Goblins were a species of exceedingly evil and dangerous creatures. Though these Demonic Beasts, more or less considered entry-level, were not individually powerful, in terms of threat and destructive potential, they firmly ranked among the foremost of all Demonic Beasts.
The key lay in their formidable fertility and astonishing adaptability. There was scarcely anywhere in the world where they could not breed and thrive. Even in the Ash Forest, permeated by negative energy, goblins could be found anywhere slightly closer to its edges.
Their reproductive capacity was even more terrifying. Goblins could become pregnant year-round, and gave birth roughly one month after conception, with each litter numbering around four to six. Goblin infants could eat all sorts of food from the moment they were born, and if food was plentiful, they would mature in about three months—in other words, the creatures could produce a genuine "generation" in four months, and three generations in a year. Among Demonic Beasts, aside from slimes, hardly anything reproduced faster than they did.
Most astonishingly, if there was enough food, so-called "broodmothers" would emerge among goblins—bizarre females whose every ability apart from reproduction had degenerated. A broodmother could reproduce asexually, producing a batch about every twenty days, roughly ten at a time. Then, after resting for only four or five days, it could bear another batch, practically comparable to an ant queen. The young goblins it produced were stronger than ordinary goblins, grew faster, and were naturally even more dangerous.
Some scholars had calculated that, given sufficient food, a pair of goblins could multiply into more than two hundred within a year. It was utterly insane. More insane still, broodmothers would begin appearing within their population from the second year onward, sending their reproduction rate soaring in a straight line.
That was why many adventurers