Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 6

Upon entering the house, I checked the state of the entrance.

Seeing the sneakers carelessly tossed aside, it seemed Harang was already holed up in the capsule.

I immediately opened the shoe cabinet and put my sneakers in alongside his.

‘No dress shoes.’

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the missing shining dress shoes that should have been inside the cabinet.

In faded memory, they were the shoes Mom used to wear.

The absence of the dress shoes meant she must have gone out.

I quickly pulled out my smartphone.

Hayun wasn’t acting like a typical middle school girl. The screen was spotless, with no lock feature at all.

Swiping it open granted me immediate access to our message history.

I scrolled through the messages with my pale fingers and found one from Mom.

She mentioned she would be particularly late today and that she left a card in the living room for takeout dinner.

With Mom not around, there was only one thing to do: start preparing to log into the game.

After neatly putting away my school uniform, I changed into something comfortable.

I made sure to visit the bathroom before jumping straight into the capsule.

It was a bit inconvenient not being able to stand, but it wasn’t too bothersome.

*

The moment I logged into the game, my view expanded. The map began to load based on my last login data.

As a brief moment passed, the woods appeared before me.

A spawn point for bandit-type monsters. It was the midsection of the Lush Forest.

Upon logging in, if I didn’t move beyond a certain radius, I would enter invulnerability.

Monsters wouldn’t detect me. But right now, I didn’t need that feature. I moved immediately.

As soon as I took a step, the invulnerability faded, and the eyes of the scattered bandits turned toward me.

There were three of them, a patrol made up of two warriors and one archer.

Priority targets were set in my mind. The vision forming in my head aimed for maximum combat efficiency.

I took a step forward, and as if responding to my lowered stance, my skill activated.

[Charge]

The mana enveloping my body shaped a blue shield, and I shot forward like a ray of light.

A long blue tail veered in an odd direction, darting past the two blocking bandit warriors.

At the end of the charge’s impact point, my body collided with the archer, and a stun mark appeared above his head.

It felt exhilarating. But I didn’t stop. I knew that missing this opportunity would mean danger.

The shock from colliding with the monster was absorbed by the skill’s delay. Right after, I swung my sword, feeling a weight far heavier than my normal blade in my fingertips. I gripped the sword with both hands. It meant more power than before.

Swoosh!

From bottom left to top right, as my sword flew, the bandit’s head rolled away.

A critical hit triggered the [Winning Streak].

The buff maintained until the battle ended accelerated my physical capabilities even further.

Just 1% faster, but the gap was widening. They would need time to adapt to the altered speed.

After taking down the archer, I immediately turned my body, but the two strikes flying toward me left no time to dodge.

I had to block. The [Counterattack] skill activated. No system corrections were needed.

I trusted my instincts and angled my blade to accept the strikes. The impact erupted with a powerful effect as the two strikes met my sword.

My health rapidly diminished. It meant the skill didn’t activate properly. But I wasn’t worried. All I needed was a minimal opening for a counterattack.

Having survived the hits, I advanced forward. As my foot pounded the ground, my longsword swiftly cut through the neck of the bandit warrior.

The second kill counter ticked up.

The buff from [Winning Streak] intensified even further. The overwhelming sensation ignited within me.

In the realm of senses, I relied solely on my instincts. My body contorted gracefully, evading the bandits’ attacks.

I chased the edge of the passing sword strike with my eyes until the last moment.

Having dodged the attack left me a bit short in distance. But I pursued relentlessly. The next action was preparing to swing my sword.

With a lowered upper body and an elevated arm, my blade circled upward, cleaving through the bandit’s arm.

An open torso emerged before me. I didn’t miss that opportunity. I drove my sword forward with additional force.

Not a slash—but a thrust. The choice was perfect.

The sharp thrust pierced the warrior’s neck. The critical hit stunned him.

I acted without pausing. Gripping my sword backward, I swung it sideways as if ripping apart their grip.

The sound of a swift slice filled the air as the bandit’s head flew off.

I single-handedly managed the bandit group. What made the impossible possible was my overwhelming talent.

My head throbbed from the exertion. But I wouldn’t stop. It just felt like I was using muscles that hadn’t been activated before.

I instinctively knew that the more I used this sense, the sharper I would become.

I turned my gaze to check the time. Dinner time was still a long way off.

It meant I could continue hunting for a while longer.

I moved immediately before the [Winning Streak] buff faded.

The buff would disappear after the battle ended, so the flow needed to be continuous.

The longer the battle continued, the more the buff stacked. As the speed quickened, so did the hunting pace.

With every swing of my sword, the bandits’ heads flew away. Even if attacks were blocked, I was determined to reclaim the opportunity relying on my overwhelming mobility.

As a place designed for party hunting, the experience points climbed rapidly. The level-up message flashed quickly.

Could it be because of the hunting speed? The monster spawn rate couldn’t keep up.

Naturally, the hunting radius widened, and I stumbled upon other users.

The hunting method formed as a party was stable, yet slow.

It was bothersome. I hadn’t infringed on their hunting spot, but if I went back in line with their spawn rate, their hunting speed would mess with the spawn cycle.

I felt regretful I couldn’t cover the entire hunting ground alone.

But there was a way. Instead of taking the groups one by one, if it were mob hunting, it would be a different story.

As a typical user without area skills, it was hard to pull off.

But with my current capabilities, it was possible. No, I could say it confidently.

The sprint using my astounding mobility began. Leveraging the buffs from [Winning Streak] and light leather armor, my speed far surpassed that of the monsters.

