Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 77

“I had been riding a horse for so long that I thought everyone could ride too.”

I had been taking the obvious for granted.

It was clearly my mistake.

“Hmm…”

Even if I were to split off the horse riders now, it wouldn’t form a solid party.

This time, I should slow down and go together with my guild members.

As much as I wanted to gallop freely with my new wolf, I wouldn’t be able to issue orders on time if I did.

“Let’s keep running for now.”

I said while sticking close to my guild members.

Fortunately, they didn’t seem to tire as we ran.

While we were making our way, we finally spotted the enemies’ first major facility.

It was a barracks where soldier NPCs continued to respawn.

“Iyap, split off and move on to the eighth stronghold! The rest, attack the barracks!”

Before entering battle, I sent Iyap off to a far location.

This was a kind of insurance.

The enemies would send defensive troops to stop us from hitting their stronghold.

The number of those defensive troops mattered. If they had fewer numbers than our raid party, they’d get pushed back, and if they were equal to or greater in number, I planned to use Iyap’s Guild Summon Order to teleport the party all at once.

Thus, nearly 160 members, excluding Iyap, began attacking the enemy’s barracks.

Countless skill effects erupted, and the barracks crumbled quickly.

Elite NPCs burst out from within, but they couldn’t handle the onslaught of 160 players.

It only took 20 seconds to destroy one stronghold.

I hastily rode my wolf and shouted.

“You don’t have to finish them! Just keep running!”

Tap tap tap.

I urged my smaller wolf to run quickly while calling out.

The various sounds of skills made it loud, so I had to spin the party around to ensure everyone heard.

Finally, the guild members began to run again.

I confirmed that everyone had set off and quickly followed behind.

“Enemies ahead! One party, no, two parties!”

At that moment, Hwarang, who had been leading the charge, shouted.

With the power of two raid parties, it seemed like a prepared force meant to defend the stronghold.

“Don’t stop! Charge ahead! Prepare for doping!”

I shouted to my guild members as I surged forward.

Upon checking, about 80 of the enemy forces were charging toward us, just as Hwarang said.

The enemies were below the hill, making it hard for them to gauge our numbers.

If I were their commander, I would have turned my troops and entrenched them in the stronghold for a siege.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

I pushed my wolf up the slight rise and stopped.

The enemies charged up the hill, momentarily startled by my presence, but quickly accelerated.

“Attack!”

I shouted as I saw them.

In that moment, the guild members who had been running behind me began to leap down the hill.

With 160 ready, we had no intention of a fair fight. Doping finished, we had the strength advantage.

The human defense troops quickly melted away.

“Don’t chase the fleeing ones! They can’t do anything! Don’t slow down, just keep pushing forward!”

Our earlier encounter must have given our position away to the enemy commander.

It was certain they’d send more troops to stop us.

“Hurry up!”

But it didn’t matter. After all, I wasn’t planning for a strength battle.

And so, we pushed forward, demolishing the second, third, and fourth strongholds.

When I opened the map to assess the situation, indications showed our strongholds had also been broken.

However, the situation was slightly favorable for us.

There was no particular news from the main forces embroiled in the central struggle.

We were simply to fulfill our assigned tasks.

As we dashed toward the fifth stronghold, I spotted approaching enemy troops in the distance.

They seemed to outnumber us at first glance.

I squinted, gauging the distance. It was likely that once we destroyed the fifth stronghold, we’d be drawing nearer to them.

Yeo—[Iyap, have you reached the inside?]

Iyap—[Yes, I’m all set.]

Good. That meant we could proceed without issues.

I drew my sword and pointed it at the enemy stronghold.

“Break the stronghold and use the summons!”

As the order dropped, our raid party quickly surged forward, starting to demolish the enemy stronghold.

I watched the ever-increasing number of enemies approaching from a bit of distance.

Yeo—[Use it now.]

The moment I messaged Iyap, a translucent system message appeared before my eyes.

[‘Iyap’ has used the Guild Summon Order.]

As the stronghold crumbled and the enemy forces rushed toward us, all our members vanished in a pillar of transparent light.

On the faces of the enemies, confusion spread like wildfire.

I chuckled at the sight.

Goodbye.

The operation was successful.

In front of the place we teleported to via Iyap’s summon was the enemy’s new stronghold.

“Charge!”

Our role was to demolish all strongholds.

I led the raid party towards destruction.

Since the location where Iyap summoned us was quite far from our original position, the enemy didn’t stand a chance to defend effectively.

We’d be making them spectators, like dogs chasing after a hen.

As we demolished all the enemy strongholds, the points for the Demon Clan faction rose significantly.

If we could just hold this pattern, victory would be ours.

At that moment, a message arrived from the demon forces.

CrazyPerson—[Yeo, can you come help us at the main forces? The enemies are transforming and pushing us back.]

CrazyPerson was an uncle who led the guild Requiem and was a reliable ally in our coalition.

