63. The four of us are mages and not saints.

Luz immediately got surrounded by men shouting right into his face, overwhelming him with pieces of information. In the end, he did not know how to continue, but thankfully Francis had no plans of watching the spectacle any further.

The giant immediately grabbed one of the people of the mass, a young male, and asked, "Tell me about everything that had been happening."

"Why him?" shouted someone else, and it immediately grew louder again.

Infuriated by them, Francis instantly lit his battle ax ablaze, scaring them away. After sighing loudly, he shifted his attention to the rest while placing his burning weapon onto his iron shoulder pad. "All of you are allowed to add input, and I will reward you. But those that hinder me will lose their fucking heads."

The rest turned quiet, watching the kid in envy.

After half an hour of listening to the kid speak and to the inputs of others, Luz asked, confused, "So if your village got infected as well… where did you keep the rotting corpses? I mean, we have not yet noticed any bodies hanging from the trees surrounding the village."

Francis nodded in agreement. The question had been bothering him as well. By now, his battle ax was no longer ablaze but was still glowing red due to the heat.

But before the kid could answer, someone else who had been listening quietly interrupted with a croaked voice, "None of you are allowed there, and I hope you guys respect our privacy."

When Francis heard his request, he burst out laughing and slowly lifted his red glowing combat ax from his shoulder while muttering in amusement, "Privacy, huh?"

"Yes." the latter answered seriously while standing before Francis.

Unfortunately for the elderly man, Francis had no desire to cooperate and immediately swung his ax with all his might, only to come to a halt a few millimeters shy of the latter's throat.

A strong wind blew against the man as a grin slowly formed on Francis's face. "I don't think you realize in what kind of position you are…" Francis answered in amusement before turning serious and pointing towards his group. "You see my comrades, right?" He asked, and the latter nodded while being scared shitless.

"Good," Francis commented, placing his hand on the latter's shoulder before he spoke loud and clear for anyone to hear, "The four of us are mages and not saints. Your opinions mean nothing to us, and if we want, we could rape all of the female villagers before we burn your goddamn hamlet into ashes. So tell me, are you willing to sacrifice the entire village to keep it private!?

Francis's words terrified the elderly man to such a point that he could not answer. Thankfully for the old man, someone else made the decision for him, pulling the elderly man aside.

"Thanks," Francis answered, satisfied, before turning his attention back to the kid, stating, "Kid, what was your name again?"

"Symon," the boy stammered because he was terrified by Francis' earlier threat.

"Ok, Symon, bring us to the infected," Francis stated, and the kid led the group outside the village.

And as they left the village, Symon explained to the group that they had two places where they kept the dead infected and the living ones.

"I see," Francis commented before stating, "Then please lead us to the living. I think ending their suffering first would be the wisest thing to do."

Symon tried to say something, but fearing that he might be the first to lose his head, he led the rest towards the cave as a feeling of uneasiness enveloped him.

After walking for a few more minutes, the group soon arrived in front of a cave, whose entrance was blocked by a giant insect swarm.

Beneath the swarm were the remains of a few dozen skeletons with no flesh.

But what scared them the most were the bone-chilling screams coming from the depths of the cave, and only now did Symon explain the problem. "We cannot enter. Those that tried got devoured by the swarm."

"I see," Francis responded before stripping down his armor and clothes. "I will take care of them myself."

"Wait! Why is Francis stripping down his armor?" Luz asked Lewis in confusion.

But the latter answered with a yawn, "Just wait and see. It is not really the first time he did that."

In the end, a naked giant slowly walked into the swarm. But as the swarm was about to engulf and devour him, massive flames blasted out of his body, instantly killing these pesky flies. However, Francis did not stop there and continued burning them for another second.

On the other hand, his teammates could only see the silhouette engulfed by the flame. But after the flames grew weaker, the stench of burned hair immediately filled the area, and a naked, hairless man, stepped out of the flames in embarrassment, mumbling loudly, "my… hair… it is gone."

Lewis tried suppressing a chuckle and instead threw the latter, Francis, his clothes, who was busy touching his skin in hopes of finding any hair.

"It is ok," Luz commented with a smile, going from ear to ear. "The three of us won't discriminate and question the masculinity of a cancer patient."

Author note: That sounded funnier in my imagination… Also, Francis removed his armor so that it would not burn.

"Listen here, you lil shit," Francis cursed loudly, throwing his helmet at Luz, and the group burst into laughter.

Nevertheless, after the group regained their cool, they finally entered the cave while Francis lit the darkness for the rest while leading them through a narrow corridor. The screams down there immediately grew intenser as the sound of rattling also echoed loudly.

"What the fuck is going on?" Luz cursed as his skin was covered in goosebumps.

Thankfully, Luz was not the only one scared, and his friends, Francis and Lewis, also showed signs of fear.

Author's note: Sorry for my inconsistent upload schedule. I was busy studying for an exam over the last few days. Well, I am still in my exam phase, but I will try uploading every second day.