Chapter 87: Fear aura

Oh, no.

My heart sank.

"That’s the chieftain!"

Or at least, it had to be.

There was no way an ordinary goblin could have an arm that enormous. Judging by its size alone, this had to be someone important.

But the arm wasn’t moving.

It lay completely motionless beneath the spider’s massive body, with no apparent sign of life.

A terrible thought immediately crossed my mind.

Was he crushed to death beneath that thing?

After all, even a Hulgagoblin wouldn’t necessarily survive having several tons of spider dropped on top of him. Whatever his level, there had to be limits to what his body could withstand.

Damn it!

Just when I thought we’d found a survivor!

But before I could say anything else, Gopuro suddenly leaped down from the tree and rushed toward the exposed arm.

"Big boss, I will help the chieftain!"

"No! Puro, wait!" I shouted in panic.

Too late.

Fuck! This reckless idiot!!!

Gopuro was already racing across the clearing!

However...

The moment he entered a radius of roughly five meters around the spider’s corpse, he suddenly stopped.

His entire body froze.

"Huh? Puro? Are you alright? Puro?" I asked in panic.

"B-b-big Boss? H-h-help!" Gopuro stuttered.

And for a few seconds, he just stood there, frozen in place, staring at the spider’s body as though he’d encountered an invisible demon. Through his eyes, I could see the creature’s clusters of crimson eyes staring directly back at him.

And to be honest, that was quite a terrifying sight.

A shiver seemed to run through my very bricks.

But then, all of a sudden, Gopuro stumbled backward and fell onto the ground.

The next instant, he scrambled away at lightning speed, practically paddling himself backward with his hands and feet. He didn’t stop until he’d put several more meters between himself and the corpse.

Only after reaching what he apparently considered a safe distance did he finally manage to calm down.

"Fuck! That was freaking scary!"

"Puro! How can you be so reckless?!" Gopuran exclaimed as she jumped down and hurried over to scold him, radiating the energy of a furious little sister.

The others quickly joined in. Some reprimanded him for rushing ahead, while others asked whether he was alright.

Gopuro could only sit there, panting heavily, drenched in cold sweat and his face as pale as a green ghost.

...

Meanwhile, I finally understood what had happened.

I see...

So this is the fear aura.

How interesting.

It seemed my earlier hypothesis had been correct. These spiders could release some kind of aura that filled their enemies within a certain radius with overwhelming fear and despair, crushing their will to fight before they even had a chance to act.

Some victims might freeze in place, unable to move even as the spiders approached to kill them. Others might turn around and flee as fast as their legs could carry them.

Either way, the result was pretty much the same.

They lost the will to fight before the battle had even truly begun.

And the truly terrifying part was that the aura apparently wouldn’t disappear even when its owner died.

Even now, anyone who approached one of these corpses could still be affected by that dreadful presence.

Hmm... That’s a nasty ability.

Well, fortunately...

I already had something that might help us deal with this problem.

****

"Lord’s Blessing Lv. 2... Activate! Blessing of Protection! Target: Gopugiga!"

As soon as I issued the command, Gopugiga’s enormous body was enveloped in a soft golden glow. The light shimmered across his muscular frame, giving him the appearance of someone blessed by a holy power.

"Alright, Giga. You can go in now!"

"Yes, Big Boss!"

Gopugiga confidently strode toward the nearest Dark Giant Spider corpse.

For reference, [Blessing of Protection] had the following effect: Prevents new negative effects from being applied to the target. Reduces the effectiveness and damage of existing negative effects by 50%.

In other words, Gopugiga should now be immune to the spiders’ fear aura.

At least, that was my understanding of how the skill worked.

And as expected, he continued forward without any trouble.

Five meters.

Three meters.

One meter...

Before long, he was standing right beside the enormous spider corpse, showing absolutely no signs of fear. He even leaned forward to examine the creature more closely, seemingly unconcerned by its rows of crimson eyes.

Very good! It works!

I was quite pleased with the result.

The only downside was the cost. Maintaining the blessing consumed a whopping two Castle Points every second. That was a rather hefty price to pay, especially if I needed to protect several citizens at once.

But whatever.

I still had plenty of points left.

"Alright, Gopuro! Gopuflammy! You two, go help him. I’ll protect you with the same blessing."

"Yes, Big Boss!"

After activating the blessing on both of them, I watched as the three goblins gathered around the spider corpse.

Their task was simple: roll the enormous creature aside and free the goblin chieftain beneath it.

Meanwhile, I watched, hoping the chieftain was still alive.

"Alright! On three!" Gopuro announced, positioning himself beside the spider’s body.

Gopuflammy planted her feet firmly against the ground, while Gopugiga crouched down and braced his massive arms against the creature’s hard exoskeleton.

"Three! Two! One! Hup!"

"HNRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!"

The three goblins pushed with all their might!

At first, the spider corpse barely budged. Its enormous body was ridiculously heavy.

Needless to say, this thing was heavy as fuck.

For a moment, I even considered sending a few more goblins over to help.

But in the end, that wasn’t necessary.

My citizens weren’t exactly ordinary goblins anymore.

With Gopugiga’s monstrous strength, Gopuro’s powerful physique, and Gopuflammy’s considerable might, the three of them gradually managed to shift the corpse.

It was like watching three people attempt to roll an enormous boulder, except the boulder had eight legs and looked absolutely revolting.

Still, after a few more grunts and one final burst of effort, the spider finally began to tip over.

Rumble!

Its massive body rolled to the side and crashed against the ground, sending a small cloud of dust into the air.

"There! We did it!" Gopuro exclaimed.

"Good job, everyone!" I praised them.

Now then...

Let’s see what happened to the chieftain.

With the spider corpse out of the way, all of us immediately turned our attention to the patch of ground beneath it.

However...

There was no chieftain.

Instead, lying on the bloodstained ground was just a single severed arm.