Something's Wrong

Jonas wasn't sure if he fully bought into Kim's reasoning. While he understood the logic of it, it would be more logical to whittle down their opponent's numbers as much as they could before they reached them.

Jonas couldn't help but harbor a suspicion that Kim was wanting to give her army some direct combat experience. Which then made him wonder if Kim really hated the male gender as much as she claimed. Or as much as she thought she did.

He couldn't really be certain, but he certainly wasn't going to speak those thoughts out loud to her. If his suspicions were correct, then Kim would certainly not take it very well. Yet at the same time, if he was wrong, then she wouldn't take that very well either.

Which meant that it was better for him to merely observe at the moment. He could always say something later if he felt like circumstances had changed. To where he thought that Kim might be more receptive.

Still, as he watched theh orcs charge, he at least had to admire their ability to run. He wasn't sure if there was a skill that they possessed that allowed them to do that or if there was something else at work there. Whichever the reason, he didn't really care. He was more concerned with how many orcs there were in these mountains in the first place.

While Kim's plan of using Elin as she had been wasn't that bad, he couldn't say the same if they had another encounter like this before she was able to fully recover her MP. Then there was the fact that Elmo was wearing himself rather thin with this single battle.

Which suddenly made Jonas wonder if Kim's plan on giving her army some real battle experience a better idea than he'd originally thought, given how much uncertainty they had at the moment about any future attacks from orcs in these mountains.

As far as Jonas knew, this mountain range could be crawling with orcs, while they'd only come this way because it was the closest mountain range that was supposed to have dragons. Jonas hadn't thought to consider what else might be living in these mountains, so he wasn't sure if there were other dangers that he should be considering.

Looking back to Elin, he considered about having her drink some of the MP potions they'd gotten from that supply run while they were stuck in the same place for a week due to the devourer infestation. Yet, regardless of how useful they were, he couldn't deny that they were simply another resource and should be rationed with care, otherwise they might not have them later on when they might really need them.

Which after this battle, they might really need to have Elin drink one or two, depending on how well Kim's army handles themselves in this fight.

As the orcs drew closer, he couldn't help but wonder if this was typical behavior of orcs from this world, as even in any mythology regarding them had them more intelligent than this. Charging blindly at an enemy so distant that they couldn't possibly expect to reach them without being noticed in the first place.

Not to mention about how they'd been getting hammered rather hard with magical attacks, while they hadn't sent a single attack, magical or otherwise, back at them.

From what he knew about orcs was that they were dangerous because they were rather strong, but also because they were intelligent and cunning. Which would have them set up ambushes, where they could attack their opponents without them having time to set up a proper defensive line.

As Jonas looked around, he felt like there should be more to this than what was in front of them. He couldn't help but feel like there was something they were missing. Something really important.

Yet nothing seemed out of place. There wasn't any place nearby that could hold any kind of ambush or surprise that might be a problem for them. All that was left was that the orcs might find charging at them preferable to something else that they were able to see from where they had been.

Then, of course, there was the other alternative explanation that these orcs weren't like anything in ancient mythology. That these were creatures looking for any sort of confrontation.

While that was still a possibility, Jonas was more confident that it wasn't that likely.

He wanted to say something to Kim, but he had the feeling that she was too focused on the orcs in front of her. Like so many people he had to deal with in his life, if they didn't see it themselves, then they refused to accept the possibility of any alternative explanation.

Jonas could see that the orcs would reach their line in a few minutes, not much time to do anything other than prepare to meet the charge, but he couldn't help wondering what he might have done if there had been enough time to look into some of the possibilites that he could think of.

He also wondered if maybe this slaughter might have been somehow avoided.

Not that he put much stock into that single possibility, as even if the mythology of the orcs, orcs weren't really known for their willingness to work with others for a common objective. Unless that objective was to let them slaughter people as well as looting and pillaging the towns and cities of those people.

Then there was also the possibility that he was overthinking this. He wasn't sure why he didn't think that was the case, but he wouldn't be surprised if he had overlooked something just because he wasn't looking for it himself.

When there was about a minute left for the orcs to reach their front line, Kim signaled for Elmo to continue his magical barrage. As the flames erupted in the ranks of the orcs again, Jonas did a quick glance at the line of soldiers, or wannabe soldiers in his mind. Most had formed a line, looking ready to fight, no matter what happened next.

As Jonas had figured, the orcs weren't all eliminated by Elmo's magic before they reached their defensive line, but there was enough that the orcs didn't hit their line like a hammer.

While it was still a strong blow, he could see that most of the soldiers were able to hold steady in the face of the charge. A few here and there were kocked back but any orcs that made it through any such breach were quickly dispatched.

As Jonas slashed at orcs in front of him with his daggers, he had to admit, that they did looke quite a bit like goblins, although he felt like the orcs had more of an intelligent look in their eyes. Like they weren't as easy to deal with as the goblins they'd fought in the past were.

The look unnerved Jonas a little, but he didn't let that get to him. He was certain there was a reasonable explanation behind the contradictions in what he was seeing before him. That there would be something that would let all of it make sense.

As Jonas began to fight the orcs himself, he couldn't bring his full attention to the fight. Something inside him was screaming that something was wrong, but he couldn't find any evidence of it.

Maybe it was because he didn't know enough about this world that he wasn't able to pinpoint what the problem was or that he was looking for things that weren't there. He could only tell what he was able to see from his perspective at that particular moment. If it turned out he was wrong, he hoped that he'd at least be able to learn what about this situation was to have been expected.

That way he wouldn't have to have these doubts going on in his head each time that this would occur.

Which was primarily the reason he doubted that he was mistaken. If this was how things happened in this world, then he would probably be able to take it over easily, regardless of whatever obstacles entered his path. Which would be almost a setting out of a b-rated novel, movie, or even a video game.

Not something he ever expected would occur in his lifetime.

When the fighting occurred, Jonas wasn't sure what to expect, but it was over a lot faster than he'd anticipated. Either the orcs stamina wasn't as extensive as he'd thought and they'd pretty much run themselves out of it before they even reached their defensive line or the orcs weren't as skilled in combat as Jonas had expected.

Neither option seemed right to him, but he couldn't think of another possibility. Especially with what little information he had about them.

It felt like this confrontation was over before it'd even started.

The waiting for the charge to arrive was what took up the bulk of this encounter. Which was another thing that felt off to Jonas.

As he looked up at the slope where the orcs came from, he was surprised to see a column of smoke rising from the other side of the slope.

He wasn't sure what to make of it, but before he had a chance to say anything to the rest of his group, flames appeared at the top, burning something that didn't seem to be there in the first place. As there wasn't any vegetation to burn on the slope.

Then the flames disappeared as quickly as they'd come. As he watched the top of the slope, his eyes widen in shock as a blue scaled dragon climbed to the top.

Jonas wasn't sure if it was a confrontation that they had to have, or if they could find a way around it, but he knew if they had to fight this dragon, they were in trouble. Elmo and Elin had nearly spent their MP, so unless they broke out the MP potions, they couldn't really be counted on to help out. They'd only otherwise get in the way.

"Ready to challenge fate?" Jonas asked Kim, feeling like this might be more dangerous than fighting that army of goblins had been with how endless their numbers had seemed.