HP: The Duelist of Hogwarts - 435

Chapter 435: Aberrant Giants

The dull yellow beam faded.

At the bottom of the crater, Sean spat out a mouthful of dust and slowly pushed himself upright. The blue-white aura that had flared in front of him dissipated. His body rose lightly from the pit and settled on the rim.

The giants drew back, opening a space in the middle.

Three giants stepped into it, each with a warped, unnatural form. Sean knew at once the real leaders had arrived.

Alongside them stood six Death Eaters. From the builds and family features of two of them, Sean could tell at a glance they were Goyle’s and Crabbe’s fathers.

The one who had just blasted him was among the three aberrant giants. He loomed even larger and broader than the others, with cloven hooves instead of feet and a single huge eye in the centre of his face.

That eye now glowed faintly yellow. Clearly, that was the source of the energy that had just hit him.

“A pleasure,” Sean said mildly. “Why don’t the three of you introduce yourselves?”

“Whelp of a wizard,” one of the giants rumbled. “You are strong. To stand against the warriors of my tribe and still manage to maim one and kill another.”

The speaker was even taller than his two companions. Five arms grew from his shoulders—two on the left, three on the right. The third right-hand arm looked newly sprouted, much smaller than the other four.

Of the three, the cyclopean giant with hooves stood to the left. The speaker with five arms stood in the centre. The one on the right, Sean now saw, had far more eyes than he should. Beyond the normal pair in his face, there were over a dozen others scattered across his cheeks, neck, and exposed arms.

One eye.

Many eyes.

Multiple arms.

Sean had a fairly good idea what sort of blood ran in these three.

Cyclops.

Hundred‑Eyed Giant.

Hundred‑Handed Giant.

Interesting. If he could beat them, his panel…

He licked his lips, excitement sparking in his chest. Since they seemed in no hurry to strike, he took the opportunity to pull open his interface and check what he had gained from the two giants he had already taken down.

So far, his panel only recognised the one he had knocked unconscious with Fulgur Flagellum through the helmet and the one he had killed outright as proper duel victories. The rest were still tagged as “duel in progress,” and so had granted him nothing yet.

[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Giant Opponent.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Giant Warrior #1.]
[Opponent Strength Assessment: High. Drawing Two Abilities.]
[Extracting...]
A heavy, battle-hardened instinct surged through Sean’s limbs, as if his muscles suddenly remembered how to swing a weapon the size of a tree and carve paths through battle lines.
[Extraction Complete!]
[New Skill Acquired: Giant Battle Arts LV2]
[New Talent Acquired: Giant Strength LV3]

Giant Battle Arts was essentially a codified style of how giant warriors wielded weapons and fought. It was not particularly valuable to Sean, but it was a technique, and better than nothing.
The LV3 talent Giant Strength, on the other hand, was exactly what he wanted.

[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Giant Opponent.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Giant Warrior #2.]
[Opponent Strength Assessment: High. Drawing Two Abilities.]
[Extracting...]
Sean felt his body grow denser and tougher, as though invisible weights had been added and then instantly mastered, raw power settling into bones, muscles, and skin alike.
[Extraction Complete!]
[New Talent Acquired: Giant Strength LV2]
[New Talent Acquired: Giant Physique LV2]

The second level of Giant Strength was nothing to get excited about when he had LV3 already. The real prize here was LV2 Giant Physique: the body of a giant of corresponding level, with its defence, magic resistance, stamina, recovery—all of it. Combined with Giant Strength, it would let him use that power to its fullest.

The instant those two giant talents settled into him, Sean’s body changed sharply. The shift did not escape the notice of the many-eyed giant on the right.

“This wizard cub’s body has just undergone a drastic transformation,” the seer-giant growled. “His physical attributes and strength are already approaching those of a full-grown warrior of our kind.”

The five-armed king of the tribe did not doubt his right-hand’s judgement for a moment. He turned his head toward the cyclops and barked, “Kuklops! Kill him!”

At his king’s command, the one-eyed giant, Kuklops, reacted at once. The faint yellow in his iris flared. Light gathered in the single eye and condensed into a beam that lanced toward Sean.

Disillusionment Charm.

Sean vanished again.

It was not that he had forgotten being hit once already while hidden. He was doing it on purpose, to test whether the cyclops had found him through its own eye or through some other means.

Sure enough, the moment he disappeared, the dozen-odd eyes on the other giant began to roll, scanning every angle. One by one, they turned until all of them focused on Sean’s actual position.

“Kuklops,” the many-eyed giant said, “there!”

With no further explanation, the cyclops swivelled and fired another yellow ray straight toward Sean’s invisible form, as if he had been given perfect coordinates.

So it is you.

And not just those eyes. You can pass what they see directly to him. Shared senses, at least for a time. If I want to deal with them, I will have to deal with you first.

“Kill him,” the giant king roared. “All of you!”

As his order rang out, every one of the many-eyed giant’s scattered eyes lit up. A warped field pulsed outward from his body, washing over the battlefield. When it touched Sean, it ripped the Disillusionment Charm away in an instant.

That, he had not expected.

The price for that surprise was a fist.

A giant Sean had assumed could not see him, swung blindly and caught him squarely. The blow launched him through the air, through a stone wall, and into the skeletal frame of a crude house, which collapsed on top of him.

He was not buried long.

Sean burst out of the rubble in reverse, streaking straight for the many-eyed giant.

The surrounding warriors moved to block him again.

Sean’s wand flashed. Bolts of light and streams of magic poured from the tip, hammering into the ring of giants. Weapons flew, bodies staggered back. Just as he blasted most of them away and opened a gap—

The king was suddenly there.

No one saw him move. One moment he was in the centre, the next he was in front of Sean. He seized the opening perfectly and drove a fist like a boulder into Sean’s chest, hammering him into the earth. Sean bounced twice, smashed through another wall, and finally skidded to a halt.

He lay there a heartbeat, gritting his teeth, then rolled his shoulders and spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the ground. Reaching up, he tore his robes open and shrugged them off, baring a well-muscled torso.

He slid his wand down into his boot, straightened, and grinned up at the giant king.

Then Sean Bulstrode charged him bare-handed.