Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 83

To become a Demon Lord, I first needed to head to Hell.

I abruptly halted all the quests I was undertaking and dashed straight to Hell.

The Hell map I returned to was desolate.

However, some users were bustling about.

They were busy gathering herbs and minerals.

Seeing them running around with just the bare minimum preparations to enter this place reminded me of the friend Hwarang had told me about.

No way, it can’t be, right?

I shook my head and exited the village.

The locations of the NPCs for the job change were not disclosed. If it were another job, I would’ve known most of the locations, but I had to find the Demon Lord job change master by running around myself.

The only clue I had was the quest window.

[Become a Demon Lord.]

Find the Demon Lord job change instructor in Hell.

I really ran around diligently.

Technically, it was my Hell Wolf running, but still, I was on the move.

The maximum level in this expansion pack was 65. I didn’t have time to waste here.

I had to reach max level faster than anyone else and farm new items.

But no matter how much I roamed the map, I couldn’t find the Demon Lord job change instructor.

Yeo – [Anyone found the Demon Lord job change instructor?]

Hoping for something, I tried using the guild chat, but I couldn’t get a definitive answer.

In the meantime, a Snow Mage threw me an important hint.

Snow Mage – [Didn’t the God of War mention it when you changed to a Death Knight?]

Yeo – [What? The God of War?]

Snow Mage – [Yeah, when you were leveling up your alt and changed to a Death Knight, didn’t the God of War say he’d come back later?]

Yeo – [Oh wow! Thank you!]

I can’t believe such an important hint was hidden away.

I must have missed it since I dashed out of the God of War Temple right after changing jobs.

Following the Snow Mage’s words, I directed my wolf toward the God of War Temple.

Upon arriving, a reaction indeed awaited me.

Just like when I changed to a Death Knight, green flames shot up from the lit torches surrounding me.

[You have come. My sword.]

As I entered the God of War Temple, a torrent of useless words was spewed forth.

I was just blankly listening to the chatter.

After a considerable time passed, the God of War finally bestowed upon me the job change quest.

[I shall test your abilities.]

With the God of War’s words, the job change quest was updated.

[Become a Demon Lord.]

Collect 5000 Demon Clan Honor Points 5000/5000

As soon as I updated the quest, it was completed.

For a user uninterested in honor points, this would be a tough condition to achieve, but I had already gathered the necessary points by achieving the rank of Grand Commander.

In that moment, the effect announcing my job change spread in all directions.

Boom!

The job change was completed.

[Your power…]

This time, I didn’t rush out immediately.

I began checking my skills while listening to the God of War’s talk.

I didn’t know if this guy would drop another hint.

[Demon Lord]

[Overcoming Weakness]

All weaknesses associated with the Demon Clan disappear upon becoming a Demon Lord.

All penalties related to jobs associated with the Demon Clan are removed.

[Dignity of the Demon Lord]

Increases all stats of surrounding Demon Clan members, including your own, by 15%.

[Power of the God of War]

The power of the God of War granted to the Demon Lord.

All damage dealt is fixed to dark attributes and deals an additional attack equivalent to 30% of your damage.

[Destruction Lightning]

Drops the Destruction Lightning over a wide radius.

[Awakening]

Transforms into the true form of the Demon Lord.

For the duration, all stats increase by 20%, and the [Flight] skill becomes available.

Duration 1 minute/Cooldown 2 minutes

[Arrogance]

One of the potential abilities held by the Demon Lord.

25% chance to evade an attack.

*Cannot evade instant-death skills/boss monster forced patterns.

[Greed]

One of the potential abilities held by the Demon Lord.

25% chance to absorb the opponent’s health when attacking.

I checked the job skills and smiled with satisfaction.

The skill set was worthy of the name Demon Lord.

As I was checking my job skills, the God of War’s nonsense ended quickly.

I immediately dashed out of the God of War Temple and tried out my awakening skill.

“Awakening!!!”

Boom!

The effect of the awakening skill was identical to the transformation effects of the honor rankings.

It was a bit underwhelming, but in terms of appearance, it was different.

The first thing that changed, the once white, soft hands had transformed into demonic hands.

Black skin and the dark fur that sprouted over it.

And sharp claws as well.

But the changes only extended to the hands. The arms continued to show the same white skin.

It wasn’t just my hands that changed.

My feet also transformed.

What was once human feet had turned into those of a peculiar demon.

Sharp claws, black skin, and the same dark fur sprouting upwards.

Overall, they were similar to my hands.

The horns sprouting on my head had also grown larger.

And noticing that faint black lightning flickered on top, it seemed this lightning was part of the Demon Lord job change effect.

The changes were solely in my hands, feet, and horns.

Considering I received the flight skill, wings did not sprout.

But this way, I felt a bit less cool.

I quickly opened the costume window and equipped wings.

Once I donned Phronos’s wings, a truly magnificent appearance was completed.

Like the Demon King itself.

I decided.

I would wear the wing costume I had refrained from using due to worrying about other people’s gazes alongside this [Awakening] skill.

