“Didn’t I tell you? I’m going to crush you.”

A fluent tone that could never come from an ordinary Orc.

Lee Shin was shocked.

“Joachim Murat?”

“Khuhuhu!”

The Orc slave only let out a sinister laugh.

Feeling an ominous premonition, Lee Shin sent two working slaves to rescue Robin Hood.

Thud! Smack!

The Orc slave held Robin Hood down and pummeled him.

“You bastard!”

One of the slaves charged at the Orc slave. In that instant—

Smash!

A half-twisted body spun as an elbow strike landed squarely on the slave’s chin.

“Ugh…!”

The slave rolled on the ground, groaning in pain.

Another slave who had rushed over threw himself at the Orc slave, tangling together in a struggle.

Taking advantage of the opening, Robin Hood sprang up and grabbed his fallen bow.

As he nocked an arrow and released it—

Thud!

“Argh!”

But instead of the intended target, the arrow struck the slave. At the exact moment the arrow was fired, the Orc slave flipped its body, using the slave as a shield.

The slave, turned into a literal human shield, died instantly.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Lee Shin witnessed something beyond common sense.

Even though he had an archer and two slaves against a single Orc slave, they couldn’t take it down—instead, one of his slaves died.

The Orc slave then pounced on the slave who had taken a hit to the jaw.

The slave resisted, but the Orc slave effortlessly dodged the attacks and countered by charging forward, slamming its forehead directly into the slave’s face.

Smash!

“Aagh!”

With a final scream, the slave died.

“You bastard!”

Robin Hood fired another arrow.

Thud!

The arrow embedded itself in the Orc slave’s back!

At that moment, another archer had just been summoned from the barracks and joined in, firing another shot.

Thud! Thwack!

Finally, the tenacious Orc slave collapsed.

Before dying, the Orc slave looked at Lee Shin and grinned.

“See you again.”

“……!”

And with that, the Orc slave perished.

Lee Shin had suffered tremendous losses.

Two slaves had died, and Robin Hood had been beaten to a pulp.

Moreover, having two slaves engaged in battle meant they couldn’t work, which was also a major loss.

‘That Orc slave was definitely Joachim Murat.’

It wasn’t a normal Orc slave.

There was no doubt it was an Orc, but its speech and combat abilities could only be explained by it being Joachim Murat.

Then, a thought flashed through Lee Shin’s mind.

“Apostle.”

At that moment, a message appeared in his mind.

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

Lee Shin focused on the word ‘Ability.’

‘There might be a type of ability that allows a Contractor to personally take over an Orc slave and fight.’

No, he was nearly certain of it.

If that were the case, it explained why Joachim Murat had such a high win rate despite lacking strategic prowess.

‘This is a serious problem.’

Regardless, the losses he had suffered in the early game were too great.

Lee Shin constructed an arrow tower next to the barracks to completely block the entrance.

Meanwhile, Columbus was diligently scouting around Joachim Murat’s base.

In Murat’s Orc camp, two Warrior Training Centers had been completed, along with a Stable and a Blacksmith.

Once those two buildings were finished, they would allow the summoning of Orc Spear Cavalry from the Warrior Training Centers.

‘He plans to summon the Orc Spear Cavalry as quickly as possible to launch an attack.’

Because of the unexpected losses, Lee Shin’s Human faction had fallen behind in its tech progression.

Moreover, if Joachim Murat personally took control of an Orc Spear Cavalry the way he had done with the Orc slave earlier, the unit’s strength could surpass normal limits.

So, Lee Shin decided to forgo expanding his Magic Crystal collection site at the natural expansion and instead focused entirely on defense and unit production.

Since the opponent was also skipping Magic Crystal expansion in favor of rushing out Orc Spear Cavalry, Lee Shin needed to counter accordingly.

He increased the number of barracks and summoned more archers.

He also summoned Shield Soldiers.

Once his army was strong enough, he planned to push outward, establish a defensive line, and then expand to secure the Magic Crystal site.

His strategy was to have the Shield Soldiers block enemy attacks while the archers eliminated them from range.

‘If I mix in catapults, I can push the defensive line forward and secure even more Magic Crystals.’

An unusually defensive and passive playstyle for Lee Shin.

However, since the opponent had already shattered the conventional rules, he couldn’t afford to take reckless risks.

Luckily, Columbus was doing an excellent job scouting.

Four Orc Warriors chased him, but Columbus skillfully evaded them while continuing his reconnaissance.

The +5% movement speed boost from the leather boots was proving to be a tremendous advantage for Lee Shin.

At last, an Orc Spear Cavalry was summoned from Joachim Murat’s Warrior Training Center.

An Orc on horseback!

However, unlike a typical Orc Spear Cavalry, this one was wielding a sleek one-handed sword instead of a spear.

‘That’s another Apostle!’

It was undoubtedly an Orc Spear Cavalry Apostle, with an additional weapon granted for 300 magic power.

And it was highly likely that it had an ability as well—specifically, the power for Joachim Murat to possess it and fight personally.

The Orc Spear Cavalry locked eyes with Columbus.

The Orc Spear Cavalry grinned.

Then, it charged straight at Columbus.

No matter how much of a speed boost his leather boots provided, there was no way he could outrun a horse.

“Damn it! This is the end for me, Contractor!”

With a clean swipe of the Orc Spear Cavalry’s sword, Columbus was decapitated.

However, in his final moments, Columbus managed to confirm that two more Orc Warriors had been produced.

‘One Orc Spear Cavalry, eight Orc Warriors, huh?’

