Dekarabia had an extremely grotesque appearance.

His arms and legs were grotesquely twisted, forming the shape of a pentagram.

His face, including eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, was located on his stomach, adding to his bizarre and grotesque appearance.

Lee Shin was frozen in shock as he looked at Dekarabia, the most grotesque-looking Demon Lord he had ever seen.

“You’ve come.”

Gremory said calmly.

Dekarabia grinned as he looked at Gremory.

“Hey there, Demon Lord Gremory. After hitting rock bottom, you seem to be holding your head high these days.”

“You yourself haven’t been far removed from a great downfall, have you?”

“Tch, no need for idle talk. I challenge you.”

“As I wished.”

“Choose the battlefield and mana amount.”

Gremory hesitated briefly and looked at Lee Shin.

Lee Shin nodded as if to reassure her.

She spoke.

“First battlefield: Asteia. Mana: 50,000.”

“What?!”

Dekarabia was startled.

The middle-aged white man who had come with Dekarabia also looked at Gremory and Lee Shin in surprise. He was none other than the Black Prince Edward.

“Are you serious?”

“I am.”

“Tch.”

Dekarabia began to hesitate.

And for good reason—losing 50,000 mana would cause him to plummet to 71st rank in an instant.

Moreover, Gremory’s new Contractor, Lee Shin, was on a terrifying upward trajectory.

He had only lost once, and he immediately avenged that loss against Joachim Murat, gaining even more mana. One could almost say he was on an undefeated streak.

“If you’re scared, you don’t have to do it.”

“Wait!”

Infuriated by Gremory’s taunt, Dekarabia turned to look at the Black Prince Edward.

Soon, the two were surrounded by a shroud of pitch-black mana, hiding their forms. They had blocked sight and sound with mana in order to speak privately.

Gremory also turned to Lee Shin and spoke.

“Will this be alright? If we lose after betting this much mana, we’ll fall to rank 71.”

“Even if we lose, we can recover as many times as necessary. I’m confident in beating any of the Contractors I’ve faced before in a rematch.”

Lee Shin continued speaking.

“If we win this time, the next opponent will be Andromalius and his Contractor, Owun. According to Joachim Murat, Owun is quite skilled, and it’s best to avoid fighting him.”

“I’ve had a ranking match against him too. My previous Contractor was defeated too quickly, so I couldn’t gauge his skill level.”

“No matter how strong they are, we’ll have to surpass them if we want to climb higher. If we have to fight anyway, it’s better to be the one challenged, not the challenger. That way, we can choose the battlefield and set the mana bet—making the fight more advantageous for us.”

Andromalius, currently ranked 67th, possessed 169,000 mana.

If they won this ranking match and gained 50,000 mana, Gremory would have 179,000 mana.

That would allow her to overtake Andromalius in rank, making him the one who must issue the challenge.

That would let Lee Shin choose a battlefield he was confident in.

“Owun, the Contractor of Andromalius, is famous for being highly skilled. Even Demon Lords ranked higher try to avoid him. What if we win this match and immediately challenge rank 66? Then we can avoid Andromalius.”

If they won the ranking match against Dekarabia and gained 50,000 mana, they would be eligible to challenge for rank 66.

“Let’s think about that when the time comes.”

At last, Dekarabia and the Black Prince Edward emerged, dispelling the shroud of mana.

Dekarabia spoke.

“I’ll do it.”

“I’m Edward of Woodstock.”

“I’m Lee Shin.”

“Let’s have a good match.”

“There’s no such thing as a good match that ends in defeat.”

“Well said.”

The Black Prince Edward was surprisingly well-mannered for someone who had fallen to Hell after death.

That was the extent of their conversation.

With a serious battle involving 50,000 mana on the line, both men were tense.

Before the ranking match began, Lee Shin had something he needed to do.

“List of Apostles.”

[Christopher Columbus (Human, Slave)
Weapon: None
Armor: Leather Boots (Movement Speed +5%)
Ability: None]

[Gilles de Rais (Human, Knight)
Weapon: None
Armor: None
Ability: None]

‘Grant armor to Gilles de Rais.’

[Armor will be granted randomly. 300 mana will be consumed. Proceed?]

‘Proceed.’

Soon, Gilles de Rais underwent a change.

[Gilles de Rais (Human, Knight)
Weapon: None
Armor: Obsidian Armor (Defense +5%, Movement Speed +2%)
Ability: None]

‘Good.’

He must’ve been lucky, as the performance was better than expected. Not only did it increase defense, but it also slightly boosted movement speed.

It was probably because the Obsidian Armor was lighter than the full plate armor traditionally worn by knights.

Remaining mana: 360.

‘Grant weapon as well.’

After some deliberation, Lee Shin made his decision. For today’s strategy, he needed to strengthen the knights, including Gilles de Rais, as much as possible.

[Gilles de Rais (Human, Knight)
Weapon: Long Sword (Attack Speed +5%)
Armor: Obsidian Armor (Defense +5%, Movement Speed +2%)
Ability: None]

With that, Lee Shin’s preparations were complete.

“Are you finished?”

The Black Prince Edward asked. As expected, he was a man of good manners.

“Yes.”

“Then let’s begin. I won’t wish you good luck.”

