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Chapter: 240

Thank goodness the hobgoblin doesn’t multiply like a bunch of goblins.

When food is plentiful, it’s a breeze for goblins to swarm to dozens, and soon enough, hobgoblins will show up, but… Well, as long as there are adventurers or soldiers with decent experience, they can easily smack them down.

So, let’s leave a warning to humans through the Church of Life. No gathering of goblins in numbers greater than dozens. We’ll leave a warning.

For now… it seems our priority is to investigate and study the goblins.

And so, I began to learn more and more about the goblins.

First off, it seems that increasing their numbers through mold isn’t an easy feat for the goblins either.

After rewinding time to check, I found that goblin offspring were born from the mold… but the magical power the goblins had was nearly depleted.

It seems that goblin babies sprout from mold that’s been sufficiently charged with magical power… if there’s no magical power, it won’t multiply like crazy.

In other words, in an environment rich in magical power, they can balloon in numbers dramatically… Hmm… well, we can think about that later.

Seeing the goblin creating offspring while nearly exhausting its own magical power, a question arose in my mind.

What would happen if a goblin ran out of magical power? I figured it might probably die. Hmm… This is something I need to confirm personally.

So, while I left the oddly endearing terrarium goblin alone, I began to capture goblins living in groups to extract the magical power from them.

The amount of magical power extracted from a single goblin was quite significant. Could it be that the power shared among the goblins in the group is also being extracted?

It was a strange situation. I was only pulling power from one goblin, yet it felt like all the goblins in the group were losing their magic… It was almost as if the whole group treated each other like one individual.

Once all the magical power was drained from the goblins, they died, just as I expected.

Not only that, but it wasn’t just one goblin that died directly from the extraction; all the goblins in that group perished simultaneously.

It was quite mysterious. I knew that each goblin connected through mold and magical power, but to have them all lose their lives at once due to depleted magic…

It’s like they’re all interconnected through a mold network!

Hmm… Mold network. That rings a bell. Fungal network, hmm, I’ll skip over that for now.

The corpses of the drained goblins started to turn into a powder-like substance, akin to dust. Hmm… this powder… goblin mold, perhaps?

Even after death, the corpses decompose and spread mold? That’s truly heinous.

Watching the black mold scatter in the wind, I pondered. That black mold… it strangely resembles charcoal dust; I wonder if it ignites easily?

I lightly ignited the powder with some magical flames, and to my amazement, the goblin mold caught fire remarkably well. Sure enough…

Maybe fire is the answer for goblins. If it burns so easily, won’t I have to worry about wildfires instead?

Well, I suppose if I hunt goblins and burn down their nests or caves with torches, it should help suppress the mold, so that’s a relief.

Okay, with one question answered… let’s move on to the next.

Goblins are monsters.

Monsters drop mana stones.

So goblins should drop mana stones as well, but…

For some reason, goblins don’t drop mana stones. Shouldn’t they come out if they are monsters?

I was able to resolve this question after capturing a goblin, putting it under anesthesia, and eventually dissecting it while still alive.

First off, there are indeed mana stones within the goblin’s body. They are tiny fragments, but they exist without a doubt.

The problem is, the mana stones are so tiny and fragile that they shatter into pieces from the shock of the goblin losing its life.

What’s more, the amount of magic shared through the mold is greater than the magical power within the mana stones themselves.

As a result, goblins turn out to be useless monsters with almost no by-products after hunting.

Tch. At this rate, people will avoid goblin hunts. Adventurers will hunt monsters that are worth the effort, and there’s no reason to catch these worthless goblins.

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Moving on from the goblins, let’s now discuss the hobgoblins.

When dozens of goblins gather, hobgoblins appear, and physically, they are way stronger than goblins.

There are differences between individuals, but roughly, they are about 0.7 to 0.9 the strength of an average person?

Of course, a soldier or adventurer who knows how to fight should have no trouble handling them.

Anyway, I started to capture and examine one of those hobgoblins.

Certainly, its physique is stronger compared to goblins. If hobgoblins coordinated an attack on humans… it could be quite dangerous for those who can’t fight properly.

Sharing magical power with the group is the same as with goblins, and most characteristics seem to be similar, but… oh, there are proper mana stones here.

Perhaps due to its larger size, the hobgoblin had a real mana stone present.

Compared to other monsters, it’s small, but it exists as a proper crystal.

Given its size, this mana stone could be valuable enough for hunting… maybe?

If things go wrong, I might have to consider hunting goblins through the Church of Life and offering a little reward if they bring back ears as proof. But let’s not dwell on that.

As I scanned the large group of goblins and checked out the ones with hobgoblins, something interesting caught my eye.

A gathering of hobgoblins stumbled across two goblin groups while searching for food.

In the case of a regular goblin group without hobgoblins, they would typically part ways peacefully after a brief encounter; sometimes, they might even fight if they had a beef with each other, but groups with hobgoblins were a bit different.

The leading hobgoblins from the group spotted each other and ended up glaring at one another.

After a moment of intense staring, the two hobgoblins reached out their fists to bump each other.

What a baffling scene. The tense atmosphere from when they first met entirely vanished, and the two hobgoblins seemed to unify as if they were part of the same group from the get-go.

Hmm… Hobgoblins banding together is quite intriguing.

Unlike when there were only goblins, the presence of hobgoblins seems to promote unity… um…

Oh, between those two hobgoblins, there’s also a link of magical power. Fascinating, indeed.

Wait a second. A link of magical power…? Just like goblins?

If that’s the case… could it be… that hobgoblins can evolve like goblins?

If a bunch of hobgoblins can combine into a veritable horde…?

Would a massive group of dozens of hobgoblins lead to their evolution, too?

Those questions would soon be answered as fact.

In an untouched jungle, a horde of dozens of hobgoblins congregated, and in the center of that mass stood a huge figure.

A monster towering at least two heads above the average hobgoblin, who typically stood about as tall as an adult human.

With green skin like the goblins, a muscular body, a large jaw, and massive fangs protruding from its mouth, this was a strikingly hog-like monster.

I wonder… should I call it an orc? Its tusks give it that boar-like face.

It would have been nice if it had a pig-like snout… cough. Anyway.

The orc commands the hobgoblins, and the hobgoblins lord over the goblins. A simple yet efficient chain of command.

Hmm. Let me see. The goblins following the orc seemed to be headed toward a small village… I can’t just let that happen.

Hundreds of goblins. Dozens of hobgoblins. And an orc.

Even if each goblin is weak individually, a swarm like that is quite a threat.

So, I made my appearance in front of the goblins.

“Gyarrr!!”

“Gyaaak!”

The goblins were screeching loudly. Weak, yet numerous creatures.

Let’s tidy things up a bit.

I flicked my fingers gently, and flames ignited on the bodies of the goblins.

They burned quickly like well-dried firewood, turning to ash before long. It seems the spores they spread were also burnt, so fire is indeed effective against goblins.

As my subpar goblins caught fire, the hobgoblins rushed in, but whether goblin or hobgoblin, they are pretty much the same; I’ve gathered enough data on hobgoblins, so they aren’t needed anymore.

Flicking my fingers once again, the hobgoblins also became ash.

The orc watching that scene… turned to flee.

Feeling fear from how effortlessly I burned his subordinates, or maybe he realized my strength.

I’m not sure which it is, but the orc smartly chose to make a run for it.

However, I can’t just let him go. He’s the first evolved hobgoblin I’ve seen.

I need to carefully examine and investigate that orc. Therefore…

The orc became ensnared by twisted roots erupting from the ground, rendering him completely immobilized in an instant.

Now, it’s investigation time.

 

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