Columbus built two Special Barracks in the corner of the 9 o’clock area.

[Special Barracks: A building that trains specialized units, unlike regular infantry. Can summon ‘Knights’ and ‘Engineers.’ Once ‘Catapult Technology’ is developed, Engineers can craft catapults.]

Knights began to be summoned from the two Special Barracks.

Meanwhile, at the main base, Archers and Shield Soldiers were being steadily summoned from two regular Barracks.

Weapon upgrades were also being executed at the Forge.

Shield Soldiers were essential to block attacks from Elf Snipers.

The Elf Sniper's heavy crossbows were powerful enough to pierce even shields.

However, once weapon upgrades were completed, the shields became strong enough to withstand one or two of those sniper shots.

Choosing Shield Soldiers instead of Catapults was Lee Shin’s desperate strategy.

If he could hold out with a combination of Arrow Towers + Crossbowmen + Shield Soldiers until the Knights arrived to reinforce them, it would be a success.

The number of Elf Shooters setting up camp in front of the courtyard steadily increased.

And finally, four of the Elf Shooters began to be promoted to Elf Snipers.

This meant that the Black Prince Edward’s side had also completed sniper technology development.

“Good.”

Lee Shin viewed the situation positively. Everything was lining up precisely.

Summoning two Knights completed slightly faster than the promotion of the four Elf Shooters to Elf Snipers.

However, by the time those two Knights traveled from the 9 o’clock area to the frontline, the Elf Snipers would have completed their promotions.

Which meant the battle would begin precisely at the moment the Elf Snipers were fully promoted.

“First, I need to clear out the pressure being applied in front of the courtyard.”

The Black Prince Edward was aiming to strike the moment the catapult appeared and seize victory.

But if Lee Shin could push Edward’s forces away from the courtyard, he could overcome the first crisis.

And then it would be Lee Shin’s turn. The initiative would briefly pass to him.

[Knight summoning complete.]

[Contractor Lee Shin’s Apostle, Gilles de Rais, has been summoned.]

Two Knights were summoned. One of them was Gilles de Rais.

“This way!”

The two Knights, including Gilles de Rais, immediately charged toward the courtyard.

The Crossbowmen and Shield Soldiers defending the courtyard prepared for battle.

“Four Crossbowmen on the Arrow Tower, come down.”
“Crossbowmen, destroy the Arrow Tower all at once.”
“Shield Soldiers, move to the front and form a line.”
“On my signal, all units attack the Elves at once.”

Lee Shin gave out a series of rapid commands.

Shwishwishwish— Boom! Crack! Crunch!

The Crossbowmen destroyed the Arrow Tower.

The Arrow Tower had served its purpose. To attack the enemy, they needed to destroy the Arrow Tower and widen the passage.

The timing aligned with eerie precision.

The Arrow Tower was destroyed by concentrated fire from the Crossbowmen,

The four Elf Shooters completed their promotion to Elf Snipers,

And Gilles de Rais and the Knight arrived.

Commands burst from Lee Shin’s mind like rapid fire:

“Shield Soldiers, form a wall with shields and charge!”
“Crossbowmen, advance—focus all attacks on the Elf Snipers!”
“Gilles de Rais and the other Knight—attack! Eliminate the Elf Snipers first!”

The battle broke out in an instant.

In front, Shield Soldiers and Crossbowmen attacked. From behind, the two Knights charged.

The Elves, caught off guard by the unexpected pincer attack from front and back, panicked.

The sudden appearance of Knights, especially, was devastating and completely unforeseen.

The Elf Shooters and Elf Snipers, weak in melee combat, were attacked by the two Knights, causing their formation to collapse.

“Chaah!”

Gilles de Rais swiftly swung his longsword and decapitated an Elf Sniper.

Slicing sound!

The Elf Sniper, distracted while dodging the storm of crossbow bolts, was caught off guard and instantly killed by Gilles de Rais’s ambush.

Gilles de Rais continued fighting with his longsword, which boosted his attack speed by 5%.

A surprise rear assault by a Knight—something the Black Prince Edward hadn’t foreseen!

