Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 84

When a new expansion pack comes out, there’s one thing everyone does.

They go hunting and farming items to meet the requirements for the raid dungeon to achieve maximum level.

I too was leveling up today to prepare for the raid dungeon.

If players clear all the quests prepared in the new expansion pack, their levels will be capped at 60.

In my case, I skipped most of the side quests, so I got stuck at level 58.

But that was fine. Moving to a higher hunting ground and farming there was faster for leveling up than doing those side quests.

At this point, three days after the new expansion pack’s release, it was also when regular working player types completed all the quests.

I had just managed to hit maximum level 65.

It was perfectly timed. It was just when all the players who completed their quests were converging on the elite hunting grounds, and if I were a little late, I might have had to fight for a cramped spot.

Once I hit 65, there was one thing I needed to do first.

Choose my 6th rank job.

There were great job options available starting from 6th rank, but I upgraded the Demon Lord job.

Overall, the skill performance was increased, and the duration of Awakening was extended by 20 seconds.

That meant I could wear the wing costume for 20 seconds longer.

I immediately opened the guild window to check my raid party members’ levels.

Everyone had long surpassed level 60, but no one had reached maximum level yet.

As expected, with the shutdown system gone, I was the strongest.

To clear dungeons quickly and effectively, I needed fixed party members.

I looked for the highest level guild members.

The Snow Mage was level 64, the next highest, followed by Helena at level 63.

If I just waited another day, everyone would hit 65, and we could start dungeon farming.

That meant I had to do some other farming today.

“Come forth!”

I raised my arms high to summon a large magical formation.

As always, my battle hell wolf was summoned from within the massive magical circle.

“Growl.”

I began to gallop on the hell wolf.

My goal was to gather herbs blooming all over the plague area.

To craft high-grade potions and antidotes, I needed quite a bit.

Riding the wolf, I dashed around, fervently gathering herbs.

However, I couldn’t collect as many herbs as I hoped, due to other players running around the map just as I was.

I pondered over their presence.

Wouldn’t it be better to just kill them?

If they were gone, all the gathering materials in this area would be mine.

If this zone were hell, I wouldn’t have hesitated to plunge my knife into their throats.

It hadn’t been long since the new area opened. Naturally, the prices for gathering materials were sky-high.

Not to mention the worth of the potions I could craft from them.

After a moment of thought, I shook my head. Just because I had become a Demon Clan member didn’t mean my thinking had to be devilish too.

I was a very good student.

In the end, I spent the whole day running around the map gathering herbs.

By dawn, I had gathered enough herbs to craft a sufficient amount of potions for myself.

*

The next day, the main members of the guild reached maximum level, so we began to form a party for dungeon farming.

The fixed members were me, Helena, and Dogrik the tank.

This time, I couldn’t take on the tanking role, so I had to partner with another warrior.

Even if our armor items overlapped, Dogrik was a tank at heart.

He wouldn’t even glance at the two-handed weapons a warrior could equip. So all the weapons were mine.

The third recruit was our party’s healer, Chloe.

Having advanced to the high-tier job of High Priest, she was accompanied by a small Imp.

Now, there was just one spot left in the party.

I pondered over that slot.

Should I include Hwarang or Iyap?

Honestly, both dealt damage well. But in the end, a ranged dealer was safer than a melee dealer.

I invited Hwarang as the final dealer.

Iyap was left out, but I wasn’t worried since there were many other excellent players in the guild.

When Hwarang arrived at the entrance of the 65-level dungeon [Kalandor Mansion], he was equipped with a different weapon than before.

The long musket that used to hang on his back was gone, replaced with two large handguns strapped to his waist.

[Desperado]

A 6th rank job for archers.

The primary weapons were two handguns, and it was a job for those who chased after romance.

To be honest, I didn’t know much about the job tree of archers.

All I knew was that any tree would yield decent damage given the archer job’s nature.

I wasn’t even sure if Hwarang’s previous job of [Musketeer] shared skills with [Desperado].

“Does that deal well?”

“Better than yours?”

Hwarang confidently swirled his leather coat.

It seemed he had watched a western movie last night.

“If your damage doesn’t come out, just use a rank up token.”

“I deal more than you.”

Helena also got a new job.

Behind her, a massive clock appeared, flickering in and out of visibility.

