Rain

"Chief, look at the sky. I'm afraid it's about to rain."

"We should find a place to make camp first and wait out the downpour before marching on!"

Looking at the dark clouds filling the sky, Gleeson couldn't help making the suggestion.

Spring rain was precious as oil, but summer rain flowed everywhere.

Summer had already begun, and a downpour could arrive at any moment.

When camping in this season, choosing the right site was especially important.

If they chose a low-lying spot, both flooding and mudslides could pose a deadly threat to the army.

"How much longer until we're out of the mountains?"

Moriarty asked casually.

Compared to the storm, the enemy forces hidden all around them were the real threat.

They wouldn't have a day's peace until they were out of the mountains.

After several days of reflection, he had realized the fatal mistake he had made.

He had brought a group of herdsmen deep into the mountains to play a game of chasing through mountain gullies with a group of hunters.

It would have been a miracle if they had won.

"Chief, we've got another sixty li to go before we can leave this godforsaken place!"

Dorian replied in a low voice.

Because the fighting had not gone well, he had kept a much lower profile in recent days.

Unless a matter concerned his own responsibilities, he rarely offered an opinion.

He wanted to draw less attention to himself and avoid becoming a target for others' anger.

After all, he had been the driving force behind launching this war.

If blame were to be assigned, Chief Moriarty would naturally bear the primary responsibility, and he, as the one who had pushed for it, would bear the second.

With the intelligence errors added to the mix, it would not be unfair to hold him responsible for the battlefield defeat.

"Sixty li. This rain couldn't have come at a worse time!"

"Alas!"

"Make camp!"

Moriarty gave the order in low spirits.

For some reason, the moment he gave the order, a powerful sense of unease arose deep within him.

His instincts told him that he shouldn't stop and dawdle at a time like this.

But reality told him that they had to make camp now.

Nearly a third of the army was wounded. If they were caught in another downpour, the consequences would be even more unthinkable.

"Chief, we only have one day's worth of rations left.

We can't get out of the mountains in time to resupply, so why not let me pick a few dozen warriors to look around nearby and see if we can find anything?"

After hesitating for a moment, Dorian couldn't help making the suggestion.

There was no reversing their defeat, and even if the army successfully withdrew, they would not be capable of launching a second offensive.

Where there were people, there was conflict.

After such a crushing defeat, someone had to answer for it.

As one of the main driving forces behind the war, he had almost no chance of distancing himself from it.

All he could do now was hurry to make up for it and try to redeem himself through service.

"Watch out for enemy traps, and don't go too far."

Moriarty immediately cautioned him.

It wasn't just the soldiers who couldn't stand eating rations every day; even he, the chief, couldn't take it.

The rarely visited Dragonbone Mountains were rich in plants and animals.

As long as they were willing to gather food, they were bound to find something.

But they had come to fight a war, not to hunt in the mountains, so naturally they had not given hunting any thought before.

Now that they had been defeated and the army's food was nearly exhausted, there was no need to keep adhering to certain principles.

Summer wind and rain came as swiftly as lightning.

Dorian and his party had only just left the group when they were drenched to the skin.

Woolen felt was fairly waterproof, but this was a desolate mountain forest.

The branches and weeds in the rain all became obstacles in their path.

Misfortunes never came singly.

It was only just past noon, yet the sky had already darkened, and visibility had dropped to less than thirty meters.

Dorian, who was leading the party, wanted nothing more than to slap himself a few times.

Wouldn't it have been better to stay in camp? Why did I have to play the hero?

In this godawful weather, hunting was out of the question. It was hard enough just to move around freely.

Unless wild animals had a taste for suffering, they wouldn't come out in weather like this.

They had either hidden in caves or taken shelter in the bushes.

Scents, footprints, and droppings had all been washed away by the rain.

There was no spotting them without walking right up to them.

But he had already made the offer. How could he show his face if he went back empty-handed now?

"Commander, why don't we find a cave to shelter in first, then come out and hunt after the rain stops?"

A gaunt man made the suggestion.

In an entirely unfamiliar environment, their previous experience was of no use at all.

The first thing they needed to do was not anything else, but to familiarize themselves with their surroundings.

Unfortunately, everyone understood that, but reality wouldn't allow them to do it.

Running out of food was the tribe's greatest crisis. If they couldn't find a new source of food to replenish their supplies, they would be trapped and starve to death in the mountains.

"Let's try our luck. If there's a cave, we'll shelter there first."

Dorian spoke slowly.

Though he was unwilling to admit it, his instincts told him that something had already happened to the group left outside the mountains.

Since the enemy could lead them on a winding chase through the mountains, they could naturally strike at their supplies as well.

Even if the army made it out of the mountains safely, the horses, cattle, and sheep outside would be long gone.

"Ah!"

A scream rang out. A Tuwu soldier walking at the front of the party had been hit by an arrow.

"Enemy! Prepare to fight!"

Realizing something was wrong, Dorian hurriedly gave the order to engage.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

A dense volley of arrows swept toward the party.

Fortunately, the rain interfered with the enemy's aim, and most of the arrows missed.

While the enemy was nocking more arrows, everyone scrambled to take cover behind trees and bushes.

The enemy made no further move. After a while, Dorian worked up the courage to poke his head out and look, but there was no sign of them.

"Damn it, we've fallen for another trick!"

"What are you standing around for? Go after them!"

As soon as the order was given, the Tuwu soldiers emerged from cover and pursued in the direction the arrows had come from.

"Ah!"

Another scream rang out. A soldier had stepped into an animal trap, and one of his feet was crippled on the spot.

At the sight, everyone's newly gathered courage immediately washed away with the rain.

The enemy was far too devious. No one knew how many traps had been laid along the way.

If they checked for them one by one, the enemy would have escaped ten times over by the time they cleared the traps.

"Commander, should we keep chasing them?"

A burly man with a full beard asked apprehensively.

The warriors of the grasslands weren't afraid to fight the enemy face-to-face, but they feared dying without knowing why.

They had suffered too many setbacks since the fighting began.

"Chase them, my ass!"

"The enemy entered the mountains before us and already knows the surrounding terrain.

Who knows how many traps they've laid along the way? How are we supposed to pursue them?"

Dorian replied irritably.

They had come out hunting, but instead of catching any prey, they had become someone else's prey.

Perhaps it was thanks to the rain, but his mind was exceptionally clear now.

They had been in the enemy's designs from the moment they entered the mountains. Following the route the enemy had laid out for them was simply courting death.

"Quick, go back and tell the chief at once! We have to change our marching route!"