As long as the entrance wasn't breached, they could hold out until more troops were secured.

Lee Shin placed four archers inside the arrow tower and stationed ten more behind it. He also had four shield soldiers on standby and initiated weapon upgrades at the forge.

The plan was to hold off the first attack, steadily amass troops, and launch a counteroffensive when the weapon upgrades were complete.

[Enemies have appeared!]

At last, Joachim Murat’s forces had arrived.

At the forefront stood the orc lancer, acting as their leader, with eight orc warriors following behind.

The orc lancer surveyed the defensive state of Lee Shin's base entrance and raised a hand, signaling the orc warriors to halt.

The entrance was blocked by the barracks and arrow towers, with fourteen archers stationed inside and behind them.

Attacking this head-on would only result in breaking a few arrow towers at the cost of losing their troops and retreating.

"Oh, you've really blocked it off well? Looks like you got scared after that beating earlier?"

The orc lancer, controlled by Joachim Murat, sneered, and the orc warriors behind him hissed and laughed in agreement.

Lee Shin ignored them and focused solely on recruiting more troops.

With five barracks now operational, he was summoning three additional archers and two more shield soldiers.

'They won’t dare to attack.'

At most, they would loiter around the outskirts, trying to keep him boxed in.

Even that would be meaningless once he had gathered enough forces to drive them away.

Then, the strategy would shift to a defensive late-game approach, as planned.

'Once the weapon upgrades are done…'

Just then—

"Attack!"

The orc lancer bellowed.

Lee Shin flinched and turned to the entrance.

To his surprise, at Joachim Murat's command, all eight orc warriors charged forward at once.

The orc warriors endured the incoming arrows as they began breaking down the arrow towers.

"Shoot! Shoot!"

Robin Hood shouted from inside the arrow tower, loosing arrows as he gave the command.

The archers fired relentlessly at the orc warriors.

Clad in sturdy armor, the orc warriors were not easy to kill, but with fourteen archers focusing their fire, survival was impossible.

One by one, the orc warriors fell.

Yet, the orc lancer merely observed from behind, unfazed.

When only three orc warriors remained—

Crash!

The heavily attacked arrow tower collapsed. A costly trade, sacrificing five expensive 100-mana orc warriors for a single structure.

But then, the orc lancer finally gripped his sword and charged forward.

'No way!'

A chilling sense of foreboding gripped Lee Shin.

On paper, he had the advantage.

One orc lancer and two remaining orc warriors. Even if reinforcements arrived, it would only be two more orc warriors.

Meanwhile, he had fourteen archers and four shield soldiers, with three more archers and two additional shield soldiers being summoned.

This was a guaranteed victory.

No matter how skilled Joachim Murat was at controlling the orc lancer, the numbers didn’t lie. Lee Shin's calculations assured him of that.

But why did he feel such unease?

A shiver ran down his spine.

…And his fears became reality.

Slash! Slice!

"Gah!"

"Ack!"

Using the last two surviving orc warriors as human shields, the orc lancer cut down two archers with swift, precise strikes.

Charging headlong, he trampled two more archers under his horse's hooves.

"Fire!"

At Robin Hood’s command, a barrage of arrows rained down.

The orc lancer turned his back to the right and swung his sword to the left.

Arrows coming from the left shattered against his sword, while those from the right bounced harmlessly off the back of his armor.

Now that Lee Shin got a closer look, the orc lancer's armor wasn't standard issue.

'A fully equipped orc lancer Apostle. Weapon, armor, abilities—he has it all. But even so, this is too much.'

Lee Shin was dumbfounded by the orc lancer’s overwhelming performance.

Reinforcements from both sides joined the battle.

Two more orc warriors arrived, causing the orc lancer to grow even more ferocious.

Finally, the orc lancer broke through the defense line of archers and shield soldiers, setting foot inside the base.

Despite the pursuing archers continuing to fire at him, the orc lancer galloped deep into the stronghold.

"Hahaha! This is my domain now! This is a real battle!"

The orc lancer rampaged into the mana crystal mining site, slaughtering Lee Shin's workers.

'Unbelievable.'

Lee Shin was speechless.

Even with a fully equipped Apostle, this level of power imbalance was unheard of.

If individual gear had such an impact, then Christopher Columbus’s leather boots should have been game-breaking too. But realistically, what difference did a 5% movement speed boost make?

And yet, the orc lancer was beyond mere strength—he was outright broken.

The imbalance wasn't due to the Apostle itself but rather Joachim Murat’s combat abilities.

The archers tried to pursue and restrain him, but the orc lancer weaved through the base like a predator playing with its prey.

By all logical calculations, Lee Shin's defense should have been perfect.

The entrance should have remained impenetrable.

And yet, this was the outcome.

'Wait… is it space?'

He recalled his match against Choi Young-jun.

Despite sustaining fewer losses, he had barely clung to the edge of the cliff, struggling against a stronger force.

'I've made the same mistake again.'

Lee Shin let out a bitter chuckle.

Just as Choi Young-jun's overwhelming numbers had done before, there were opponents who defied logic and calculations.

'At least now I understand Joachim Murat.'

He had accepted his loss from the start.

After this defeat, Belial’s mana would rise to 110,000, while Gremory’s would reach 100,000.

110,000 times 90% was 99,000.

Now, he would have the right to challenge.

And more importantly, he had learned his opponent’s style.

'Space. The key is space.'

It was time to put the lessons from Choi Young-jun into practice.

"I surrender!"

Lee Shin declared his defeat.