From the heels of the Giant I feel like an ant witnessing a humans might for the first time.
The giant is simply unfathomable.
It's slow-moving stride even attests to its grandeur in a harrowing way.
The Giant is entirely made of smooth stone, adorned with sculptured armaments.
The heels are carved into simple sabatons which serve to protect the giant's feet. They are covered in mud and dust as the they destroy everything that faces the Giant's mighty weight.
The rest of the Giant's armour that I can see follows the same style as the sabatons. The Giant seems to be wearing basic knights' armaments but the grandeur of its size ruins the subtlety.
The stone Giant's skin which can be seen in the cracks of the armour also seems to be made of stone. To be honest I can't tell if the armour and skin are separate or fused together.
At its waist, the Giant brandishes a gigantic stone sword.
A giant stone shield lay attached to the Giant's left vambrace.
It looks like a solemn knight prepared for war. Ever marching. Ever vigilant.
Whatever the Giant's goal is, it seems intent to see it done.
I spend the next day and a half following it from closely behind. No clear goal is in sight, so I figured investigating the Giant itself was worthwhile.
My goal was to determine the Giant's origin, either corrupt or divine or other. Knowing what made it tick would help immensely in discerning its intentions.
I look the Giant over from the ground for as far as I could see.
I was hoping something might stick out, like a rune or a sword stuck in its skin to give me a clue to work with.
But nothing of the sort was evident. The Giant was spotless of all blemishes that could be seen from the ground. Maybe I could find something at its head height but that is a last resort.
I even spent hours in the night speaking with Snow whilst trying to make the telepathic connection make sense. It is truly difficult use and understand but eventually we were able to get a somewhat understandable conversation going. However, Snow wasn't able to give me any particular insight into the Giant's origins.
After tailing it for what I believed was long enough I overtook the Giant and dashed in the direction it was headed. I would just have to find out what it wanted by seeing it with my own eyes.
For the following week I travelled ahead of the Giant and used [Soul Archive] to keep close tabs on its location. Even though I could still see it in the distance, Snow couldn't, so keeping an accurate map was paramount to gain his insight. Although there wasn't much for Snow to tell.
He didn't believe the Giant was divine as he felt he should be able to tell from a distance if another God was present nearby. Although he couldn't be sure as he hadn't ever met another God to date.
Watching the Giant slowly approach with the sun on the other side of it was a scene straight from a movie. I would've felt it was awesome if I wasn't concerned it could catch up and squash me on accident if I wasn't paying attention.
That night I was resting in a tall tree when a bright flash of light startled me awake.
The forest was on fire in the Giant's direction.
I jumped up and dashed for higher ground to get a better look at the carnage. On my way I saw another flash of light followed by a fiery explosion in the distance.
The light had come from the sky, in the direction of the Giant's head which was clouded in darkness.
As further streaks of light fell from the sky, I noticed how the light was coming from the Giant's eyes and each time it did I could see the Giant's face for a brief moment before darkness hid it again.
It was hideous.
The knightly Giant's face was grotesque and twisted like some kind of demon. Its mouth had long fangs that poked from its stone lips. Horns jutted from its temples. It had three eyes shaped like slits which glowed red before releasing streams of light at the ground.
But what I noticed most clearly was that the Giant's expression didn't change. It had no signs of life on its face. It was perfectly still apart from the slow steps and laser attacks.
The Giant didn't seem alive.
As hellfire burnt the forest lands to the ground I heard the faintest sound of a scream. Either a dark creature was caught up in the fire or something else was.
I'm too far away to tell what it is though. It'll days travel just to get back to where the Giant is but with [Beast Cadence] enhances my sense of hearing I am certain I heard a scream.
What the scream belongs to a human?
There is nothing I could do for them but simply confirming if it does would give me a pretty good idea about what the Giant's after.
But if it is a human then how did I not notice them earlier. When did I pass them.
The only way I will be able to find out is by going back there and hoping the corpse is still somewhat intact.
It didn't take long before the Giant's barrage ended, and I returned to my resting spot until morning came.
On my way back towards the Giant I noticed that its trajectory had changed slightly. It was now moving further north than previously, if only by a little.
Whatever happened last night seems to have caused the change.
For the next few days, I ran back to the scene of the fire. I passed the Giant whilst giving it a clear berth to the south. The fire only burned for the one night as most of anything flammable was destroyed entirely during the explosions.
The fire didn't spread far either as the forest wasn't that large or clumped together.
Once I arrived at the still smouldering remains of the forest I searched for signs of whatever died in the Giant's onslaught. As I did, I made sure [Soul Archive] was updating to show the changes in the landscape's topography.
I even managed to have it save a before and after of the forest, so it was remarkably clear what had transpired here.
Searching through the crisp remains of trees I eventually found what I was looking for.
A corpse had survived the fire after being crushed by a falling rubble. The corpse was half buried under the rubble, and the other half had been burnt to a crisp, leaving it unrecognisable.
Carefully removing the rubble on top of its top half I eventually recovered the paste that was something alive not long ago.
The corpse was so banged up that determining exactly what it was before death would be nearly impossible.
But some things were clear.
Between the crispy lower half and the crushed upper half, the corpse was roughly two metres in height.
It was also bipedal, having two legs, even if they didn't look much like legs anymore.
That alone is enough to determine the corpse could belong to a human. The only corrupt creatures that I've come across that had these two features were gate guardians and I doubt they would be killed by rubble or a forest fire.
Also, this corpse isn't likely the source of the scream I heard, as it was crushed from the waist up. So, there could be more here as well.
None of the corpse's possessions, if it had any had survived. And I'm not likely to find another corpse around as they were likely destroyed.
Regardless, I search some more but find nothing else of use to my investigation.
Since finding other humans is one of my goals, I believe it would be prudent to assume the Giant is hunting humans.
And given by its demonic facial features it's probably corrupt.
However, I've never come across a corrupt creature so massive before. And it's been a fair while since I thought about fighting something I felt could kill me.
Those laser eyes are no joke. A direct hit from that would kill me instantly, no doubt.
If the Giant is hunting humans, it could be targeting a settlement. Or perhaps searching aimlessly for them.
If I had to guess, it hasn't attacked me for the same reason the normal creatures don't.
[Soul Manifest]
[The universe has identified a corrupt focal point]
[Absorption imminent]
After eating the corrupt orb, the effect it had on corrupt creatures remained. The normal monsters don't see me a threat and if I had to guess the Giant is the same.
I haven't seen the Giant eat anything since I started tailing it so perhaps it just doesn't need nutrients. Therefore, it has no reason to attack me, a creature of corruption in its eyes.
I don't know what [Absorption imminent] mean but as long as I keep getting these kinds of benefits I don't care.
The real question is how I am going to deal with this Giant. Even if its goal isn't to find and slaughter humans, I am still going to have to deal with it sooner or later. It's a massive corrupt creature and leaving it wander on its own can't be a good idea.
But if I'm going to try and kill this thing I am going to need an immaculate plan. I doubt that once I start attacking it, it would leave me alone for much longer.
Since it is made of stone, burning it wouldn't be easy. That is if it even can be burned. Given its size and might, would it be possible to burn it? How much mana would I need to cook the entire thing?