“That thing is a Spore Goblin. It’s a genuine calamity-class monster. In fact, it’s one of the more well-known ones. You can find information on it in most published bestiaries, although with varying degrees of accuracy.”

“Spore Goblin?” Ellis ruminated over the name. As expected, it really was a goblin, but why was ‘Spore’ tacked on to it? Did it have something to do with that mushroom-shaped top on its head?

He turned back towards the Looking Glass and scrutinized the image. At most, the creature was no taller than a child. If it wasn’t for its welted skin and spindly legs, then it would have looked like something straight out of a classic videogame (the one featuring a certain red-suited Italian plumber with an obsession with pipes). To be honest, it did not seem all that strong. Even the aura that it exuded, while it was a fair bit stronger than average, it did not feel as dreadful nor as somber as the aura that he had felt from the Slime.

Was this thing really a calamity-class monster?

Despite all of his doubts and suspicions, Grisella looked awfully serious.

After a moment’s pause, she further explained, “that thing is definitely a calamity-class monster, but your doubt is not unwarranted. Its personal combat strength isn’t really something to laud over.”

“Then why is it considered a calamity-class monster?”

“… Do you know how the designation of calamity-class came to be?” Instead of answering, Grisella suddenly asked him a question.

Ellis thought about it for a while. “That… I’m not entirely too sure. You started rambling on about calamity-class monsters in this vague and slightly ominous tone, so I kind of just rolled with it… I’m guessing they’re some sort of vague and ominous creature?”

And from personal experience, calamity-class monsters certainly did live up to their status as vague and ominous. After all, that serpent-like Slime that he fought was equal parts vague and equal parts ominous.

“Well, yes… but saying it like that is a bit…” She let out an awkward cough. Her cheeks slightly reddened.

Now that Ellis had mentioned it, she did have a flair for the theatrics. Embellishing something was just her natural instinct. She shook her head. “In truth, calamity-class is just an arbitrary designation set up by the kingdoms of man some few thousand years ago. Because they were convenient, the rest of the world simply adopted it.”

She paused for a moment. “At the start, there were three designations; disaster, calamity, and apocalypse. These designations were tacked on to all sorts of things. A few examples would be a calamity-class criminal or a disaster-class artifact, that sort of thing. Of course, its usage is most prevalent when it comes to monsters.”

“Then, what does each designation mean?”

“A disaster-class monster is one capable of completely destroying an entire city, a calamity-class monster is one capable of completely destroying a nation, and an Apocalypse-class monster is one capable of completely destroying the entire world.”

Those are some rather gloomy sounding titles, but I don’t really think it’s a very good ranking system. Ellis silently thought to himself. For one, it practically ignores all the weak monsters. Is there no love for the mobs of this world?

While Ellis lamented for his fellow comrades(?), Grisella continued to explain, “as you might be able to tell, Lull is still very much intact, so it’s safe to say that Apocalypse-class monsters don’t really exist. It’s purely a designation implemented for appearance’s sake. It’s also the reason why many consider calamity-class to be the highest distinction in terms of strength. Of course, it goes without saying but even within the same class, there are disparities between individual monsters.”

“I see…” Ellis furrowed his brow. If that’s the case, why do they still persist on using it? Why not create another ranking system that can better quantify the differences?”

Grisella shook her head. “Creating a new ranking system now would be impossible, especially one that can be adopted by the rest of the world. The current ranking system was created during a time of great unification.

“Three thousand years ago, a single empire ruled over most of the continent. Towards its latter stages, the Medina clan came into power and seized the throne. This eventually led to the start of the Medina Dynasty. Their reign would last for over five hundred years, and in that time, the clan implemented various laws and standards that would go on to outlive the very empire that they came from. For one reason or another, the Dynasty eventually collapsed and the Empire fractured. The world changed, but some things remained the same. For one, some of the old standards survived, or rather, they were kept alive due to their convenience.”

She paused for a moment. “The real take away here is that although it is an archaic system with many faults, it does still have its own uses.”

“Like what for example?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“It works best not as an indication of power, but rather, an indication of threat.” She then pointed at the Looking Glass. “A Spore Goblin is a good example of that. It looks weak, doesn’t it?”

“Well, yeah.” Ellis nodded his head.

“In truth, that thing has the combat strength of a disaster-class monster, at most. For comparison’s sake, it would probably be just a little bit weaker than your wolves. Despite that, it is still very much considered a calamity-class. The credit for such a thing would go to its rather frightening ability.”

“Ability?”

“Yes. A Spore Goblin is an extremely rare and extremely dangerous Goblin variant.” She explained. “Like with most Goblins, it has a weak body and terrible reflexes. As a combatant, it is considered pitiful, but its ability more than makes up for it.” She paused for a moment. Grisella caught herself. She realized that she was doing it again. Over-embellishing, dragging things out. She let out an awkward cough. “Anyway, a Spore Goblin’s ability is like a mixture between summoning and creating life.”

“Creating life?” Ellis widened his eyes in surprise. Such a thing… that was completely in the realm of the gods! Even he himself, Ellis was created by a former god. He really couldn’t imagine some Goblin doing the same thing.

