Chapter 51 Try Again

As Xzavier turned the head of his motorcycle in Kadin's direction to break the cycle of circling round about the chief orc hoping to find a chink in his defense, for some odd reason, the thoughts of Miss Mary, (the woman who had committed suicide after being gang raped by a band of orcs) suddenly filled Xzavier's heart and he remembered why he had chosen to embark in this mission in the first place.

The thought came unprovoked out of nowhere.. There had been no correlating thoughts or triggers linking that thought to him. All of a sudden, he remembered the humiliation that the poor woman had suffered at the hands of the orcs.

And just like that, Xzavier tore himself away from his plan to disengage. He decided to gamble on another chance. This time, he was driven not by the egotistical sense of winning, but by a fresh sense of justice. A feeling that he had somehow lost along the way.

Thus, after having the perfect epiphany, Xzavier steered his armor motorcycle in the direction of the steep hill. The engine roared in agreement with Xzavier and both man and machine surged forward as one towards the location of the path to the ascending hill.

In spite of the fact that the gigantic form of the orc leader was in hot pursuit of Xzavier, the massive orc couldn't keep up with the speed of Xzavier's military grade armor motorcycle.

As the rumbling armor motorcycle raged across the terrain, once again, the machine proved its worth as a military grade mode of transportation. Its ruggedness was a real asset in these parts. Its advantages trumped just about every other alternative. The armor motorcycles thick sturdy tires blazed forth, triumphing over every obstacle in its path. Its powerful engine supported Xzavier's weight and pushed the entire frame forward across the rocky terrain, navigating through the steep areas and maintaining its sturdiness and speed at the same time.

In that very moment, there was no other mode of transportation that could rival the effectiveness of the armor motorcycle at this point. It had paid off its worth thrice over. In terms of its usefulness, the armor motorcycle had truly outdone itself despite the topography of the mountainous terrain. The orc's freakishly long legs gave it the added advantage of terrifyingly long strides. He dashed towards Xzavier with all might, but still couldn't break even by bridging the gap between himself and Xzavier.

The closer Xzavier got the top, the more he gained altitude and the more levelled the height difference between him and the chief orc. This placed the chief orc's head in Xzavier's direct line of sight

Then, Xzavier once again employed the same delinquent tactic he had used before, back at the orc's base camp when he had first landed. He forced his armor motorcycle to slow down from the it's steady speed and stopped abruptly. Xzavier sharply turned his head in the direction of the orc behind him to confirm that he was still hot in pursuit. The hateful eyes of the chief orc met Xzavier's own gaze, and oddly enough, Xzavier was reassured.

Convinced that the orc's attention was fully fixated on him, Xzavier casually slid off his motorcycle and looked at the furious set of eyes of the orc leader ahead- and waved! For someone who just a short while ago had been contemplating running away to escape the wrath of the orc, this particular gambit he had just pulled off was a clear testament to the sheer power of human resolve.

Without breaking eye contact for even a second, Xzavier kept waving at the giant orc tauntingly, baiting him, luring him to his present location. Xzavier did not stop until the orc leader was within a reasonable distance.

All this while, the chief orc had been waiting impatiently for his prey to stop. For a minute, the orc leader had lost his target during the pursuit due to Xzavier's incredible speed. So as his eyes searched the horizon, he found the attention seeking Xzavier casually waving his hands. As he found him, he kept his sights fully locked on Xzavier, not wanting to lose him again.

Unfortunately for the chief orc, that was the beginning of the end for him, though he didn't know it at the time. Brimming with over confidence which he had an ample amount of, (especially after the last bout with Xzavier) the orc leader abandoned all reason and charged in wide eyed towards the mountainside, where Xzavier had so generously indicated he was located.

Still bathing in the joy of his past victory, and reveling in the fact that he was about to finally end this bout once and for all, the orc charged forth and the very next minute, his eyes were assaulted with a vicious blast of photons from a high intensity light that shone ten times brighter than the full glare of the midday summer sun.

The orc instinctively lifted up his arms to shield his overly sensitive eyes from the intense rays of light that were threatening to blind him. He staggered and roared once again. The pain was different from anything he had ever felt. It felt like the rays of light had burned through his retina and was actively working its way into his brain, driving him insane and ridding him of his sense of sight and ability to reason. The pain was two fold! Due to the suddenness of the attack, the pain hit him in two dimensions; mentally and physically. The chief orc was in so much pain, he literally felt like gouging out his own eyes and filling his eye sockets with snow.

Xzavier resisted the urge to chuckle to himself as he watched the chief orc struggle to contain the pain.

"Who knew a flash bang would be so effective? I should have thought of this a long time ago!"

It made sense. Since the orcs generally preferred to come out during the night time, it was safe to say they had very sensitive eyes. So, a flash bang would definitely do a lot of damage to eyes that have grown accustomed to operating in the dark.

With no time to fool around, Xzavier dashed into action knowing fully well that the chief orc's eyes would probably recover in no time.

Armed with new knowledge on the weakness of the chief orc, Xzavier lifted up his rocket launcher and aimed it at the chief orc.

A few meters away, the orc leader was grasping his eyes and howling at the moon like a stray dog who had caught a strange bullet. The chief orc danced about on his feet, swaying from side to side, trying desperately to do something about his pain and his temporary blindness.

Xzavier was glad the chief orc had been incapacitated, but because of his constant back and forth, Xzavier couldn't get a clear shot. Xzavier waited and waited for a clear sight on the back side of the chief orc's head, but he kept swirling about like a drunk. Xzavier began to suspect that the chief orc was deliberately swaying about on his feet and to avoid a long range attack on his weak point. So, with time running out, and with the chances of the chief orc recovering increasing every minute, Xzavier made an executive decision and took the shot anyway!

The rocket whistled out of the launcher with a sizzling swish, streaking across the distance between them. Not daring to breathe, Xzavier held his breath as he waited for the results to bring forth fruit.

Unfortunately, while the rocket maintained its own projectile, the chief orc did not. He adjusted at the last second and the rocket collided with his left hand, missing the target only by a couple of inches. Xzavier stared on at the explosion, hoping that the aftermath would bring him some good news. But once again, disappointment was what he got instead. The rocket had merely struck an insignificant part of the orc. His left hand bore no relevance to the actual target which was the back of his head. There had been some damage, but nothing fatal.

The sneaky chief orc soon picked up on Xzavier's morbid plans. He anticipated that his blindness was only a ruse to enable the human break even with his plan to attack his weak point. So, the blind chief orc lifted up his massive axe and used the huge metal blade to shield the back of his head from anymore attacks.

While the orc leader strengthened his defense, Xzavier on the other hand got busy. Undeterred by the original misfire, he prepared for another assault on the chief orc with another RPG.