Chapter 670 (1/2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A gnome was a very evil and dangerous creature. It fell under the kind of magic beast that was almost entry-level, and its individual power was not strong. But when it came to its ability to appear threatening and destructive, it easily beat a variety of magic beasts and ranked among the top few.

The crux of the problem lay in their powerful reproductive capacity, as well as their astonishing adaptability. There seemed to be no place in this world where the gnomes could not thrive and multiply. Even in Ashes Woods that were brimming with negative energy, there would be traces of them to be found so long as those places were slightly closer to the edge of the forests.

Their ability to reproduce was even scarier. The gnomes could get pregnant all year round, and after pregnancy, they only needed around a month before they were ready to give birth. Every pregnant gnome would give birth to around four to six babies. After the baby gnomes were born, they could eat all kinds of food normally. If their food supply was aplenty, after about three months, the baby gnome could grow to maturity—in other words, this thing could grow and give rise to an actual “generation” within four months after birth, which meant that a year’s time was enough to breed three generations of gnomes. Within the realm of magic beasts, other than the Slime, it was highly unlikely that there would be any other magic beasts that could reproduce faster than them.

The most shocking thing was that if there was enough food, the”broodmother” would even appear among the gnomes. This was a strange female gnome that was deteriorating in all abilities with the exception of its reproductive capacity. A “broodmother” could reproduce via parthenogenesis. Around 20 days or so, it would be able to give birth to one batch of babies, and in every batch, there would be around ten babies total. Then so long as it was allowed a break of four to five days, it would be able to give birth to the next batch. This was literally comparable to species like the queen of ants. And the baby gnomes birthed by a broodmother were much stronger, grew much faster and were thus, naturally much more dangerous than the ordinary baby gnomes.

There were studies by scholars that showed that if provided enough food, a pair of gnomes could multiply to more than 200 times in a year. This was indisputable madness. What was more insane was that from the second year onwards, there would be broodmothers emerging among the gnomes, and the rate of reproduction would skyrocket.

This was the reason why many adventurers felt that the gnomes were simply like weeds; they could never kill enough of them. On the contrary, new adventurers who lacked experience often found themselves besieged by a large group of gnomes and then lose their lives in a most cowardly manner.

One very important reason why Baron Dahl chose the tribe of gnomes as his first target for this winter’s clean-up operation was precisely because of their ability to reproduce. If these fellows caught wind of the news and took flight to seek refuge within the mountains, perhaps by the next winter season, Dahl Hill would no longer be facing just one tribe of gnomes but several tribes that came together to form a gnome alliance.

Of course, the scores could not be counted as such. The gnomes were no powerful magic beasts, and such a thing as “abundant food” was in fact, not very possible for them. And they were passionate about infighting. Once a tribe started to expand by just a slight degree, the tribe would easily fall apart into disunity—thereafter, the gnomes would become food for the other magic beasts.

So over the years, tribes of gnomes could be found everywhere, but alliances of gnomes were rarely seen. Legends about the existence of a “Khan Gnome,” who was able to integrate the masses into several gnome alliances to eventually give rise to a newfound country and things like that, were just legends after all.

This was like a rabbit, whose reproductive ability was much stronger than that of the gnomes. But who would be afraid to see herds of rabbits?

A wave of arrows shooting all over the place drove the tribe of gnomes into a panicked state. The heavily armed soldiers were already shouting all kinds of slogans with weapons in their hands as they charged towards the gnomes.

Most of them were using long weapons, like long guns and spears, forks and long blades… anyway, their weapons all had long handles. This category of weapons could effectively maintain a distance between their enemies and them so that they could maximize the advantage of their equipment.

These professional soldiers were all very strong physically. They wore thick and heavy armor so the weapons of the gnomes could not hurt them easily. On the other hand, they held weapons that were always able to heavily injure the gnomes. As soon as both sides exchanged blows, it did not take long for a handful of gnomes to fall down into a heap as the number of injured gnomes went past 20.

Not only that, but also, not too far behind these soldiers, the archers were madly shooting arrows that rained upon the gnomes in torrents. These skilled shooters used bows of different lengths. Every three to four arrows released, they would be able to shoot down an enemy. From time to time, there would be a gnome suddenly shot by an arrow. Among them, most would be directly shot in a vital point and fall to the ground right away.