

The ominous black energy emanating from inside shrouded the whole structure and darkened the atmosphere.

The sun in the sky didn’t illuminate this building.

The corrupted energy flowing out from inside was just too intense.

This was the place for the level 45 raid dungeon.

“Did everyone check their buffs? If anyone’s low on potions, say so now.”

With firm expressions, everyone nodded, indicating they were ready.

“Alright then. Let’s all go in.”

Just as I turned my body towards the entrance of the dungeon, I felt a heated gaze from behind that made me stop in place.

Though no one said anything, it was clear they were expectantly watching me.

I bit my lip.

There was no need to let the atmosphere drop.

To meet the expectations of my party members, I jumped in place and dove into the dungeon.

“Wow, the party leader really jumped!”

“Wow… awesome. That jump was seriously cool. You looked just like a rabbit.”

“We’re entering too.”

All sorts of embarrassing compliments poured in, and my ears felt slightly hot.

I turned around and glared at my party members.

They mimicked my action, hopping in place as well.

“Everyone, cut the joking. We’ll do a quick briefing before clearing the path to the named boss.”

I gestured to Dogrik, who stood beside me.

He was still decked out in full plate armor, wielding a gigantic shield in the tank position.

Since I had switched roles from tank to dealer, he had taken over as the main tank.

“Clear a path, please. You checked the named boss’s location and map structure on the website, right?”

“Yes, I’ll clear the path.”

Responding to me, Dogrik stepped forward, leading the way with his huge shield.

Blocking our path were the fallen priests and paladins.

“Everyone use your buffs without holding back. Use them right away as we clear the path.”

Initially cautious, the raid party began advancing faster as the elite monsters blocking the way were swept away more quickly than expected.

Those tanks standing in the front knew that the incoming damage wasn’t that high, so they started to pull more monsters.

All thanks to the Divine Blessing of the Sun buff.

How much time had passed?

As we walked down the right path, a spacious auditorium unfolded before us.

In the center of the hall stood a muscular man with a blood-soaked upper body.

The ominous aura flowing from his fists gradually spread out.

[Inquisitor Lava]

Aside from the charge pattern aimed at the healers and the occasional area curse debuff, he was a relatively easy named boss.

“Briefing…”

As I habitually prepared to give a briefing on this named boss, I closed my mouth.

I almost made a blunder. We didn’t have any confirmed information about this raid dungeon yet.

If I spoke as if I knew the boss’s patterns, it would certainly put me in a very awkward position.

“Actually, there’s not much to brief about, right? Since the patterns aren’t public knowledge, we’re basically the advance team.”

Quickly changing my words, I looked back at my party members.

They nodded in agreement and raised their weapons.

They seemed to be steeling themselves as the advance team.

“Let’s give it a try. Everyone record the video for their classes. We’ll need to analyze the patterns after confronting the named boss.”

After finishing my words, I gestured to Dogrik.

It was the beginning of our first named boss attempt.

As Dogrik approached while holding his gigantic shield, the inquisitor in the center raised his head, scattering darkened glimmers.

[Oh, ho ho… The heretics have come…]

Serving the Sun God, he was entirely devoid of sanity as a result.

The Sun God’s corruption had taken its toll on him too.

“Deal damage now!”

The moment Dogrik secured the aggro, the damage began pouring in.

Characters draped in various buffs started showcasing performance that exceeded the developers’ expectations.

I too drew my massive greatsword and ruthlessly stabbed the named boss in the back.

His health was dropping rapidly.

In less than 30 seconds of starting the damage, the named boss’s health was already at 50%.

At that moment, a dark energy poured down from the sky, beginning to heal the named boss’s wounds.

It was a healing pattern. I shouted immediately.

“Heal! It’s a healing pattern! Warlocks, use the healing reduction curse!”

As soon as my order was given, black and purple energy shot toward the named boss.

The party members reacted quickly. The named boss barely managed to heal and moved on to the next pattern.

When the named boss’s health dropped to 30%, he hunched down as if preparing to leap.

Should I say something? Or just watch?

I swung my sword as I kept an eye out.

In that moment, the hunching named boss sprang forward towards the healers.

Bam!