“Well, it’s not really ‘life’, but more like puppets.” She explained. “It can grow and create fake-monsters with almost no limitation. Look closely.” Grisella then touched the surface of the Looking Glass. In the next instant, the screen zoomed in towards the ground. “Notice all those little mushrooms growing on the ground. All of those are its creations. Once triggered or commanded by the Spore Goblin, they will immediately attack. What’s more, every inch of the territory that it controls is littered by all the spawns that it has created.”

“…”

The mushrooms did not really look all that intimidating, but if what Grisella said was true, then he could understand why such a diminutive creature earned the moniker of Calamity. He nodded his head. Even if you yourself aren’t strong, with such an army at your disposal, one measly country was worth jack shit.

She breathed out a sigh. “You can understand my plight now, can’t you? I can easily escape from a single monster, but not against an entire army! Sneaking past it is also impossible. Out of all the monsters within the inner circle, the Spore Goblin has by far the largest territory.

Ellis nodded his head in understanding. Indeed, it did sound quite troublesome, but then again, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the slime. At the very least, the Goblin was at least tangible enough for him to punch.

On that note, wasn’t he the complete counter to this thing? For weak bodied creatures like this, it was enough to just run up to it and punch it to death. A barbaric, yet highly efficient fighting-style. For Ellis, there was no better match-up.

Then again, rather than quickly killing it off, I think I might be able to squeeze out a few more benefits out of it…

While Ellis was deep in thought, Grisella smiled in relief. She looked up at Ellis with glowing eyes. I might not be able to get past the Spore Goblin alone, but with Ellis here, everything should work out! With his strength, killing that thing will be as easy as breathing air.

“Then, you should probably go over there and deal with it quickly.” She spoke out. From the very start, Grisella planned to watch everything from the sidelines. It was only natural. After all, Ellis was the brawns and she was the brains.

“No.” To her dismay, he rejected her.

“W-what do you mean no?!” Seeing his ambiguous smile, a rather uneasy feeling swelled up within her chest.

“Well, isn’t it a perfect opportunity?”

“Perfect opportunity for what, exactly?” She narrowed her eyes. With each word that he blurted out, Grisella’s unease only increased.

Ellis suddenly looked towards the wolf pack. Right now, they were milling about and playing chess. When Wight sensed his gaze, she immediately turned around and trotted towards him.

He let out a soft chuckle as he scratched the top of her head.

Since these guys missed out on last time’s big spectacle, it’s only right that they get to participate.

Even if it was against a calamity-class monster, Ellis did not think that their chances were too bad. For one, the wolves were quite accustomed to fighting against tides of mobs. If it was against this type of enemy, then their chances of victory weren’t too bad.

He looked down on Wight’s eager face. It was almost as if she could tell exactly what he was planning.

“So, what do you think?” he asked her. “You want to try fighting a Calamity-Class monster?”

In response, she let out an excited bark.

Ellis once again chuckled. “I can see your eager, but I doubt your siblings will feel the same way.”

“Woof! Woof!” She shook her head and reassured him. It was almost as if she was saying, ‘Leave it to me! I’ll make sure that those brats do their part!’

He nodded. “Alright then. I’ll leave it to you.”

With that, Wight immediately ran off towards the rest of the wolf. A series of barks and howls soon followed.

Ellis then turned towards Ena. Right now, the little fox lay curled up in a ball. Her ears slightly drooped while her tails were tucked underneath her body.

“How about you?” he asked. “You want to play too?”

The little fox lazily waved her paw in the air and shook her head. Without hesitation, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Ellis could only shake his head. “This brat’s getting lazier and lazier…”

Since Ena did not want to participate, then so be it. In that case, he would just leave everything up to the wolves.

Grisella stood stock still. Her facial expression was stiff as a board while her back practically dripped with sweat.

After what felt like forever, she finally snapped out of her reverie. “Wait a minute, Ellis! You can’t send those guys out! It’s a calamity-class monster, a calamity-class! They can’t—”

“We won’t know they can’t until they try.” He simply stated with a smile. “Besides, how are they supposed to get stronger if they don’t go around challenging the impossible?”

“But…”

That’s not the point! She languidly screamed in her head. Why do this now! Training is fine and all, but this is clearly not training! You’re practically sending them to their deaths!

Ellis could imagine what sort of thoughts were running through that head of hers. Still, he was adamant. After his encounter with the Slime, he once again reaffirmed his original conjecture: within this world, only the strong thrived!

In order to make sure they don’t get bullied in the future, they needed to get stronger.

On that note, it would be great if he could find a way to use magic, but so far, he’s made no progress. Ena, for all of her natural talent, was completely useless, while Grisella did not even know where to start with his condition. Ellis was slowly growing frustrated with his limitations, but unfortunately, the current him had no way to resolve any of his problems.

I guess that’ll have to wait until I get out of this forest…

He inwardly shook his head and cleared his thoughts. He turned back towards Grisella. Ellis let out a sigh and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry too much,” he stated. “I know what I’m doing.”

Grisella’s face paled. Coming from a guy who bumbled his way through this forest, that was nearly impossible to believe!

Unfortunately, before she could say anything, the wolves suddenly ran down the hill. Like their master, they too thirsted for growth. Something like an infinite army did not intimidate them. Unless it was something as unfathomable as the Slime form last time, they were practically fearless.

Through the corner of his eye, he watched the wolf pack leave. Ellis turned back over to Grisella.

He paused for a moment. “Well, it’s too late to change things now.”

And like that, the venue was set for the group’s second encounter with a calamity-class monster.