“Same here.”

[This is a ranking match between Demon Lord Gremory and Demon Lord Dekarabia. The outcome of the battle will affect both ranking and mana. 100,000 mana is at stake.]

[100,000 mana is crystallized into mana stones and spread across the battlefield.]

[Please select your race.]

"Human."

"Elf."

[The ranking battle begins.]

[Contractor Lee Shin of Demon Lord Gremory and Edward of Woodstock, Contractor of Demon Lord Decarabia, will now participate.]

Thus, the ranking battle began.

The battlefield was the First Battlefield, Asteia.

For Lee Shin, this was his first ranking battle against an Elf.

He first summoned the 7th slave and constructed a food storage facility.

The food storage was placed in the front yard.

Soon after, he summoned the 8th slave and built a barracks right next to the food storage.

Continuously summoning slaves to collect mana stones, he gathered mana.

After sending out Columbus on a scouting mission, he summoned archers from the completed barracks and built an arrow tower.

By connecting the food storage, barracks, and arrow tower, a barricade was formed.

Once security was ensured, Lee Shin finally constructed the command center in the mana stone-rich area in the front yard.

He had now secured an expansion base.

Compared to his previous ranking battles, he had expanded his mana collection areas much faster than usual.

Meanwhile, Columbus discovered Edward the Black Prince’s main base at the 1 o'clock position.

In Edward’s front yard stood a large tree.

[Tree of Life: The most basic structure granted to Elves at the start of a ranking battle. It can summon most Elves two at a time and stores mana collected by young Elves.]

The Tree of Life was already complete. Young Elves, who served as the Elf race's basic production units, were collecting mana stones and delivering them to the Tree of Life.

In other words, the mana collection center was already complete and fully operational.

‘It’s unavoidable.’

Because of the Human race’s early-game weakness, Lee Shin had to build a thorough defense before expanding.

In contrast, Edward the Black Prince didn’t need to invest mana into defense and could go straight for mana collection.

Even if Lee Shin had attempted a cheese rush early on with a bunch of archers and slaves, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Elves.

This was because Elves could summon very powerful combat units early on.

[We are under attack!]

Swoosh— Thwack!

"Ugh!"

Columbus, who was on a scouting mission, was struck in the left shoulder by a flying arrow.

Fortunately, he dodged the one aiming for his head and avoided instant death.

Two Elves wielding longbows were rushing in from a distance.

[Elf Shooter: An Elf warrior wielding a longbow. Can be summoned from the Tree of Life after building the 'Tree of the Mentor.' Can be promoted to 'Elf Sniper' after learning the skill 'Sniping.']

This was exactly why Humans could never win against Elves in early aggression.

Though it cost twice the mana of an archer—100 mana—to summon, a single Elf Shooter was nimble and highly skilled in archery, easily worth more than two archers.

Moreover, unlike weak archers, Elf Shooters remained useful even in late-game stages.

After developing the ‘Sniping’ skill at the Tree of the Mentor, they could be promoted to Elf Snipers.

Elf Snipers used heavy crossbows with slower fire rates, but their range was longer and their penetration was excellent, often capable of killing two or three archers in a single shot.

‘Ultimately, this must be a strategy to quickly build a mobile defense line using a combination of Elf Shooters and Elf Snipers.’

Lee Shin was confident he had figured out Edward the Black Prince’s opening strategy.

As expected, Edward moved five Elf Shooters to Lee Shin’s base at the 7 o'clock position.

Columbus maintained a safe distance while observing the Elf Shooters’ movements.

The Elf Shooters reached Lee Shin’s front yard.

Since the barricade was solid and four archers were stationed inside the arrow tower, Edward couldn’t directly attack.

But the Elf Shooters set up camp in front of the front yard, blocking Lee Shin from moving outside.

‘A solid strategy.’

Lee Shin couldn’t help but admire Edward the Black Prince’s rational tactics.

Once the catapult was completed, he could drive away the Elf Shooters. However, by then the enemy might have completed development of ‘Sniping’ and promoted their units to Elf Snipers.

Elf Snipers were the natural enemy of catapults.

If the catapult’s range was 10, the Elf Sniper’s range was 8.

While the catapult had more destructive power, it had one major flaw—it couldn’t move after assembly unless dismantled.

Once the catapult was assembled, if the Elf Snipers boldly approached and concentrated fire, it would be destroyed helplessly.

In short, Edward’s plan was to shatter Lee Shin’s defenses and end the battle using a combination of Elf Shooters, stronger than archers, and Elf Snipers, who were the bane of catapults.

‘He must be hoping I build a catapult.’

Thinking that, Lee Shin quietly smiled.

He had no intention of following Edward’s plan.

Just as Edward had devised a deep strategy, Lee Shin had also looked far ahead.

‘Columbus.’

"Yes, Contractor!"

Columbus, still out scouting, responded.

‘Construct a special barracks in the 9 o’clock corner.’

"Yes!"

As ordered, Columbus ran toward the 9 o’clock direction.

The key Lee Shin had chosen was not a catapult, but knights.

Edward the Black Prince—

A man known for ending the age of chivalry by crushing French knights with new weapons and brilliant tactics.

Against such an opponent, Lee Shin intended to fight using knights.