She had chosen the 5th rank job of [Chronomancer]. A wizard themed around manipulating time.

Her abilities varied greatly depending on the user, from boosting the party members’ speed to freezing the enemy’s movements.

[Kalandor Mansion]

Until the plague spread, Kalandor was a noble and paladin respected by his people.

But thanks to the suddenly spreading plague, his territory fell into ruin, and he ended up buried in the plague himself.

The plague resurrects everything that dies.

Kalandor himself, along with his people, became living corpses.

“Let’s go!”

I shouted to Dogrik, who was holding the large shield.

It didn’t matter what the dungeon’s story was.

What mattered to me was simply getting my hands on good performance items.

The dungeon run went smoothly.

Dogrik drew the monsters in, and the dealers unleashed their damage.

I monitored the DPS graph that updated in real-time.

Helena took first place, I was second, and Hwarang was in third.

Honestly, measuring damage in a weak mobs section isn’t very meaningful, but it still felt good.

Hwarang, perhaps feeling the tension himself, frowned.

“You’re strong, huh?”

“See you later.”

Boom! Crash!

Whenever Helena’s staff pointed to the air, a massive meteor would fall.

Although it was a long-casting skill, she cast [Time Acceleration] on herself, slashing all casting times down to nearly nothing.

Continuing through the dungeon without a hitch, the party finally faced the first named monster.

[Butler Hubbell]

Named monsters in dungeons usually lacked complex patterns.

It was mostly about running in and beating it up.

The occasional ambush patterns were easy enough to handle with personal skill.

Before the fight began, I extended my sword forward.

I had kept this hidden, but now was the moment to reveal it.

“What are you doing?”

“Yeona…?”

“Watch closely. My power.”

Saying this, I caught Dogrik’s gaze.

He was watching me blankly, then shook his head and charged at Butler Hubbell.

“Awakening!!!”

Boom!

As the lightning struck from the sky, I equipped the wings from my costume screen.

In that moment, I became the Demon Lord itself.

Hwarang and Helena, who were watching me, had their eyebrows quivering.

I raced past them, unable to help the immense power flowing within me.

“Yahh!”

The large demon wings sprouted from my back, flapping wildly as I swung my sword.

Clenching my teeth, I unleashed all my skills.

This was a war of pride. I absolutely couldn’t lose to jobs that were just casually dealing damage from the back.

And besides, I had a world item!

I absolutely could not, would not lose.

Hwarang and Helena also started pouring tremendous damage.

With the unlocking of the 6th rank jobs, all users’ stats had dramatically increased.

The DPS numbers began to record levels I couldn’t even compare to before.

After a brief battle, the damage numbers were released.

1st place was Helena.

2nd was Hwarang.

And 3rd was me.

Honestly, the gap between 2nd and 3rd was tiny.

If the fight had lasted longer, I might have come out on top.

“Wow, our Blood Demon King is really weak, huh?”

But the results were speaking for themselves. I had lost.

I sat there blankly on the ground.

Me, losing? Even with a world item, to a bullet sponge?

Even though the Demon Sword was a level 45 item, and Hwarang was rocking a rare level 65 weapon…

The shock didn’t wear off.

“Yeona, was that equipped to match the transformation effect?”

“Huh…?”

Finally snapping out of it by Helena’s words, I noticed her fiddling with the demon wings on my back.

The transformation effect had clearly worn off. But in my shock, I had forgotten to remove the wing costume.

Puff—

I hurriedly removed the wing costume and cleared my throat.

“Uh… Maybe there are bugs sometimes.”

“Really? Should I inquire about it too?”

“Nah, it’s fine! I already asked…”

I grabbed Helena’s hand and stood up.

Behind her, Hwarang was spinning his twin handguns, grinning mischievously.

After a brief moment of regrouping, we resumed the dungeon run.

I desperately used all my doping.

Using Divine Blessing of the Sun was a given, and I poured out the high-level doping drugs I’d been saving for the raid.

As a result, I managed to beat Hwarang at the final boss.

“Yeah!”

Hwarang turned away with a sour expression.

He, too, had done anything and everything to beat me.

But results are proven through numbers.

I could finally triumph over Hwarang.

“Loser.”

I lightly mocked Hwarang.

He had nothing to say.

I felt so good.

The final boss dropped a one-handed sword item.

Of course, that item ended up going to Dogrik.