Chapter 63: Finally a Tutorial (5) (1/2)

Chapter 63: Finally a Tutorial (5)

They marched and marched No one spoke and instead focused all their attention on walking People feared that they would collapse to the ground once they stopped and continued towon a battle didn’t seem to mean that much now

Half of them had survived, and now the question reh thirst and hunger Chi-Woo in particular had no strength to even talk, and he was in an extre like he had sed scorching coals His head felt dizzy, and he ca froer feel his feet However, he knew he had to endure, and the hope that everything would be better once they arrived at their destination co sido due to severe thirst and depleted strength, Cao Cao told his men that if they pushed themselves a bit more, they would soon be able to have as many plum fruits as they wished The soldiers’ ht of a pluot their thirst teed to reach their destination early It was the same for the recruits and the natives If they went a bit farther, they would soon enjoy the safety of a fortress, sleep warmly, and find food and drinks With these hopes, they forced their frigid, heavy feet to move When the sun rose to the middle of the sky the next day, they finally saw their destination

Everyone stopped walking

“…” Eshnunna looked up and saw an old, worn-out castle juxtaposed by a coht, tallthe base camp, she had wondered if she would ever be able to arrive at their destination In the end, she had reached this place alive Hearing her, everyone pushed their half-dead body to ht to walk forward Chi-Woo also let out a small cry

The fortress was stationed on ariver Behind it, a rugged mountain stood It lived up to the name the Fortress of the Heavens People ran in a flurry Under the stone bridge that connected the fortress’s entrance, there was a river circling around the exterior like a natural lint in everyone’s eyes The first heroes to reach the fortress got on their knees before shoving their heads into the river They gulped down the water like they were possessed, and only raised their head to breathe before dunking their heads back into the water again

“Is it okay for us to drink this water?” one person asked grimly, but no one paid attention

“Let them be! Atan aching stomach seemed like a small price to pay in order to quench their thirst, and everyone took big gulps Chi-Woo also went crazy over the water At first, he still had the presence ofhis head underwater like the others, not sowater until his throat felt like it would burst It felt like his dried-up esophagus was finally getting rehydrated It was refreshi+ng, so refreshi+ng that he wanted to screa until his throat felt sore, Chi-Woo shook his head underwater like ato Liber, and his scalp itched He felt better just by being in the water

“Haaa!” Chi-Woo re-eed froer With cold water dripping down his head, his hazy ht shi+ning on hi thirst cleared away like they ashed off hi blankly for a while, Chi-Woo turned around

“Ha!” Eshnunna looked up, shaking her soaking wet hair ater running down her face She blinked hardhis eyes on her Chi-Woo smirked at her It wasn’t really that funny, but for sohter Eshnunna looked taken aback for a hter as well It didn’t take long before everyone around them followed suit Yes, this was it This hat it meant to be alive

With their thirst sated, the recruits and the natives went inside the fortress They kept a watchful eye on their surroundings in case there were ene about, but their hearts weren’t in it It was understandable For Chi-Woo’s case—Although he hadn’t been starving the entire ti at Liber, he had never eaten his full In fact, he had always stopped eating far before he was satisfied On top of that, he had been starving for the last teeks; in the

He had been thinking of eating his snacks to o away, but he hadn’t been able to since that wouldhis thirst, the water in his sto out for food now, and his stomach wasn’t the only one that ruht alert others to our location” Zelit smiled wryly

Chi-Woo responded with a self-deprecating s around The fortress was—how should one describe it? It looked like a fortress through and through A rectangular structure stood in the ele layer Past the fortress’ outskirts was another circle of walls, and between them, there were other stone structures densely built in the shape of ‘ᄀ’, ‘ᄂ’, ‘ᄃ’, and ‘ᄅ’ In short, there were three layers of castle walls; and that wasn’t the end of it

“Why is the path so complicated?”

There was a maze of some sort past the three layers of walls The path was so co for the first ti Past another castle wall, they arrived at a place that could make a trespasser shout in exasperation, “What a shi+tty way to fight a war!”

The body of water and the area around it looked effective in fighting off an enemy force with small numbers A fortress was usually structured this way, built mainly for the purpose of defense and provided minimum functions for a civilian to live in

“The lord of this place must have worked really hard to fulfill his role,” Zelit reht,” Eshnunna replied She explained that the rave who built this fortress was called the ‘Divine Guardian of Saleure was one of the main reasons why Sale with lih man like that would have prepared a sufficient aht?” soh a narrow path, they arrived at a wide space that appeared to be a square Zelit stoppedthat there were no eneoods, especially food None of the heroes was paying much attention to him, and as soon as Zelit finished his sentence, they all dispersed like ants without even getting into groups Eshnunna and the natives she led were the only ones showing any resemblance of order

After around two hours, the heroes reconvened on the square with a disappointed look on their faces Everyone returned empty-handed It was hard to believe, but there was no food left in the fortress for thee, but it was completely empty They also found private facilities, but there wasn’t much in these areas, and definitely no food Later on, they searched everywhere they went but found nothing they could eat Although they had found safe shelter, a good aloves, and ensured a sufficient a the ?”

“No, what about you?”

The question was eagerly repeated to every hero that returned, but the ansas always the sarass roots ain?”

“I’m not sure if ould even have that Didn’t you see? All around us are cliffs without any green”

“Then, are there any fishes in the river…?”

“I looked inside the waters with le pale chub”

Their hope diave way to hopelessness as all the potential venues for food were elith to move anymore Everyone lay on the square and stared blankly at the sky

“…Ha” Soh all that trouble to come here…?” The hero lamented as if their prospects physically pained hireater the hope one had, the greater the despair following a disappointment There was a lirit Like a candle that burned with the biggest fire had suddenly gone out, when everyone realized that there was nothing for thereatly di burst out After all, their prospects were miserable; in the current situation, it wouldn’t be unthinkable for people to start dying from infected wounds or starvation the next day

Chi-Woo’s situation was at least a bit better than the others He wondered if he had to clear all the snacks in his bag when he suddenly heard a noise It sounded like wheels rolling The heroes ere lying on the ground in despair didn’t respond to the noise However, as the noise approached, one or two of them rose and turned to the direction of the noise

“I’” Eshnunna appeared with the natives like a Goddess

“We found food,” she said The natives and she were carrying several heavily loaded sacks

The heroes looked bewildered; their eyes turned wide as the natives took things out of the sack and prepared to start a fire

“Food? Is it really food?”

“Where…!”

They asked in disbelief

Eshnunna responded as if what she had done was nothing, “There was a tiainst an empire’s ar a single soldier He was able to do this because he burned all the enemy’s food supplies with a troop he had secretly dispatched outside of the fortress After this battle, theall your food supplies in one obvious place at the start of a war’”

In short, Eshnunna and the natives had rave had carefully hidden in several places Well, that didn’t matter now

“Please wait a bit We will soon prepare the meals”

All the recruits erupted into cheers At the end of the day, no one was exele one of theratitude and affection So ould have happened if they had declared Eshnunna a traitor and killed her The recruits wouldn’t have been able to find the food supplies even if they le

The natives lit up fire and boiled water They soon took out the ingredients and started cooking Once Eshnunna placed the food on the plates, everyone fought to have their share The food disappeared in the blink of an eye, and some even poured food directly into their mouths from the plates and finished theirso much!”