I Am Not A Goblin Slayer

Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be many scenarios to apply this Talent in its current stage. He wasn’t a scavenger like a vulture, a crow, or a Crowman; he didn’t need this Talent to lead him to corpses to feast upon. Most of the time, corpses in the wilderness—whether human or monster—were thoroughly looted unless discovered immediately. Furthermore, Gauss currently looked down on such meager pickings.

However, Gauss hadn’t completely lost faith in it. He looked at the bigger picture—the Talent could evolve.

What abilities were related to corpses? Corpse manipulation? That sounded a bit too evil and didn’t quite align with the foundation of Perception. Since corpses extended to the concept of death, would its evolution result in an ability like sensing killing intent or foreseeing death? Or perhaps it would evolve purely along the lines of Perception, no longer limited to sensing corpses, but branching into a more comprehensive hyper-perception?

BANG!

As Gauss pondered, a red signal flare bloomed in the distant sky. He turned his head, glancing in the direction of the commotion.

That flare was a distress signal, standard issue for every squad operating in the field. He had a few in his Storage Pouch as well, though the probability of him using them was practically zero. If he were ever driven into a corner, a single flare would hardly gather enough help in time to save him.

"Let’s go take a look," he murmured.

Since he had seen someone requesting aid, Gauss wouldn’t hesitate to lend a hand. Saving lives was the priority. The dragon wings behind his back unfurled, and he sped toward the signal flare.

CRASH!

The earth tore apart.

"It’s a One-Eyed Giant!"

"Get out of the way!"

Before the squad captain could finish his sentence, a massive granite boulder, two meters in diameter, plummeted from the sky, instantly crushing him into a bloody pulp. The light Armor he wore, designed for enhanced agility, was utterly incapable of withstanding an attack of this magnitude. Of course, even heavy Plated Armor would fare no better against such a strike. Even if the boulder failed to shatter the Armor, the immense crushing pressure and reverberating force would instantly vibrate the human inside the iron can to death.

HOWL!

At some point, the silhouettes of numerous monsters had quietly appeared in the surrounding bushes. The human squad quickly descended into chaos. They hadn’t expected a One-Eyed Giant to be dwelling in the hills surrounding this monster camp. They thought they were the hunters, only to realize they had fallen into an ambush set by the monsters.

The colossal One-Eyed Giant sat cross-legged on the mountainside, continuously hoisting rocks from the foothills and hurling them at the humans. With just a few throws, the human squad suffered rapid casualties.

"Scatter! Everyone, spread out!" the vice-captain screamed himself hoarse, taking over the duties of the fallen leader. Although scattering carried the risk of being picked off one by one by the surrounding monsters, it was better than all of them dying under the Giant’s boulders.

High upon the hill, watching the humans flee in panic, the One-Eyed Giant laughed uproariously. "Dead humans can be traded for lots of Gold Coins!"

Its smile was innocent, like a child who had just received a new toy. It was originally a wild Giant eking out a meager existence in the barren mountains. Then, one day, a group of little creatures approached it. Right before it was about to crush them, they promised that helping them kill humans would earn it precious Gold. They were even willing to pay a large gold nugget in advance.

What One-Eyed Giant could resist such temptation? Besides, it was just helping them kill some humans. Seeing the humans die helplessly under the massive boulders, the last trace of apprehension in its heart vanished. It was a Giant; those little ants posed absolutely no threat to its life. It could almost see a multitude of Gold Coins flying toward it.

While it was still daydreaming, a streak of Platinum light suddenly flashed at high speed in the corner of its vision.

Were Gold Coins actually flying over? The thought popped into the One-Eyed Giant’s clumsy, simple mind.