Knight of Corruption (LitRPG)

27 - Hunter Killer

Adel wanted to take the lead on this 'giant hunting operation,' claiming he had significant experience of killing them. I wasn't so sure – but I wasn't a wellspring of new ideas myself. I allowed him to [inspect] myself and Cali so he could formulate a strategy.

His face twisted as he read my stats, "That's strange."

"What?"

"Your HP. When a person levels up, you receive a very, very minor increase to your health. Not enough to make much of a difference versus a well-crafted weapon."

"And?"

"You're already over one-hundred. Not even my mentor back at the inquisition had health like this. Is it another side effect of Stigma?"

I hadn't really thought about it before he pointed it out, "Possibly."

"To be more specific, each race has a multiplier that effects how many health points they receive. Humans and Ashmorn have the lowest multiplier of all the sentient races. But your multiplier seems to eclipse even some mid-level monsters."

"Cool. So that means I can take a hit and keep going."

"Well, I wouldn't allow myself to become overconfident. A solid hit from one of these giants would put you in serious trouble."

"What are we going to do?"

Adel smiled, "You both have a versatile set of skills. An ambush will allow us to get the initiative against the foe, we can use your stealth to get an easy first strike. Depending on the power of our attacks, we could focus on felling one at a time, or split up and try to kill all of them as quickly as possible."

"Cali can probably kill a giant in one shot," I said, thinking back to our fight with the lich.

"Using a huge reserve of magical energy," she added, "Though that would render me untenable for any further combat. Having to protect my unconscious body while multiple giants try to kill us will make things more difficult. I approve."

"We're not going to do that."

Adel dusted off his tabard, "You said that a small group of them are nearby?"

"Yes. Twenty minutes' walk out of the gates."

"They should still be here. As long as you two feel you are capable of moving still."

"...Sure. Let's go."

Adelbern followed us as we retraced our steps to where the giants spotted us. The plan was to launch a surprise attack on them. According to Adel, the giants roaming around were level fifty to sixty. That, combined with favourable stat modifiers made them an extreme threat to any human trying to fell one in combat. I was still stuck at level 33. He estimated that consuming one of them and taking twenty-five percent of their experience would rocket me into the late forties easily.

"The highest-level creature ever recorded was 152," he explained, "An elder dragon who slept on the southern pole. Though it is commonly believed that the creature was defeated by a coalition of heroes." The amount of experience needed to raise your level to that extent was unimaginable. An immortal dragon could only reach 150 before being slain. Each extra level needed more and more experience. The upward curve of that process was more like a sheer cliff-face.

With Stigma, things were different.

Being able to siphon another person's abilities and experience was an incredible power. In a world of enforced structures, restrictions and social norms, being able to learn a rare and important skill just by finding a dead body was invaluable. It couldn't be overstated just how good it was. People would dedicate years of their lives honing a craft in craft or combat, just to gain one or two levels in them. Techniques were few and far between those levels too.