Yeo—[Doesn’t your main force have any transformable users?]

CrazyPerson—[Most of their transformable users seem to have come this way. We still can’t hold up even with transformations.]

Yeo—[I’m on my way. Just hold on a bit longer until I pierce through from behind.]

CrazyPerson—[Understood.]

Each faction had a total of 10 transformable users.

Out of those, 4 were members of our guild, sporting honorary ranks.

If the human honorary rankers were all engaged in the central strength struggle, we had to join them too.

“I’m heading to support the main forces!”

In our guild, the transformable users included me, Iyap, Snow Mage, and Hwarang.

That made four of us.

As I sprinted towards the center, I checked my transform skill.

[Commander Transformation Skill.]

Transform into a powerful form by receiving the power of the Demon God.

Health +500%

Mana +500%

Damage +150%

Invulnerable during the duration of transformation.

Critical hit resistance during transformation.

Resistant to all status changes during transformation.

Resistance to execution-related skills during transformation.

[Flight] skill available.

Lasts for 5 minutes.

Cooldown: 1 day.

*Only usable in faction wars.

While the stats of transformation skills might vary slightly depending on rank, their basic performance was the same.

In the center of the battlefield, where all power converged.

Our raid party, which had been sprinting swiftly, finally arrived at the front lines.

Even from a distance, certain figures stood out prominently.

Radiant halos gleamed from behind their backs as white angel wings flapped.

Upon checking their names, I realized that they were all human honorary rankers.

The enemies transformed into angelic forms relentlessly pressed against the Demon forces.

The demon rankers were also on the move, but since there were fewer transformable users, they were getting pushed back.

“I’ll cut through the healer and ranged line in the back and exit immediately!”

As we drew closer to the enemy main force, I shouted and jumped off my wolf.

In that instant, I activated my transformation skill.

Boom!

A black lightning bolt flared from the sky and struck me.

The dark magic given by the Demon God started to change my body.

Horns emerged from my forehead, growing prominently as black flames flickered on my arms and legs.

The transformation didn’t end there.

Wings made of dark magic sprouted from my back, and a long tail grew beneath me.

Iyap, Hwarang, and Snow Mage also finished their transformations.

The descending lightning naturally drew the gaze of many.

“Don’t stop!”

I shouted as I drew my sword.

The enemy’s strength was concentrated in the front line.

With wings made of black light, I dove into the heart of the enemy ranks.

Activating the [Flight] skill.

Instead of moving real wings, it was just a skill that let me fly short distances in the desired direction, yet it boasted astonishing mobility.

Once deep within the enemies, I activated the skills held by my Demon Sword.

[Black Lightning]

Lightning rained down all around me, targeting all those within a narrow range.

Boom!

But I didn’t stop there. I thrust my sword into the ground and activated [Fallen Sun God’s Domain Declaration].

At that moment, a new skill began to overlay the wide black domain I had established.

A warm light of sun color started to layer over my Fallen Sanctuary.

I narrowed my eyes, watching the approaching light.

In that direction was Jupiter, fluttering his golden angel wings, holding a large Holy Sword and looking at me.

[Two opposing forces collide.]

[The Fallen Sanctuary dissipates.]

[The Sacred Sanctuary dissipates.]

“What the hell…?”

It seemed that the Demon Sword and Holy Sword still held some hidden Easter eggs.

Jupiter appeared to take delight in destroying my domain, sporting a satisfied smile.

I steadied my breath and aimed my sword at Jupiter.

Immediately afterward, I activated the buff skill [Sword of Azathoth].

The dark magic that blazed on my palm covered the blade.

Just as I finished preparing to fight Jupiter, the one who had been smirking at me suddenly turned and fled.

He used the flight skill to escape.

As I stood there, dumbfounded, staring at Jupiter’s quickly receding figure, Hwarang landed next to me, flapping his black wings and aiming his musket into the air.

Then, he activated [Magic Liberation].

Black magic erupted from Hwarang’s body, and right after, his musket spat fire.

Bang-!

The blackened bullet soared in a long arc.

But the attack didn’t stop there.

Hwarang quickly moved his hands and indiscriminately fired rounds toward the air.

Tatatatat!

In a matter of moments, dozens of shots were expended, and then the figure of Jupiter, who had been in the sky, turned gray and plummeted.

As he had done before, Jupiter probably chose a strategic retreat, but it seemed he didn’t account for Hwarang as a variable in his plans.

“I won’t be able to do anything for about 30 seconds, so I’m falling back now.”

After dealing with Jupiter, Hwarang fiddled with his overheated musket and withdrew.

We regrouped and cut off the enemy’s healer line.

No matter how many rankers were transformed, they couldn’t fight long without supporting healers.

The human rankers began to withdraw using their flight skills.

And just like that, the human main forces were annihilated.

Having lost in a strength battle once, the humans were pushed all the way back to their command center, ultimately culminating in the Demon Clan’s victory in the first faction battle.