Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 57

I bit my lip as I watched the Wizard spinning around from a distance, giggling.

I was careless. Too careless. I had been too focused on the swordsmanship displayed by the professional players.

The recently discovered joy of learning blurred my vision.

This tournament was not just for the pros of VRS. It was also a competition for users like me who played Deron purely for fun.

This defeat was clearly my blunder. I didn’t even consider recognizing my opponent’s class. If I had just reviewed the last gameplay video, this result might not have happened.

Before the waiting time ended, I calmly exhaled and gripped my sword.

I already knew how to handle Wizards.

Looking at Deron’s class distribution, Wizards were the most common class. They played easily, and their skill usage was relatively simple.

I needed to change my playstyle. Swordsmanship wasn’t really necessary when facing a Wizard.

It wasn’t about clashing swords; to take him down, I had to tap into the power of extraordinary perception.

Once the waiting time was over, the match began.

In contrast to his earlier flashy demeanor, the opposing Wizard showed caution.

As ice arrows began flying from afar, I calmly deflected them with my sword.

Not a single one could be allowed through.

I followed the trajectory of the countless icy crystals that filled the air with my gaze.

Reading the straight path of the frost, I swung my sword.

At the moment a burning pain enveloped my head, my sword swung instinctively.

I blocked all paths and intercepted my opponent’s attacks.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clash!

Seeing my totally different demeanor from before, I could see the expression on my opponent’s face hardening.

The ice arrows kept coming, but I too didn’t stop and continued to advance towards him.

The more my attack persisted, the worse it became for the opposing Wizard.

His mana was limited. Although he had a passive recovery characteristic typical of Wizards, he couldn’t use potions in the Arena, so that limit would soon be reached.

I concentrated all my mental energy on fending off the incoming ice arrows.

I unfolded a curtain of swords that allowed not a single shot through.

It was the opposing Wizard who grew anxious. He bit his lip and began a lengthy cast.

If he wanted to change this situation, there was no other way.

That long cast was a powerful spell. As strong as it was, he would be vulnerable while attempting to cast it.

I wouldn’t approach. His Rank 3 class was a Spell Scholar. He must have already laid down invisible mana mines around.

I continued to deepen my focus.

The sound of a long ringing in my ears brushed past me, and my opponent swung his Staff.

At that moment, the ground flipped over as a massive ice drill started to rise.

Crash!

I spun my body to avoid the massive drill shooting out at high speed.

Just as I barely slipped to the side, I immediately used the [Charge] skill.

Running as if to leap over the giant ice drill.

The drill brushed beneath my legs, dealing continuous damage, but I ignored it and endured.

Thanks to the effect of Charge, I was not affected by freezing.

As my health decreased, the speed of my Charge began to accelerate.

The Berserker’s unique passive had started to activate.

My health was dwindling quickly, and it was the exact moment when the [Rampage] skill became fully activated.

I felt as if the heavy shackles that had weighed me down were coming undone.

My limbs became lighter than I could ever compare to before.

In the ordinary field, I was always in a state where all my passives were active.

Having become accustomed to that swift pace like never before.

At the moment my mismatched sensations clicked into place, the effect of Charge faded, and my body stood exposed in front of my opponent.

But I didn’t stop. Instead, I pressed even further. I healed myself with the Paladin’s skill.

Flash!

The effect of the healing skill burst outward in all directions.

A weak light briefly obscured my opponent’s view.

Boom!

At the instant I swung my sword from close range, I struck against my opponent’s mana barrier.

However, the damage contained in that blow was considerable, causing the barrier to shatter in an instant.

This was a moment where if I stopped, I would die. I immediately activated a buff.

Golden light extended from my blade, drawing a long trajectory.

The golden streaking sword energy lingered in the air like a long tail.

While continuing my rapid advance, I slammed down onto the ground.

Crash!

My slightly twisted torso absorbed the impact.

The moment powerful strength was placed into the outstretched leg, the transparent mana mine that lay beneath the ground activated.

Boom!

A tremendous explosion occurred, causing my health to plummet instantaneously.

But my opponent could not move.

It was the activation of the [Frenzy] skill. The shockwave from my ground slam caused the Wizard to lift off the ground.

“Hiyaaaaaah!”

I shouted a war cry as I inflicted a debuff on my opponent, while simultaneously activating the [Immortal] skill.

At the moment my health was fixed at 1, all of the Berserker’s skills activated, and a torrent of crimson energy slashed through the air.

Slice!

I didn’t even need to land all five attacks.

The frail body of the Wizard couldn’t withstand the assault of the Berserker’s fully activated skills.