Lee Shin’s combination of Knight + Crossbowman + Shield Soldier proved superior to the Elf Shooter + Elf Sniper lineup.

Thinking it hopeless, the Black Prince Edward made the best decision he could.

A few Elf Shooters stayed behind to resist, while the rest retreated all at once.

“Chase them down!”

At Lee Shin’s order, Gilles de Rais and the Knight fiercely pursued and cut down the fleeing Elf Shooters.

Then, one of the two surviving Elf Snipers turned around swiftly and sniped the Knight.

Whoosh— Crack!

“Gah!”

A crossbow bolt pierced the Knight’s chest, and he let out a groan. Soon after, he died under concentrated fire from the Elf Shooters.

But during that time, Gilles de Rais delivered retribution to that Elf Sniper.

Smash!

“Aagh!”

Gilles de Rais eliminated another Elf Sniper in the process.

“That should do it.”

“Understood, Contractor.”

Gilles de Rais ceased pursuit and withdrew.

Of the retreating Elves, only two Elf Snipers and five Elf Shooters survived.

Just half of their original number.

Though Lee Shin had lost one Knight, two Shield Soldiers, and three Archers, the damage was minor compared to the gains.

Most importantly, he had achieved the first strategic objective—driving out the enemy forces that had been applying pressure.

“Now it’s my turn.”

And just then, conditions for the next phase of his plan were falling into place.

[Magic Tower has been completed.]

[Knight has been summoned.]

[Engineer has been summoned.]

The Black Prince Edward couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Everything had been going smoothly until he sent troops to pressure Lee Shin.

If he kept strong pressure so that the opponent couldn’t leave the courtyard, they’d be forced to build a catapult to break free.

The moment a catapult appeared, he would use the Elf Snipers to snipe and destroy it in one clean strike.

Without the catapult, the opponent had no way to stop the Elf Snipers, who had a vastly superior attack range.

From a range unreachable by Crossbow bolts, the Elf Snipers could begin with the Arrow Tower and then destroy buildings one by one.

Once all obstacles were cleared, they would charge in and destroy the courtyard’s Mana Crystal Collector.

At that point, victory was practically assured.

But then, the sudden appearance of two Knights completely disrupted his strategy.

They had no choice but to lose a significant number of troops due to the sudden appearance from an unexpected location.

‘So they built a special barracks hidden somewhere else.’

Still, choosing knights over catapults was quite impressive.

‘You know the right answer. But you dare show off knights in front of me? I’ll make you regret it.’

It was the Black Prince Edward, who had defeated the numerically superior French forces at the battles of Crécy and Poitiers.

The French knights charged several times but were annihilated without accomplishing anything.

‘Other than Murat, no one has ever given me trouble with cavalry tactics.’

The Black Prince Edward quickly began reorganizing his forces.

The opponent was trying to form an army with knights, crossbowmen, and shield bearers.

Just having elf shooters and elf snipers wasn’t enough on this side either.

The Black Prince Edward began progressing through the tech tree.

Once the Tree of Life completed its first stage of growth, he could summon Elf Guards.

[Elf Guard: Elf warriors equipped with swords and shields. Can only be summoned once the Teacher’s Tree is built and the first stage of growth of the Tree of Life is completed.]

The Elf Guards supplemented the lack of close combat capabilities.

Of course, even with Elf Guards, it was difficult to stop the powerful charges of knights.

When the Tree of Life completed its first stage of growth, a new skill became available for development at the Teacher’s Tree.

It was ‘Stealth Art’.

Once Stealth Art was developed, Elf Guards could be promoted to Elf Assassins, just like Elf Shooters could be promoted to Elf Snipers.

[Elf Assassin: Trained by teaching Elf Guards the Stealth Art to become stealthy assassins. They do not use shields, so their defense is lower, but they can use ‘Stealth Art’ to disappear for 10 seconds. Stealth Art can be used once every 60 seconds.]

The Black Prince Edward’s concept was the harmony of these four unit types:

Elf Shooter, Elf Sniper, Elf Guard, and Elf Assassin!

