Chapter 84: Troublesome ability

However, there was another detail worth considering.

The goblins’ natural evolution line was much weaker than the one my system had granted my citizens. In other words, being high-level didn’t necessarily mean a goblin was particularly strong.

Take Forest Hobgoblins, for example.

Each level-up only gave them around two points in their core attributes. Meanwhile, my Super Forest Goblins had been gaining around ten.

As a result, a naturally evolved goblin might reach a very high level, but its overall stats wouldn’t necessarily be that impressive compared to those of my citizens.

Still, a Forest Hulgagoblin above Level 50 shouldn’t be underestimated either. Even if it gained far fewer attribute points per level, the chieftain should still have at least a hundred combined points across its core attributes.

With that kind of strength, it should be able to take on a Colossal Bear alone without too much trouble.

Not to mention, the Bright Red Nose Tribe had plenty of other strong goblins as well.

So why weren’t there any dead Dark Giant Spiders here?

That was really strange...

"Hmmmm..."

I fell into thought while my goblins continued searching the settlement.

Soon, several possible explanations began to form in my mind.

Theory Number One:

Could it be that the Dark Giant Spiders’ corpses automatically disappeared when they died?

Like in some video games, where monsters turned into light particles and vanished the moment they were killed?

If that were the case, it would explain why we couldn’t find a single spider corpse here.

Theory Number Two:

Could the spiders be taking their dead back with them when they retreated?

That was certainly possible.

But then, there was Theory Number Three...

And this was the possibility I feared the most.

Perhaps... the Dark Giant Spiders had grown much stronger.

And by now, they were already powerful enough to raid a large tribe like this without suffering a single casualty.

If that were true, then we were in serious trouble.

I sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case. If the spiders had already reached that level of strength, our situation would become much, much worse.

Still, I didn’t think it was very likely.

Judging from the wounds on the goblins’ bodies and the destruction they had caused, the spiders were undoubtedly powerful. However, their raw attack power didn’t seem to be all that much greater than that of a Colossal Bear.

Perhaps Gopuro, with his new Blazing SkullCleaver, could already unleash a similar level of destructive power.

Unless...

The spiders were extraordinarily fast? Or perhaps they possessed incredible regenerative abilities, thick armor, or some other trait that made them exceptionally difficult to kill?

There were plenty of possibilities.

I needed more information before I could draw any conclusions.

...

Thus...

"Gopuro," I called out. "When the spiders attacked your tribe, did you guys manage to kill any of them?"

I was hoping he could tell me something that would help verify my first theory.

Unfortunately...

"I... actually don’t know, Big Boss." Gopuro shook his head. "When they attacked, it was a one-sided massacre. We could only run."

"What about you, Giga?" I turned my attention to Gopugiga. "Have you ever seen a dead Dark Giant Spider?"

His answer was no different.

"Hmmmm... now that you mention it, Big Boss, I’ve never seen one of those monsters die before. In fact, we’re not even supposed to fight them. If we see one, we’re supposed to run away."

"What?!"

That surprised me.

Not even fight back?

Just run?

How did that make any sense?

Even if the Dark Giant Spiders were monstrously strong, surely a powerful tribe with dozens of warriors should be able to put up some resistance. They should at least try to fight back instead of simply running away!

Unless...

Suddenly, another possibility popped into my mind.

"Wait a minute." I quickly asked, "Even if you haven’t seen a spider die, you’ve at least seen them alive before, right?"

"Yeah..." Gopuro nodded.

"Yes," Gopuran added. "They’re absolutely terrifying..."

Her body shivered slightly as she recalled the horrifying memory.

"And what did you feel when you saw one?" I asked. "Did you notice anything unusual?"

At my question, all the goblins suddenly fell silent, as though something had just clicked in their minds.

For a few moments, nobody said a word.

Then Gopugiga finally broke the silence.

"Big Boss, I remember it now. That time, I was already prepared to fight back. But when those monsters got close to me and stared at me, I just..." He hesitated, seemingly struggling to put the feeling into words. "It was like my body stopped listening to me. I felt this terrible sense of doom, and every instinct I had kept screaming at me to run. It felt like if I stayed and fought, I would definitely die. It’s like..."

"...like there’s no chance of winning at all..." Gopuro finished, his expression grim.

"Yeah... like we’re already dead the moment they look at us with those terrifying red eyes..." Gopuberry added quietly.

Aha...

I see.

With that important information, I felt like I was getting very close to the answer.

It seemed the Dark Giant Spiders possessed some kind of negative aura that inflicted fear on their enemies, suppressing their fighting spirit and making it difficult for them to resist the urge to flee.

Now that was an interesting ability.

And a seriously troublesome one, too.

After all, it didn’t matter how strong someone was if they couldn’t even bring themselves to fight. If an entire tribe fled without putting up any resistance, then it made sense that not a single spider corpse had been left behind.

But on the bright side, this was actually somewhat good news.

At least it wasn’t something like infinite regeneration, unbreakable armor, or some other ridiculously overpowered ability that would make these monsters practically impossible to deal with.

Yeah... fear was dangerous, but it wasn’t necessarily unbeatable.

And now that we had a better idea of their tricks, we could start thinking about how to counter them.