It was a rather satisfying choice.

I summoned my wolf and hurriedly escaped Hell.

Even now, other users were likely busy leveling up.

I couldn’t lag behind either.

I exited Hell and headed toward the Plague Zone.

Maybe it was because I had consumed a considerable amount of time on the job change, but many users had already arrived in the area where I was trying to complete quests.

Leveraging the skills of the Demon Lord, I began progressing through the quests at lightning speed.

The awakening skill, which had no penalties, further increased the hunting speed.

Thanks to the newly available [Flight] skill, my mobility skyrocketed.

With the combination of Charge and Leap Strike flight skills, I could cover an enormous distance in a short time.

While following the main quest, I remembered an important subquest for entering a level 55 dungeon.

But I’d rather skip it. Even though you could earn a massive amount of experience from subquests, running a dungeon with users who just barely hit level 55 was practically wasting time.

Immediate skip.

No hesitation at all.

I was just aiming for maximum efficiency.

At that moment, a message arrived from Helena.

Helena – [Yeo, there’s an interesting new area, wanna check it out together?]

Yeo – [I need to level up.]

Helena – [Oh…]

I felt a bit harsh towards my friend, but at that moment, I had no leisure to go out and play elsewhere.

However, Helena’s last message caught my eye.

I hesitantly muttered a message in response.

Yeo – [Let’s go together once I hit max level.]

Helena – [Okay!]

It seemed like Helena’s mood had lightened a bit.

I let out a sigh of relief and directed my wolf toward the next area.

*

The morning after the update.

I exited the capsule in sync with everyone’s wake-up time.

As I left my room and headed toward the bathroom, I bumped into Harang.

“Did you not sleep?”

“Ah, yeah…”

I responded to Harang’s question while rubbing my eyes.

I was quite tired since I’d been solely focused on leveling up without sleep.

Once I got to school, I planned to take a nap right away.

Thinking about that, I heard a disapproving sound behind me.

“Oh dear… a middle schooler playing games all night… There’s a reason for the shutdown law, you know?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You play games all night too.”

“I’m a high school student.”

I frowned at Harang’s remark.

Whether middle school or high school, to me, it all seemed the same. What’s the difference, anyway?

Harang clicked his tongue and headed to the living room.

Could it be that my lack of sleep from gaming recently was catching up to me?

Even while eating, I found myself dozing off intermittently.

“Hey, are you really okay?”

“Yeah…”

Harang looked worried about me, but I was fine.

I’d pulled all-nighters for gaming before.

I knew my body well.

After finishing breakfast, I dragged my heavy body towards school.

As usual, Sohee had arrived in class first.

Even now that we were in our third year of middle school, she and I were still in the same class.

I went straight to my desk and slumped down.

I had to greet Sohee, but I didn’t have the energy for that.

“Hayan?”

“Mm…”

“Are you sick…?”

“No, I’m just sleepy.”

“Were you gaming all night?”

“Yeah…”

After thinking for a moment, Sohee pulled my hand.

She then began to walk out of the classroom.

I panicked and grabbed her hand.

“Where are you going?”

“To the health room. You can’t go through class like this.”

“I’m fine…”

But it seems Sohee didn’t think so.

She sat me down on the health room bed.

“Lie down and sleep.”

“What should I say to the teacher?”

“I’ll handle it. Just go to sleep already. You have dark circles under your eyes.”

“Umm…”

I looked at the mirror hung on the wall at Sohee’s words.

Indeed, the small girl looked extremely worn out.

To the point I could easily topple over with just a light push.

“Then, I guess I’ll sleep a little?”

“Yeah.”

As I lay down on the bed, I thought about it.

Sohee was really a good friend. If she hadn’t been there, my school life would have been very tough.

I pulled the fluffy blanket up to my face and smiled softly.

The cozy feeling of the blanket wrapping around me over my stockings felt splendid.

“Will you stay here the whole time?”

“I’ll watch over you until you fall asleep.”

“Mm…”

I wondered if Sohee was truly planning to watch me fall asleep, as she just sat quietly beside me.

Then suddenly, there was a loud sound of footsteps from outside the health room, followed by the sound of the door creaking open.

“What’s this? The health room is open?”

“Ah, let’s just rest until lunch.”

“The teacher isn’t here, right?”

It was quite a raucous entrance.

Two male students came through the open door of the health room.

Just as I was about to rise at the sight of them through the bed curtain, Sohee stood up.

Before rising, the brief glimpse of Sohee’s face had frozen cold.

She calmly walked toward the male students and spoke in a composed voice.

“The health teacher is currently not here.”

“Oh? Uh…”

“Is that so…?”

The two male students looked like they recognized Sohee.

Nodding at her calm voice, they cautiously exited the health room, keeping an eye out.

Sohee sighed watching their backs.

“Hayan.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to lock the door. You just rest.”

“Okay. I got it.”

Sohee left with those words, and a click echoed from outside the door.

I closed my eyes and pondered.

How did Sohee have the key to the health room?