A massive shockwave erupted from the ground where his fist struck.

If they hadn’t equipped raid armor, and if this had been a standard first attempt, the healers would have surely been wiped out from that attack.

However, the healers were also under the effect of the Divine Blessing of the Sun buff.

They successfully survived with just a sliver of health left.

Of course, not all of them made it out alive.

I immediately used Charge to follow behind the named boss.

Two healers had died in that last pattern, but with five alive, there shouldn’t be significant issues moving forward.

“Hiyaaaah!”

Using the shouting skill to gain aggro.

The slender shout burst from my lips, capturing the named boss’s attention.

I immediately swung my sword and struck his body.

The impact rocked his muscular frame, and I promptly turned to run.

“Tanker! Transfer aggro! Healers, start self-healing!”

Without needing to be told, Dogrik was already rushing in, passing by me, and raised his giant shield to block the named boss.

Right after that, a tremendous roar escaped him.

“Uwaaaah!”

The aggro of the named boss successfully returned to the main tank.

Throughout this, ranged attacks kept pouring in toward the named boss.

[Ugh… My, my… Oh Sun God…]

Before long, [Inquisitor Lava] succumbed and fell.

The battle duration was 1 minute and 20 seconds.

Number of fallen party members: 2.

After finishing the first named boss fight, everyone must have felt that this raid was going to be easier than expected.

We checked the first drop items and commenced the auction. This time, the drops were gear for the healer and the wizard.

The subsequent named bosses we encountered posed no significant challenges either.

It was all thanks to the absurd performance of the Divine Blessing of the Sun buff.

Soon after taking down two more named bosses, we came face to face with the last one.

A massive body, shimmering scales, and an ominous aura swirling above it.

[Fallen Divine Dragon Sunforce]

Unlike the humanoid named bosses we had faced earlier, the last guardian was a gigantic dragon.

I broke into a cold sweat. It was proving to be more exhausting to refrain from reacting to the patterns I knew than to actually tackle the boss.

As I thought, I was already moving, needing to deliberately change my attack direction or pretend to trip on the ground.

“Surely this one will be easy, right?”

“This raid feels really easy. Could it be that they packed in different patterns for the last boss?”

The humanoid named bosses we encountered prior were indeed easy.

But this guy right here had particularly difficult patterns in store.

A flying pattern and a wide-reaching corrupt breath pattern, plus a pattern that sealed the healers’ healing.

The occasional tail-swipe pattern could not be ignored either.

It’d send melee dealers attached to his back scattering, resulting in damage loss.

“We’re entering.”

After a brief rest, the main tank pulled out his shield and started to approach slowly.

In that moment, the sacred dragon that had been crouching began to scatter dark glimmers and raised its head.

Kugugug-

The surrounding air began to tremble. A black heat began to rise from its jaws, as the sacred dragon’s chest expanded greatly.

A precursor to the breath pattern. A pattern all dragon-type bosses possess.

Its head turned white. To begin using breath right upon entering the named boss fight was not a typical pattern.

It was clearly abnormal behavior.

“B-Breath! Get out of the way!”

The urgent shout burst from me, but there was nowhere to escape.

The breath pattern usually came after the flying pattern.

The sacred dragon would ascend into the sky, drop a massive boulder below, and then the party would evade the breath pattern afterward.

“There’s no place to dodge!”

“To the corner! To the corner!”

As we dashed to the corner with the party members, a massive breath erupted from the named boss’s mouth.

Kwaaaaaah!

The black, blazing corrupt breath engulfed the entire named boss’s room.

Everyone, tanks, healers, and dealers alike were swept away.

In the midst of it all, the only one who could stand was I, the sole berserker in the party.

“This is insane…”

I had survived alone. With everyone else lying down, turning gray, the lone berserker couldn’t do much.

After a brief invulnerability period of three seconds, I too collapsed to the ground.

As we all resurrected, we attempted the try again.

However, after that, even when we started, the sacred dragon unleashed breath attacks, wiping out the entire party each time.

“This is… a bug or something?”

Just after we had all been resurrected, Dogrik cautiously commented as he measured the mood.

I thought the same. The sacred dragon’s pattern clearly had a bug.