The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

Ravian watched the Tenth-Rank orc approaching the shrubs, drawing the bone spear from its back as it followed the trail of green blood across the grass.

’I can’t stay here like this.’ Ravian eased himself backward through the undergrowth, as quietly as he could manage, leaving the Ninth-Rank orc’s corpse behind him.

The Tenth-Rank orc drew closer, the smell of orc blood now sharp in its nostrils as it came to a stop in front of the cluster of shrubs.

”Haaa!” Its eyes went wide, and it suddenly drove its spear straight into the thicket.

Shlick.

The sound of the spearhead punching through flesh.

”What was that sound?” the Ninth-Rank orc in the cave asked, woken by the sudden scream from outside.

”Commander—that was Krug’s voice,” said the other Tenth-Rank orc inside the cave.

The orc commander’s face darkened as he rose from where he sat.

”Move.” He pulled his bone axe free and headed for the cave entrance.

”Hm?” The orc brushed the shrubs aside after confirming its strike had landed where it should have—but what it found impaled there was another orc.

An orc with wounds in its thigh and throat, clearly dragged through the dirt, and now with a bone spear buried in its chest as well.

”An orc?!” The Tenth-Rank orc was stunned. It had stabbed one of its own, and this was no trap. What shocked it even more was that the dead orc in front of it was the same rank as its commander.

Ninth-Rank.

A Wandering Beast.

Shlick.

The sound of something else sharp punching through flesh.

”Kaag—?!” The Tenth-Rank orc lost the ability to speak when it saw a black dagger emerging from the front of its chest—directly from where its heart sat.

Then a voice came from behind it.

”You lot really are easy to catch off guard,” Ravian said, before twisting the dagger in slow circles inside the orc’s chest, working quickly. He was certain the two orcs inside the cave had heard the scream a moment ago.

”Gah—!”

Sure enough, with a few small turns of the blade, the orc’s heart was shredded entirely.

”No time for this!” Ravian glanced back at the blood trail behind him, the distant tremors from the cave growing closer.

’I need to at least hide this body.’ He looked at the Ninth-Rank orc’s corpse, then kicked sand over the ground to break up the blood trail that led to the shrubs.

Then he hoisted the orc he’d just killed onto his shoulders and ran toward the waterfall without looking back, his heart pounding like something gone feral.

’Either this works, or I die here.’ Ravian knew there was no outrunning the Ninth-Rank orc—with its speed and sense of smell, it would track him with ease the moment it caught the blood.

The only reason they hadn’t smelled the Ninth-Rank orc’s corpse earlier was that it had been dead for days, its blood gone stale. But now, with a Tenth-Rank orc freshly killed, the situation was entirely different.

So Ravian decided to use the orc he’d just killed as fresh bait in his bid to survive.

He ran for a few seconds, and the waterfall came into view—a river running at tremendous speed, the water level high, several massive boulders jutting up from the current. At the far end, the river simply vanished, as if it had reached its end. Which was partly true: at the end of the channel was an enormous drop where the water plunged downward.

’So that’s the waterfall.’ He watched the river disappear in the distance, the mist and spray rising from the edge making the depth of the drop unmistakable.

That was the extent of his plan—until a terrifying scream tore through the air behind him.

”Graaaaaa!” The sound came from the forest at his back, and birds scattered from the trees in a panic.

’They’ve found the blood.’ Ravian looked back toward the treeline and saw two massive shadows closing in fast between the trees—one clearly larger than the other.

”Damn it!” he hissed, watching them gain ground at an impossible rate, the larger one in particular.

Then—

He leapt into the water, the orc still on his shoulders.

”Commander—that was Krug’s blood! Do you see anything?” the Tenth-Rank orc called, struggling to keep pace with its leader.

”I can’t be certain in this darkness—but I see a shadow ahead of us!” the orc commander roared, the air itself resisting the force of the sound leaving his mouth.

The commander could make out a silhouette running toward the river that ended at the waterfall—and then, abruptly, he saw that silhouette leap into the river. Right at its very end.

”By the Creator?!” The Ninth-Rank orc bellowed as he watched the lunatic shape hurl itself straight off the end of the river.

”Hraa!” The orc wrapped his feet in Aura and launched himself toward the water.

”Commander—what happened?!” the Tenth-Rank orc shouted, watching his leader suddenly accelerate to an entirely different speed.

”That bastard killed one of us and then threw himself off a drop more than a hundred meters high! I will not let him die that easily!” the Ninth-Rank orc roared, watching the body that appeared to be swimming directly toward the waterfall.

He reached the river and dove in.

”Kyaaag!” He shoved the water aside with raw force, running through the current, watching the body drift closer and closer to the edge of the falls.

The water came up to roughly the Ninth-Rank orc’s thigh, so movement wasn’t easy—but it was still possible to run.

”No—!” he shouted, watching the body tip over the edge of the waterfall and vanish.

He kept running until he reached the edge himself and looked down.

He saw a body punching through the mist in the air, plummeting downward at terrible speed.

”Damn you all—!!” The Ninth-Rank orc screamed at the top of his lungs, eyes gone red with fury, barely able to resist the current pushing his own body further and further toward the drop.

The Tenth-Rank orc arrived as well, but stayed well back from the edge, unlike his commander. There was no way he could keep his footing in a current that strong. He’d be dragged over the falls in an instant if he stepped any closer.

”Commander! What happened? Did he really jump?!” the Tenth-Rank orc called from a distance, breath ragged from sprinting the whole way at full speed.

”Yes. That coward chose to throw himself off rather than fight—and now we don’t even know where Krug’s body is.” The Ninth-Rank orc growled, planting his feet against the riverbed beneath the water to keep from being swept over himself.

But then—beside a relatively large boulder behind the Ninth-Rank orc, right at the lip of the falls—white hair suddenly rose out of the water. It was followed at once by a face as calm as the stillness of night and as cold as ice, two sharp crimson eyes locked onto the Ninth-Rank orc’s back with an intent to kill that left nothing to interpretation.

The Tenth-Rank orc’s eyes went wide at the sight.

”Commander! Behind you—!” he screamed, trying to warn his leader.

But it was already too late.

”Hm?” The Ninth-Rank orc started to turn—and then—

Boom.

He took a straight kick to the center of his stomach that sent him flying backward through the air.

”Aaahhhhhh—!” The Ninth-Rank orc screamed as he watched himself sail off the edge of the waterfall and plunge downward without anything to stop him.

”My, my. I imagine a fall from this height might hurt his feelings a little,” Ravian said, that cold, unhinged smile back on his face.

He turned to the Tenth-Rank orc.

”Wouldn’t you agree?”