It was faster for the appearance of the Wizard to be torn apart than for the duration of the Immortal to end.

Winner.

[Yeo]

1 win, 1 loss.

Loser.

[Snow Mage]

1 win, 1 loss.

As the moment of victory and defeat arrived, my body and that of the Wizard faded into a dim light and returned to where we originally stood.

I recorded 1 win and 1 loss. I threw my sword over my shoulder as I recalled the sensations I felt when facing the Wizard.

The opposing Wizard stood there with his mouth agape, as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened.

I smiled at him. The person who finished last season’s Arena ranking in 2nd place was none other than me.

Though I gave up one loss due to my carelessness, from then on, it was a whole different story.

Once the waiting time ended, a similar situation unfolded as before.

My opponent hurled ice arrows from a distance.

A typical kite-and-fight playstyle.

But I held back. I patiently pressured my opponent, waiting for him to expend all his mana.

I aimed for a long cast. I aimed at an extremely lengthy spell that couldn’t be interrupted halfway through.

He must have known this too. He would have realized that to turn things around, he had to use a long-cast spell.

If it were someone else instead of me, they would have flipped the situation using the Rank 4 skill of the Battle Mage.

As that long standoff continued, it seemed that the duration of the transparent mana mines I had laid beforehand ended, and they exploded automatically.

Boom!

I had placed quite a few of them. The area around where the Wizard stood was completely engulfed by the explosions.

Whether he took that as a signal, the opposing Wizard attempted to approach.

Trusting in the blue mana barrier that surrounded him, he dashed forward and swung his Staff.

Battle Mages fight in close proximity, swinging their staffs.

He wrapped his own mana around the Staff, using it like a blade.

Slash!

The blue sword made of mana clashed against the golden sword of divine power in the air.

At that moment, I immediately released my sword and took a step back.

There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in my swift movement, and my opponent’s face turned to shock.

Flash!

As expected, my opponent was casting Blink.

That was a trap I had already fallen into once. Unless he was a fool, there was no way he would fall for it again.

Perhaps he was planning to move onto my mana mine; the Wizard had a helpless expression on his face.

This single move turned the tide of the battle. The opponent had consumed a lot of mana to set up those mana mines.

I didn’t approach and held back. I waited for the duration of his mana mines to expire.

As I engaged in a standoff with the Wizard, time passed, and another explosion occurred beneath his feet.

Boom!

A Wizard who had run out of mana was just a tasty morsel.

The opposing Wizard nodded calmly as if he sensed his imminent demise.

Tap-tap-

As I slowly began to walk, a light sound echoed.

“Hey, didn’t I do pretty well?”

“You did great.”

“Oh, then what about joining the guild…?”

“It’s possible.”

Saying this, I swung my sword wrapped in divine power.

With a clean and sharp sword strike, the opposing Wizard’s head was severed.

He was smiling even as he died.

I had unexpectedly found a decent talent from an unforeseen place.

“Yay!!!”

The head of the severed Wizard cheered, grinning widely.

That sight felt a bit grotesque.

Winner.

[Yeo]

2 wins, 1 loss.

Loser.

[Snow Mage]

1 win, 2 losses.

[Yeo advances to the Top 16.]

The results of the victory and defeat were settled.

After a brief waiting period, my body was ejected from the stadium.

Snow Mage – [Blood Demon!!! Please let me join your guild!!!]

It seemed she sent a message immediately after the match ended.

How eager must she have been to make such a plea?

I sent a guild invite to the user Snow Mage.

[‘Snow Mage’ has joined the Guild ‘Soft & Chewy Cow’.]

Snow Mage – [Hello!!!!]

Though I had been careless, Snow Mage was a formidable opponent who had at least managed to defeat me once.

That meant she was more than qualified to join the guild.

Handing her over to the warmly welcoming guild members, I began to check the information of the next opponent coming up against me.

The user entering the Top 16 was a professional player from VRS.

His nickname was [N.R-Abox]. In VRS, his preferred weapon was dual blades.

In Deron, he had chosen the Thief class, then selected Rank 1 and 2 as [Assassin], followed by Rank 3 and 4 as [Night Walker].

It was a familiar tree. It was the same class path as our guild member, Iyap.

With the waiting time I had, I began to look for videos of that user.

I found all the match footage from the Arena tournament and the VRS gameplay and drilled them into my head.

As time passed, the Top 16 match began.

Along with a blur of light, my body was transported inside the stadium.

I felt a strong gaze from across the way.

[N.R-Abox]

He already had his dual swords drawn, glaring at me even before the match began.

He showed no signs of relaxation whatsoever.

Like me, he seemed intent on clashing with full power from the start.