The Reason Monsters Won’t Go Extinct
Today was another great day for hunting Ogres.
I was doing fine on my own, but when the Wildcat Claws team joined me, the pace picked up.
Ogres don’t tend to act in big groups, so if we defeat them before they call for backup, we only have to deal with a few at a time.
That’s one of the conveniences of Ogre hunting for me.
Orcs and Goblins, on the other hand, act in flocks…
Also, golem-type monsters don’t group up, but they’re not a good match for me, so I pass on them.
Inorganic monsters like golems are strong against piercing attacks like my spear.
And Golems are tough to beat even without that.
If you want to defeat a Golem, you have to destroy its core, but those cores aren’t just lying around in easily accessible places.
A blunt weapon like a mace could be handy for battling them since it can destroy the entire body gradually, but I left the Goddess’s mace at the cabin.
I didn’t have much strength and couldn’t imagine using the mace while also using a shield.
I guess my thinking was a bit naive.
That mace was a special weapon that could deliver a powerful impact on contact.
But there’s no use in wishing for things I don’t have.
For now, it’s back to hunting Ogres.
We searched for them in the forest, defeated them when we found them, collected their tusks, horns, and magic stones, and then buried their bodies or burned them.
It was a simple routine.
Of course, we never let our guard down, as these were battles with our lives on the line.
Still, despite having defeated hundreds of Ogres in this area since I started hunting here, there was no sign of their numbers decreasing.
“Oh, Lady Lily, you don’t know about the ‘Chaos Vortex’?”
“The ‘Chaos Vortex’?”
When I asked Keuko, she responded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
It seems that this ‘Chaos Vortex’ is responsible for creating monsters.
Upon further explanation, I learned that Chaos Vortexes are present everywhere in the world, and each one spawns only a single type of monster.
Apparently, there is a Chaos Vortex in some part of this mountainous forest that gives birth to Ogres.
So, I then considered that destroying these Chaos Vortexes might eliminate the monsters, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought.
People were able to destroy a Chaos Vortex, before, but a few days later, a new one appeared in a slightly different location, closer to human settlements, causing a panic.
They quickly destroyed that one as well.
After several attempts, they concluded that eliminating the Chaos Vortexes was impossible.
However, they could control where the new Chaos Vortexes emerged, so they tried to keep them in more remote mountainous areas.
Even now, multiple monsters are still being born from these Chaos Vortexes.
The Chaos Vortexes continuously produce monsters at set intervals, and when the population falls below a certain minimum, they replenish it at a faster pace.
The replenished monsters also tend to move closer to where they were defeated, so the territory of monsters hardly decreases.
In fact, it can be quite challenging when the area of their operation expands.
“So, even if we keep defeating Ogres, their total number won’t decrease at all.”
I candidly expressed my thoughts to Keuko.
In response, Keuko, with a wry smile, agreed.
“That’s right, the total number won’t decrease. We managed to eliminate the excess, but extinction is impossible. Also, if we don’t thin their numbers periodically, superior species can emerge, which can be troublesome.”
“Superior species?”
“Well, if you consider the recently born monsters as the basic species, then the evolved monsters are the superior species. They not only become stronger but, depending on the species, they may also take charge of other individuals. If you ever come across a superior species, you’re obligated to report it promptly.”
“That sounds quite dangerous.”
“Well, there’s probably little to no chance of superior species being around this forest. We hunt Ogres in large numbers every day, and by doing that, we keep the Chaos Vortex quite busy with replenishment of its forces. If there were any issues, it would be more likely on the other side of the mountain, toward the general highway.”
“Isn’t that area properly thinned out?”
“I hope so.”
… Everything’s fine, right?
While we don’t go over there due to travel time, there hasn’t been any significant expansion of their influence or anything like that, right?