‘Come on then. I’ll show you a reenactment of the Battle of Crécy.’

Although he had taken damage in the battle, the situation was still evenly matched.

Lee Shin had to invest magic power and time into defense early on by building arrow towers. Expanding to the natural base came afterward.

On the other hand, the Black Prince Edward immediately built and activated a mana stone harvesting station at the natural base.

Thanks to the advantage in mana, he was able to replenish troops quickly.

The Black Prince Edward sent his prepared forces to form a defensive line at the center of the first battlefield, Asteia.

Then he sent a young elf to build a new mana stone harvesting station at the 11 o’clock area, where the mana stones were densely packed.

But that was when the real ordeal began.

[Under enemy attack!]

Crash!

“Gah!”

A knight suddenly appeared on horseback and killed the young elf who had been sent to build the new mana stone harvesting station.

Because of that, construction of the new mana stone station was delayed.

The Black Prince Edward frowned and sent another young elf.

This time, he included Elf Shooters as escorts.

However...

Crash!

“Argh!”

This time, two knights appeared and instantly killed the young elf.

The Elf Shooters fired arrows in response, but the knights left nonchalantly as if their task was done.

One of them, unlike the others, was equipped with a longsword and pitch-black armor—clearly one of Lee Shin’s Contractors with weapons and armor bestowed upon him.

‘This is annoying.’

Yet the Black Prince Edward smiled instead.

It was a ploy meant to provoke and cause a misjudgment through persistent irritation.

Recognizing that intention, he thought it was rather impressive than irritating.

It was the composure of the Black Prince Edward, who could acknowledge an opponent’s skill with grace.

But he was mistaken.

This was not mere provocation meant to irritate.

It was the start of Lee Shin’s relentless harassment strategy, gradually piling up small damages to ultimately cause a collapse.

Although hindered by Lee Shin’s interference, the Black Prince Edward successfully planted the Tree of Life in the 11 o’clock area.

Once the Tree of Life was completed, he relocated 13 young elves who had been working at the main base and natural base to the 11 o’clock area.

But it was at that very moment.

[Enemy sighted!]

‘What?!’

Four knights appeared.

The four knights charged directly at the young elves who were moving to the new mana stone harvesting station at the 11 o’clock area.

‘No!’

The Black Prince Edward tried to pull back the central forces to stop the knights’ rampage.

But it was already too late.

“Charge!”

A knight who appeared to be one of Lee Shin’s Contractors, holding a longsword, gave the order.

The four knights lined up and used the “Charge” technique to amplify their attack power.

“Gaaah!”

“Uwaagh!”

“Aaargh!”

The 13 young elves were slaughtered in an instant.

It was a major loss.

‘Hunt them all down. Especially the one with the longsword—he’s the enemy’s Apostle.’

The elf forces surrounded the four knights in a wide encirclement and began a hunting operation.

The four knights fled toward the 12 o’clock area, but there was nowhere else to run.

However, when the encirclement closed in, only two knights were visible.

‘Where are the other two?’

The question was soon answered.

[Enemy sighted!]

...It was a hot air balloon.

It likely carried the other two knights and now appeared over the Black Prince Edward’s base.

The hot air balloon crossed his base, dropping one knight each at the natural base and the main base.

The two knights rampaged through the mana stone harvesting stations, slaughtering the young elves.

“Aaargh!”

“Ugh!”

‘No!’

The Black Prince Edward was in total disarray.

He urgently pulled his forces back and dealt with the knight wreaking havoc at the natural base.

The knight who was causing chaos in the main base annoyingly escaped by boarding the hot air balloon again.

Worse, it was the Apostle of Lee Shin, equipped with the longsword and pitch-black armor.

He could no longer smile at the opponent’s cleverness.

There was no room for such generosity or composure anymore.

Worse still, while he had pulled back his troops due to the harassment, Lee Shin’s forces swiftly advanced and took control of the central area.

The Black Prince Edward finally reached the limit of his patience.

Rage welled up from deep within his chest.