Chapter 413: Parasitic Red Mould

“Let’s go. We’re heading in,” Jilannis made an inviting gesture. The Sword-Singing Lion Armor on her shoulder began to chant, and a faint, green Strong Acid barrier enveloped everyone in the party. When Sera touched the Magic Barrier out of curiosity, it bulged in the direction she pushed before snapping back with even greater force.

“Ouch,” Sera yelped theatrically. There was no real feeling behind it. A barbarian, of course, wouldn’t be hurt by a barrier meant to protect her.

“Don’t poke it for no reason,” the Elf Grand Mage glanced at Sera. “This barrier isn’t meant to trap you. The inside isn’t that sturdy.”

“As for the outside, you don’t need to worry… Other than me, no one can penetrate this Magic.”

“Does that include your teacher?” Sera asked curiously.

The Moon Elf fell silent for a moment. “He was merely my first teacher.”

Jilannis’s words put everyone at ease. After falling into formation, they filed into the ruins. This unknown domain, which nurtured the Red Mould, was less a ruin and more a pitch-black cave teeming with fungus. It was a wonder that Jilannis had been able to pull the cave entrance directly to them—Ron and the others didn’t even know which mountain the cave was a part of!

Aive walked at the very front, shield raised. The Light Magic made her tower shield shine like a massive torch, making it particularly conspicuous in the pitch-black environment. The giant crawlers hiding in the cave couldn’t stand the bright stimulus. The moment their instincts drove them closer, they would let out miserable screeches, shake their numerous limbs—some with as few as eight, others with as many as several hundred—and rapidly flee from this hell of light.

Of course, there were a few daredevils. But to call these creatures that charged forward headstrong would be a stretch—it was as if they had no capacity for thought at all. Aside from crude, brutish collisions, they couldn’t even be bothered to open their mandibles. Aive and the few companions at the front dispatched them with ease. Greenish-white ichor, tinged with specks of crimson, splattered against the defensive barriers on their bodies, and a series of teeth-aching SIZZLES immediately followed.

“This Magic is a real lifesaver! Among my old partners, not even the most senior Casters were willing to waste extra Arcane Magic on something like this!” Anastina said, pleasantly surprised, as she raised her greatsword. The ichor splattered on it was rapidly being dissolved by the Strong Acid. “They just don’t get how hard it is to wash off the gunk when these insects burst!”

“Only a fellow sword-wielding expert like you can understand our pain!”

“Insects are insects, and arthropods are arthropods. Insects are a type of arthropod, but not all arthropods are insects,” Ron corrected her. At the same time, a halo of light flared in his left eye, allowing him to observe the surface of the Magic Barrier as if using an electron microscope. He focused on the fragments and residue that had yet to be completely dissolved. “Besides, her Magic doesn’t seem to be that broad in scope. The Strong Acid is taking effect not because it detected their body fluids.”

“It’s the fungus,” Sera interjected, her expression growing solemn as she crouched down. After a moment of thought, the barbarian decided against using the Grip of the Vast Wave to cut open the creature’s corpse. Instead, she asked Delaford for his dagger, pulled over the carcass of a giant spider, and thrust the blade toward its uncrushed cephalothorax.

The tough, chitinous exoskeleton was slowly sliced open. What met their eyes wasn’t the messy internal organs of the giant spider, but a large, abnormally vibrant clump of Red Mould!

More Red Mould!

“No wonder they’re throwing themselves at us like they’re blind!” the Goblin Hunter gasped, taking a few involuntary steps back. “They really *are* blind!”

“The original tissues have been completely crowded out,” Silvia said with a look of disgust, though she continued to watch Sera and observe the structure inside the giant spider’s cephalothorax. “I even suspect these creatures might have been dead for days.”

“It can’t be that extreme, can it?” Aive said, tentatively using her Flame Longsword to sever one of the giant spider’s limbs and pull it closer. “I may not have all your theoretical knowledge, but I do know that arthropods like this don’t have just one ‘brain’ controlling their bodies. Even if they’re hit in a vital spot, they can often live for…”

The Half-Elf’s voice died away. She had just discovered that the inside of the limb she’d severed was also a chaotic mass, churned up by Red Mould. Since fire wasn’t a weakness for these fungal organisms, the Red Mould at the point of the break hadn’t even died. At a speed visible to the naked eye, they extended numerous hyphae and sprayed spores, attempting to infect any creature that dared disturb them.

Jilannis’s barrier worked again. The fungi actually seemed more intelligent than the creatures they parasitized. After being thwarted, they quickly recoiled into a ball, curling up motionlessly inside the chitinous shell as if playing dead.

“The Red Mould has completely hollowed out the creature. This husk is entirely under their control,” Jilannis murmured. “So they don’t need more sophisticated attack methods. They just need to ram their target and create a wound—either on themselves or on their opponent.”

“Thank goodness you’re here, sister!” Anastina said, wiping imaginary cold sweat from her brow. “Without this barrier, we would’ve fallen right into their trap!”

Recalling her habitual, flashy moves from just moments ago, which had splattered the Red Mould-saturated ichor everywhere, the Elf Mercenary felt a wave of retroactive fear. She had indeed taken a job in the Red Mould Ruins back in her homeland, but the Red Mould there wasn’t nearly this cunning!

“This is the second variant type,” Ron noted, taking out his Weaving Introduction to carefully record his findings. “We didn’t encounter any similar strains outside. It seems the mutation of this Red Mould is a gradual process, not the result of direct catalysis by Arcane Magic or Divine Magic.”

“That’s good news. If there really is a mastermind behind this, their power is likely limited.”

‘Compared to the being that had instantly taken all the Undead Creatures from the Count’s domain, something like that probably wouldn’t have the patience for such a troublesome process.’

“I’m still a bit worried about your teacher, my friend,” Victoria said, glancing at Jilannis with concern. “Of course, I’m not suggesting he’s the mastermind, but is it possible he’s an accomplice?”

“After all, there have been far too many suspicious things on this journey…”