Chapter 48 - Provoke

This was the moment Xzavier had been waiting for. The thrill of the hunt, the thought of settling as score, and the prospect of settling all blended together and rolled into one colossal wave of a kind of psychotic longing. Around the corner, he felt like victory was courting him. With the fate of the orc leader in his hands, Xzavier couldn't wait to even the score.

So, he summoned his armor motorcycle once again, mounted it like a warrior mounting a steed into battle, and audaciously headed into the base camp of the orcs- alone. In order to get to the valley below, Xzavier had to come down from his elevated height and descend down a very rough hillside to get to the bottom.

The powerful beam of his headlights as well as the angry hum of the powerful engine of his motorcycle was a dead giveaway of his presence. Anyone would have opted for a more careful and a less daring approach. But Xzavier didn't care. The time for stealth had passed. This time around he would try a more direct approach. Even if the powerful glare of his headlights didn't get the attention of the orcs, he had something else that would definitely set him in their sights.

Xzavier pulled up right at the entrance to the catacombs of hollowed out rocks in the valley and pulled out an RPG. Still on his motorcycle, right in the HQ of the orcs' base, Xzavier aimed the weapon right at the center of the valley and fired. Xzavier watched with an odd sense of satisfaction as the rocket flew out of his launcher and headed straight to his intended target with a swish and finally, a resounding BOOM!

The explosion rocked the ground underneath him. Before long, the unsuspecting orcs began to run about frantically. Grunting and making animal noises. Xzavier truly wished he understood orc language. At the moment, he would have given anything to know exactly what they were saying. Although there was no way of knowing for sure, Xzavier believed the interpretation would be something like this;

"These demons have come again o!"

"What do they want with us?!"

"Hurry! Let's hide!"

Sitting on his motorcycle, RPG in hand, Xzavier eyes glowed with orange as the fire from the explosion reflecting in his eyes like a huge glowing ball. He watched with glee as the chaos unfolded before him. It was almost difficult not to relish the destruction he had wroth on the unsavory creatures.

Xzavier didn't allow himself to get carried away, he kept his eye out for the one entity that he wanted. It didn't take too long before he got his wish. Like a demon rising out of the earth, like an idol coming to life from the ashes of chaos, the tall towering form of the orc leader emerged from the mayhem. Even with the pandemonium all around him, the chief orc had somehow managed to retain his finesse as a leader as he emerged unscathed from the commotion.

Xzavier struggled to rein in his excitement. The hour was at hand. It was now time to enforce the next part of his plan. Without taking his eyes off the orc leader, even for a minute Xzavier disembarked from his motorcycle. The distance between both the human and the orc was great, but because of the glow of the late night's moon, both could see each other clearly.

To make sure that the chief orc could really see him, Xzavier stepped in front of the motorcycle's head lights and executed the second phase of his plan. Considering Xzavier's predilection for seriousness and his apparent hatred for all things unserious, what Xzavier did next was almost comical. The young man did the unthinkable;

Looking at the chief orc squarely in the eyes, Xzavier tilted the left side out of his hips to the side teasingly like a delinquent, then lifted his left hand high in the air and brought it down on his own butt! Smacking it in a playful manner. This entire gambit was deliberate, nothing about it was unintentional.

Uninvited and unwanted, Xzavier had intruded on the personal domain of the orcs. Not only had he strolled in as an unwelcome guest, Xzavier had fired a rocket, destroying, possibly killing and displacing at least a dozen orcs. In doing that, he had the temerity to degrade the chief of the orcs by provoking him with such a rude display of wantonness.

The orc leader was enraged. He couldn't believe that this puny little human had the audacity to come back to attack a second time! He was as mad as he was disgusted. Waves of disgust spawned from within him and made their way to the top. The hatred the orc leader had for Xzavier was such that even if Xzavier happened to drop dead at that moment, the leader of the orc wouldn't hesitate to attack Xzavier's corpse! He truly hated the detestable human.

Xzavier had managed to escape the orc leader the last time, but he knew that with all he had just done here, there was no way the orc leader would let him slip by this time. Xzavier had proven to be a very annoying pest, so the Orc leader vowed to kill him in the bloodiest way possible.

Just as Xzavier had expected, the orc leader didn't waste any time at all. Instantly, he unleashed his power and quadrupled in size within a minute. This time, Xzavier had a firsthand view of the horrendous growth of the orc. He noticed that there hadn't been any noticeable triggers. It seemed the orc could simply activate this power by will. The other thing that was now apparent to Xzavier was the fact that the enraged chief orc was now determined to kill him.

Xzavier hurriedly hopped on his armor motorcycle and zoomed off, leaving the orc behind him bathing in the dust. As Xzavier made his getaway, he intentionally made sure that there wasn't a serious amount of distance between them. He didn't make any move to completely shake the orc off his tail, but, Xzavier also didn't make it very easy for him to catch up with him. He kept a negligible amount of distance between them. This was vital to Xzavier's next plan.

Suddenly, out of the blue, with the finesse of a professional biker, Xzavier circumnavigated his motorcycle and negotiated a dangerous curve. The skid caused his tires to burn rubber. In the direction, Xzavier fled in a specific trajectory. Hot on his heels, the orc leader pursued Xzavier relentlessly. Under his extra large feet, several thumps resembling mini tremors rocked the surrounding.

The explosions went off in quick succession, each one on the horribly loud heels of the other. Spiraling into one colossal wave of destruction. Xzavier didn't commit the same mistake as last time by planting just a single land mine. No. This time, Xzavier was generous with his traps, he literally littered the path which he led the orc on with land mines. With the finesse of a swan, Xzavier deftly sped through the terrain. It was astounding just how he managed to evade his own traps and at the same time, maintain a dangerously high speed.

The chief orc found out that he had stumbled into a graveyard of buried traps. But surprisingly, he continued to forge ahead, knowing fully well what awaited for him. Such was his hate for Xzavier. Such was his determination to quash the little annoying human bug who kept troubling him with his persistent attacks.

The injury which he had suffered initially from Xzavier's land mine the previous time had impaired his speed and mobility. That, plus the news explosives which Xzavier had gifted him as a welcome package also added to the overall damage on the part of the orc.

The chief orc's injuries weren't lethal, not in the slightest. But judging by the limp and lagging footsteps of the chief orc, Xzavier deduced that it was probably still reeling with the pain. The orc hadn't fooled Xzavier in that regard, it was clear that he had sustained so major damages to both his feet. Xzavier noted amusingly that the spring in the footsteps were both equally slow and tagged with pain. It wasn't one leg that had suffered the damage, it was both feet. Xzavier noted all of this while tearing through the terrain with the chief orc on his back.

Once again, the super large orc had fallen prey to the traps which Xzavier had littered around the corner. The orc's blood boiled with rage. So, he became more alert to the possibilities of more traps awaiting him ahead. He resolved not to fall prey to the puny tricks of this daring human. The smart orc soon worked out a plan. He had already discerned a pattern that followed Xzavier's traps. So, he took precautions and decided to tow a different path- literally.

So, instead of running behind Xzavier in a straight line, the chief orc switched lanes expertly and began to run parallel to Xzavier, avoid the straight path behind Xzavier which he had blazed for him. The orc began to congratulate himself on having thwarted such a beguiling enemy. He was so pleased with himself that for a moment, he forgot completely about the roaring pain stabbing away at his two roasted feet.