Chapter 50 Failure

Xzavier's eyes remained fixated on the rising orc, and sure enough, he got his explanation alright. As the orc struggled to regain control of his arms, and as he made his way up, a huge piece of metal, (roughly the size and weight of a giant metal gate) dropped from the orc's leader's head.

As it dropped to the ground, Xzavier saw exactly where his bullets had been landing. Though Xzavier had been fighting it for a while now,but as he saw the evidence, the feeling of abject failure washed over him with the biting chill of a cold winter's night on the docks.

Xzavier's willingness to admit his failure was not as commendable as the chief orc's prudence. It turned out that the orc wasn't a totally stupid entity. If anything, recent evidence suggested that the orc actually had a solid hold on reality to have thought this far. Clearly the chief orc was well aware his own weakness. Not only was he aware, he had envisaged the fact that some day, someone would definitely come for that part of his head. The very fact that he had arranged for a contingency plan if this magnitude revealed a very sinister side of this beast. The piece of metal had been there all along, hidden and obscured from all eyes.

From the very start, Xzavier had been out of the loop. He hadn't been aware of the terrifying ability of the chief orcs, neither had he been aware of the weakness, and finally, the last straw was the protective shell which the orc had somehow managed to install and kept hidden from all eyes.

Xzavier now realized for the first time that he was dealing with a different breed entirely. The chief orc was not the average brainless beast. This oversight had proven to be very costly.

But if course, Xzavier had other contingencies of his own as well. If Xzavier hadn't learnt anything from his previous jousts with the orc, he had learned that it was always best to have other plans asides from the original. While Xzavier had laid out the mine traps with the intention of destabilizing the chief orc, its main objective was meant to make the orc switch lanes. And of course, the plan had worked brilliantly. Thinking that he had come up with an excellent way to evade Xzavier's land mines, the chief orc had fallen prey to Xzavier's indirect trap by running Parallel to Xzavier. But unfortunately for him, the traps weren't over yet at all. This whole gambit was only a means to another end: the nylon rope.

Prior to this very moment, Xzavier had set up several interlocking nylon ropes, tied to the top of several trees like one massive spider web, this particular trap encompassed the escape route on both sides. So, this inadvertently meant that the orc chief would trip and fall no matter which way he decided to go.

Xzavier's plan had worked like a charm. But this time, it hadn't me to because of his sole efforts. Xzavier had Kadin to thank for the beta part his plans. Indeed, the old man's input had been more than instrumental in the success of the trap. Kadin had used magic to bind the orc leader's hands at the very moment he came crashing down on the ground. This would then avail Xzavier the opportunity to take a shot at the back of the orc's head. It was the perfect plan and it had been executed deftly by Xzavier. The only cog in the otherwise perfect plan was that he had severely underestimated the chief orc's intelligence. If it hadn't been for that minuscule oversight, Xzavier would probably have succeeded having tweaked his plans a little bit.

Having come to the full realization that his plan had flopped, the competitive side of Xzavier which he often kept repressed, broke through the walls and dominated Xzavier's entire thinking faculty. Fueled with a new drive to overcome and equipped with a fresh drive, Xzavier drove back in the direction of the chief orc.

At this point, Xzavier's vision had turned a thick blood red. He knew that he couldn't possibly accept defeat at such a crucial point in time. No doubt, his plans had gone awry, but he was in a position where he could do some real damage to the orc if he played the right cards. So, unwilling to accept defeat, Xzavier began to ride his armor motorcycle around the orc leader in circles. His movements were quick and he kept his battle grade automobile on full speed. As he drifted round and round about the orc, his screeching tires created a haze of clouds of dust, which kept the chief orc guessing as to where his position was.

All of this wasn't for naught, Xzavier's relentlessness and stubbornness in this case was hinged on the hope that he would get a clear shot at the chief orc's weak spot. But the enemy soon caught on. Once again, the orc leader had proven to be a real menace in not just physical warfare, but in psychological warfare as well. The normally aggressive orc whose entire tactics was purely attacks, was now playing defense!

It was uncanny just how paranoid the chief orc had gotten. If he were still his confident self, he would go all out against the tiny man circling around him on a metal steed. As Xzavier drove up dust clouds, creating a kind of vortex, the chief orc used his left hand to protect the back of his head. Having lost his shield, the orc leader was well aware of the fact that he was now exposed, so he improvised by creating a makeshift shield with his left hand. But that didn't stop him from counter attacking.

With his left hand guarding his Achilles heel, the chief orc used his free hand which held his trusty huge axe and swung blindly around. Hoping to catch a lucky shot. He didn't.

Xzavier's mind was occupied but that didn't stop him from wondering about the chief orc's axe. Was his ability to increase in size transferrable to his axe as well? Had the axe been originally fashioned to be this big? If so, how then did the orc carry it when he returned to his normal size? These questions plagued Xzavier's mind deeply as he fought to find

He realized that he knew so very little about his enemy. Xzavier had declared war on the orcs and charged headlong into battle without any pre information. This had been a gross oversight on his own part, and he knew that he was lucky not to have suffered any lasting or permanent damage as a result of his presumptuousness.

While Xzavier was lost in deep thought, the chief orc caught a lucky break and his axe came down hard on Xzavier's location. At the last minute, Xzavier ducked and at the same time, tilted his armor motorcycle dangerously close to the ground, narrowly escaping with assault. After Xzavier balanced himself properly, he touched his hair and was horrified to discover that a fraction of his hair had been

Decided that it was fair actually, since he also had used the tires of his armor motorcycle to burn off a decent part of the orc's scalp. In a way, that was Xzavier's karma. The scales were now balanced in that regard. Both of them had given each other haircuts. The irony of it all wasn't lost on Xzavier at all.

From a distance, the voice of the old man came ringing out. Xzavier recognized the urgent tone and paid attention:

"Xzavier! Abort the mission!! Abort!!" Kadin cried.

"The plan has gone sideways! Don't linger anymore!! Come on!!"

Kadin's voice came with a vibe of hopelessness. It was evident that he had given a lot of thought to the situation and came up with the fact that retreating was the best thing to do.

This voice of reason brought Xzavier out of his vindictive state of mind. Xzavier knew that Kadin was a pretty objective man. He was neither a pessimist neither was he one of those hopelessly optimistic folks. So, when Xzavier heard the old man's call, Xzavier finally accepted the fact that he had to retreat. There was no point in engaging the orc any further, especially when there was no other plan. Physically, The chief orc had the advantage. So if Xzavier decided to keep up with this dance, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he was killed.

Even as he thought that, the massive axe wielded by the chief orc swooped down on him with a bone chilling swish. Once again, Xzavier managed to dodge, barely escaping the crude blade by a few inches. That was all the motivation he needed to get the hell on out of there.