Chapter 338: Dark Red Mold

"Delaford! Do you have any Magic left? What are you just standing there snickering for!"

The frustrated Ron caught sight of the Goblin Hunter snickering at his side and suddenly remembered this guy had Poison Protection too!

"I do, I do," Delaford came over, chuckling, but showed no intention of Casting. Instead, he pulled out his dagger. "But Ron, you've tied yourself in knots! We have a much simpler way to deal with this stuff! Why are you so hung up on using Magic?"

"Poison Protection only lasts for an hour. What would you do then? We should solve this problem once and for all!"

"Don't you dare say you're going to cut his hand off!" Victoria quickly stopped the goblin, who was eager to use his knife. "The Delusional Land isn't Rose City. It won't be easy to find someone who can reattach a severed limb!"

"What are you talking about!" The goblin rolled his eyes. "I'm not an idiot! Why would I cut off his hand for no reason? Isn't it better to just get rid of this weird stuff directly?"

"You're all too used to fighting Undead Creatures, aren't you? Normal organisms aren't nearly as resilient as the Undead. Strong Acid, which is pretty much useless against zombies, skeletons, and Vampires, is perfect for this kind of fungus!"

"Well said, but where are we going to find Strong Acid? I'm not about to have Silvia shoot a Strong Acid Arrow at me," Ron said with a pout. "I remember your bow clearly. The Count twisted it into a knot along with mine. And your Strong Acid Gemstone isn't charged anymore, is it?"

Delaford gave Ron a meaningful look. "Alright then, clever Ron, take a guess. The Strong Acid Gemstone can be used three times a day, so why would it be out of charges?"

The Goblin Hunter smugly brandished his dagger, which was glowing with a green light. "Even though I don't use it for close combat against those Undead Creatures, I never forgot to give it its daily Enchantment!"

After Delaford spoke, before Ron could react, the dagger swiftly scraped across the back of Ron's hand. Wherever the Strong Acid Blade passed, the fungi shriveled up as if they had met their natural predator, turning into tiny gray balls that rustled off Ron's palm and fell to the ground!

"It actually worked?!" Quest looked at the goblin in amazement. "I was just thinking about how we could get back to Buni as quickly as possible!"

"You smart people, sometimes you just overthink things," the Ranger said, getting carried away and accidentally nicking Ron's finger. Fortunately, all the strange fungi had been scraped off, so it didn't cause any more serious consequences. "Especially you, Ron. Ever since you got used to solving problems with Magic, where'd that kid who'd just grab a couple of herbs to treat Big White go?"

"But Magic is so convenient…" Ron muttered. 'To think I'm actually getting a lecture from a goblin—a Goblin Ranger, no less!'

"Ever since I gained the ability of Casting, I've actually come to prefer finding solutions in the wild," Delaford said, putting on the air of a tireless teacher. "You should all learn from me. That's the way to…"

"Isn't that just because your power comes from nature?" Aive rapped the goblin on the head with her knuckles. "That method of yours can't even get us a light source at night! What are you gonna do, go catch some fireflies?"

The average Ranger can't even perform a single cantrip!

"Which one of us can't see in the dark!" Delaford immediately retorted, but his bravado deflated the moment he looked at Ron. "Oh, right… forgot about you."

"Anyway, I'm finally rid of this stuff—all of you, stand back. I'll clean them up." Sighing in relief, Ron had no time for their banter. He was busy pulling the Deer Hide Gloves, a Coarse Mask, and a canvas cloth from his alchemy bag—items he hadn't used in ages. He packed up the samples from the lab and a portion of the fungal culture. He had prepared these things back when his Arcane Mastery wasn't as high. Later, as he learned more Magic and his control over Mage's Hand became more proficient, these items had just been gathering dust in his bag. He never expected they'd actually be useful today.

The others did as he said and backed out of the secret chamber, and then out of the entire room. Only Delaford, who prided himself on his "deep research into nature," remained standing behind Ron. He idly played with his pair of daggers with the Strong Acid Enchantment. It wasn't until Ron was about to leave the laboratory that the goblin finally looked up.

"Ron, is there anything else you need to take?"

"Nope, all the samples are packed," Ron summoned his Weaving Introduction to perform a final identification of all the fungi here. "Some of the cultures are common types found in the woods. The ones he has here are no different from the ones outside."

"The most important ones are the dark red fungi that are parasitic on humans. I packed five portions as spares."

"Five portions? You packed up all of them."

"How could I have packed them all? Did you forget about this?" Ron, still wearing his gloves, pulled open the drawer of the filing cabinet from before. "There's still some here—why do you ask?"

"I want to do a little experiment of my own," the goblin made a face. "I'm just a little curious. Ron, don't you find it strange?"

"The mushrooms, mosses, and molds here don't necessarily need to be cultivated in such a dark environment, right? I may be a Hunter, but back when I was under Lord Klade, our gatherers mentioned that some cultivated mushrooms can be exposed to light. That food let us eat better."

"So why did he have to make it so dark? I don't know how to do it myself, but with his power, it should be simple to control the lighting for different species, right?"

"That's true," Ron nodded. "Are you talking about… these dark red fungi?"

"We'll know once we test it—Big Ball of Light!"

As the goblin was Casting, a huge ball of light instantly illuminated the entire secret chamber and the adjoining bedroom, bright as day. It brought an unprecedented light to the castle, and even to its outer grounds.

Daylight Magic alone can provide the most intense light in a radius of twenty meters, with the range for dim light extending even further. With just this one spell from Delaford, the entire castle and the manor outside lit up!

And in this illumination, which was not sunlight but brighter than it, Ron watched in astonishment as the fungi hidden in the drawer began to Wither and die in droves, rapidly and violently. The effect was even more extreme than when it had been scraped by Delaford's dagger!

"Just as I thought! I knew it!" the Goblin Hunter noticed this as well. "See that, Ron! This stuff is even weaker than that Vampire Count! They die the instant they're exposed to light. No wonder they were being researched here!"

"Even in the Delusional Land, there can't be many places where this kind of fungus can survive. We just need to check them one by one, and we'll definitely find the location of those ruins!"