I gathered the respawning monsters into one area. The maximum number I could handle alone was five groups.

Each group contained three respawning monsters, so I had to deal with a total of 15 monsters alone.

Even a tank class holding a shield would struggle without a healer against such numbers.

Endlessly moving, the monsters trailing behind me formed a straight line.

The ones left behind were archers capable of ranged attacks. The ones closest to me were the warriors.

Like peeling an apple, I utilized my mobility to draw a circle. Swinging my sword to block the attacks from the warriors, I leaped into the archer ranks each time [Charge] came off cooldown, decapitating two to three of them.

Repeating that action, I could finally sever the last bandit’s head.

Slash!

In an instant, all 15 corpses vanished. The display of overwhelming skill had my head throbbing.

The headache wouldn’t cease, so I thought a brief rest was in order.

I turned my head and checked the time.

9:55 PM.

The moment I checked the time, my mouth fell open in shock.

When had so many hours slipped by? The character that was level 10 had now achieved level 15.

Seeing that growth made me nod in approval.

I had immersed myself so deeply that I hadn’t even noticed the passage of time.

9:56 PM. The clock kept ticking.

The flow was interrupted. The [Winning Streak] buff also faded.

I was starting to think about heading back.

“Hey there.”

The low voice rang awkwardly.

Turning my head to spot the voice’s owner, I saw a party approaching me.

There were three of them: a tank, a warrior, and a healer. Your typical party formation.

“Me?”

I asked, resting my sword on my shoulder.

In response, the man up front, holding a shield, nodded and spoke.

“You’re intentionally disrupting our hunting, aren’t you?”

“Intentionally? Me?”

“I saw you taking monsters away from our spot.”

I frowned at his words. The slow party that had been obstructing me was them, apparently.

But his claim was wrong. A spot? Did he really believe they could handle that range with their hunting speed?

It was ridiculous.

“Hah.”

“Are you laughing?”

The atmosphere grew tense.

9:57 PM.

Three minutes left until shutdown.

Could it be the influence of my rejuvenated physique? Unexpected anger boiled up.

Why? Just because. I was frustrated seeing their sluggishness.

That feeling finally erupted.

Those guys were lecturing me.

“A spot, you say?”

“Yeah. It’s our spot.”

Things got even more tense.

The man in front raised his shield, and the warrior next to him drew his sword.

It went without saying that the healer frowned in preparation for battle.

Ah.

9:58 PM.

I opened the interface and created a party.

It didn’t matter; I was alone in this party.

But it was a necessary procedure to deal with those irritating guys.

“Your tongue is long.”

I relaxed my senses, letting emotions sway my body.

I operated the interface and challenged the opponent to a duel.

A party vs party setup, with a penalty of two hours of connection ban.

Losing wouldn’t matter. I would be banned from logging in anyway in just two minutes.

“What is this… Are you alone?”

“Two minutes.”

“Two minutes?”

“I’ll finish it in two minutes.”

The opponent laughed, seemingly taken aback by my words.

Then he accepted my challenge.

From the sky, a translucent flag fell.

9:59 PM.

“One minute.”

Time to deal with them.

The moment the duel began, I burst forward. Utilizing my overwhelming mobility, I rotated around the tank, looking for openings.

Was it due to their lack of PVP experience? The healer’s movements were sluggish. She didn’t even try to hide behind the tank.

It was filled with gaps. Truly filled with gaps. Was it a trap?

Trust your instincts. My mind rapidly sorted things out as my body began to move.

As soon as I hunkered down, ready to spring forward, the [Charge] skill activated.

My body was faster than before, darting past the opponent’s line of sight to smack into the healer.

Boom! A powerful impact erupted from her shoulder, twisting her body. She wore light clothing, so she must have taken quite a bit of damage.

It wasn’t different from dealing with bandits. Just the target had changed.

Same humanoid form, and the vital points were the same; thus, the trajectory of my sword was identical.

Swoosh!

With one strike, the healer’s head was severed.

Immediately afterward, I moved into my next action.

The one reacting to my attack was the warrior standing next to her.

He was quicker to react than the tank with the massive shield.

He retrieved his swung sword with a slight rotation and lifted it to defend himself.

Clang! The impact from our swords struck me directly. But I didn’t stop.

Right after, my next skill activated.

[Counterattack]

It triggered at the perfect moment.

The body, receiving system corrections, provided an attack even faster and stronger than before.

Swoosh!

The dazzling effects of [Counterattack] splattered as I sent the enemy’s head flying.

But I didn’t stop there. The time was still running out, and the enemy was still standing.

I maintained the speed of my swung sword, spinning my body to target the remaining tank’s shoulder with a vicious strike.

Clang!

The massive shield blocked my attack.

Did he activate a job skill? The counterattack damage was substantial.

But I wouldn’t stop.

The rebounding sword soared into the sky, aiming for the enemy’s head.

As if a bull raised its horns, the lifted sword aimed downward.

The attack slipping through the gap in the helmet pierced through the opponent’s eye.

Crack!

There was no scream.

The opponent was merely bewildered.

However, the character’s health bar plummeted in an instant. The game system determined the damage incurred was fatal.

The duel ended.

As expected, I was the victor.

It was the opposing party that would incur the connection ban penalty.

Watching the foe collapse as a corpse, I waved my sword.

At that moment, a message appeared before my eyes.

[Shutdown Alert]

You can no longer play the game.

The connection to the server has been terminated.

I timed it just right.

‘What is this, not even Cinderella would have such luck…’

As I stepped out of the capsule, a long sigh escaped me.