Dole spent a month studying these things. He discovered that they had been manufactured, not naturally formed.
A powerful black wizard was active in Nightmare Forest, and this black wizard had mastered the use of spore-type lifeforms to perfection.
There were far too many traces of biological wizardry on the fuzz. Dole discovered that within this thing's most fundamental core lay many traces of witchcraft, all of them flesh-based black witchcraft.
Flesh parasitism, flesh transformation, flesh derivation, flesh decay, and so on—all were infamous varieties of black witchcraft.
This was an alchemical product, unmistakably something that had been researched and created: a biological weapon with powerful and evil applications. Yet it was also an excellent subject of observation for Dole.
As for ways to counter it, he had already found them. Though this thing spread fiercely, it was extremely dependent on its surroundings. In a laboratory, they could be wiped out with ease.
It could be said that once this thing left Nightmare Forest, unless someone preserved it, its chances of surviving elsewhere were not high. After a single winter, most spores would die, making them difficult to retain.
Unless that black wizard made another move and released more of these things, in which case, given their rate of spread, they would soon ravage spring, summer, and autumn all over again.
Could this thing have been created by dark elves? Only dark elves, who were likewise proficient in life magic, could wield flesh-based witchcraft with such mastery.
Dole had not yet found any medicine capable of restraining these things. After all, studying something required time for observation and experimentation.
Most of his time was currently spent researching Silicon-Based Creatures, so he was not as invested in these spore lifeforms.
However, Dole was also keeping Karl's matter in mind, and large-scale