However, Lewis remained quiet and glared into Francis's eyes before finally giving in after a minute passed.

"Fine," Lewis replied with grinding teeth as he slowly pushed Francis's hand down that was still pressing against his chest. "I will be joining the two of you."

A broad smile crept on Francis's face, and he responded with laughter and a smack on Lewis's shoulder, "Perfect. I always wanted to go hunting with you three."

The trio hurried back towards the mansion, equipping their weapons and rations before meeting Liv.

Luz wore black leather armor and carried two sets of weapons. For close combat, Luz chose a falcata and a round shield, whose edges had spikes. As for long-range, Luz hesitantly selected the crossbow over the long bow due to personal reasons.

Like Luz, Lewis carried a similar set of weapons. But instead of a falcata, Lewis opted for a short sword while wearing brown leather armor.

On the other hand, Francis was the odd one out of the group. Not only did he pick a battle-ax meant for two hands, but he also picked a Scutum, which was basically a large squared shield with rounded edges. As for his armor, he wore a chainmail armor with a gladiator helm that went down to his nose.

"Are you sure you can use those two weapons simultaneously?" Luz cautiously asked.

"Of course," Francis answered coldly, grabbing the battle-ax with one hand and swinging it near Luz's face a few times.

Seeing the spectacle, Lewis only shook his head, knocking on Liv's door. "Stop playing, guys," he sighed, and the trio entered only to see a demotivated girl sunken in her chair.

"House arrest has truly depressed you, heh?" commented Francis in amusement while hitting the ground gently with his scutum.

"Yeah…" Liv sighed before slowly standing up and continuing to wallow in self-pity. "My days have been unremarkable and filled with the workload. If this continues, I shall die of boredom."

"Yeah, we get Liv," Lewis grumbled as he leaned against the door frame. "But could you please tell us what you want us to do so we can get it over as fast as possible?"

"At least show some motivation," Liv sighed before telling them about their mission. "To keep it short, I have some leather armors which I would have to transport to rural villages deep in the forest. You guys will deliver them while also investigating those townlets for any clues regarding the outbreak."

"That sounds boring," Francis admitted, who anticipated fighting a hoard of insects.

"Don't throw the towel, Francis," Liv hastily retorted before adding, "there is definitely something foul on the whole ordeal. We should not have been the only ones who noticed the changes in these villages. After all, the other families should be making trades with those villages as well."

"Yeah, you are right," Francis replied, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Whatever is going on, I will unravel the truth," Luz quietly muttered, and the trio took their leave.

***

Somewhere else near a village Luz and Liv had visited days ago, an insect hybrid the height of three meters or, for our American brothers, 10 feet crashed next to a burned tree, scattering debris and ashes into all directions.

Through the debris enshrouding him, only his red glowing kaleidoscope eyes were visible as the rattling sound of its exoskeleton, and the buzzing sound of its wings echoed through the place, alerting everyone in its vicinity.

"That sound… it came from the three where we hanged all the females,"  shouted a man in the village, alerting the rest of the villagers. Scared shitless, the group immediately equipped their weapon before making their way toward the source of the sound.

Only after the dust settled could one get a glimpse of the hybrid, whose hazelnut brown exoskeleton was way bulkier than the one who had visited the last place Luz had burned.

"So they were here already," the insect hybrid commented in amusement while picking a fragmented skull from the ground, which it cracked easily. Unfortunally, however, he could not find any clues about who was responsible for destroying the infected.

But just as the hybrid was about to leave, it detected a group of humans approaching it with its antennas, and a smile slowly crept on its twisted and abdominal face. "They are coming, heh?" It muttered while leaning against a stone, awaiting their arrival.

The insect-human hybrid has a human-like visage. Unlike a human, however, most of its lower face half was fused with its carapace. It got even weirder. Like any insect, the hybrid had a pair of brown mandibles that could cut virtually anything and two large kaleidoscope eyes, giving him a degree of vision unimaginable to humans at the cost of quality. Any other facial parts retained their human-like appearance if we ignore the two antennas on his forehead, of course.

It did not take long till a group of cautious villagers carrying crossbows got closer to him.

"Maybe that place is haunted by some vengeful spirits," whispered one of them while carrying his loaded crossbows with trembling hands.

"It's definitely an animal," whispered another man who was as white as one could get.

The group of men continued debating each other quietly until the insect creature that didn't even bother to hide fell into their viewpoint.

Every one of them immediately aimed at the three-meter tall insect while the leader of the group whispered in a shaky voice, "What in gods name is that creature?"

Upon hearing the question, the insect creature slowly shifted its gaze from the cracked skull in its hand to the group. "Oh, hello, guys.~" the insect answered as a dull rattling came from its exoskeleton.

"It can talk," stuttered one of the men in the group, and the bipedal insect hybrid slowly approached them with open arms. "Fear me not, peasants. I, Jasper, son of Warner, a former member of the Hobler aristocrat family, am coming in pea-…."

But before he could finish his sentence, the overwhelmed group leader gave the firing command, and a volley of arrows rained down on him.

However, unlike what they expected, all the arrows bounced off Jasper's carapace.

"My, my so rude.~" the insect answered in amusement with a croaking voice. "These toys don't work on me," Jasper continued while picking one of the arrows from the ground. "You guys need some bigger guns if you even want to put a dent on me~."