Eberly Mountain, behind Enki Town, is a pristine mountain forest where huge trees, lush wild grass, thorns, and shrubs are common, making the mountain forest rarely visited.
Even seasoned Hunters are unwilling to venture deep into the mountains.
It is said that a long time ago, people lived in Eberly Mountain, and now you can still see road signs covered by wild roses, wooden bridges that are no longer passable, and some stone pillars on a certain peak.
Occasionally, abandoned houses overgrown with wild grass can even be seen in the mountains. In the middle reaches of Silver Snake Creek, some people have also seen a long-collapsed church.
In Lex's 'memory', he had never entered Eberly Mountain. The closest he had been to the mountains was only his father's logging camp.
Now.
He was walking on a dusty, winding path, and in front of him were the Hunters led by Lyon.
The Hunters were going into the mountains to hunt.
Despite accepting the Baron's commission, Lyon had no intention of venturing deep into the mountains. It was too dangerous, and even if there were wolves deep in the mountains, they usually wouldn't run out of the mountains.
Unless there was no prey left for them to hunt in the mountains, but that was impossible.
These Hunters walked and stopped, while Lex observed carefully all the way, not wanting to miss any detail. Soon he discovered that the Hunters were very familiar with what animals and beasts were in the mountains.
They could determine what animals or beasts had passed nearby by the marks left on trees, excrement hidden by grass blades, and fur caught by thorns.
After walking in the mountain forest for nearly three hours, even Lyon was panting and sweating profusely. Lex, however, only had slightly heavier breathing and slightly damp hands.
"We rest here."
Lyon found a spot with an open view to rest, not forgetting to instruct two Hunters to scout the vicinity to eliminate potential dangers.
He took a water bottle and handed it to Lex, saying with some surprise, "Your Physique is much better than I imagined."
Lex smiled without speaking. After becoming a 'Hunter', his Physique had surpassed that of ordinary people, and this improvement was very obvious.
Taking a sip of clear water, Lex casually asked, "Mr. Lyon, what qualities do you think an excellent Hunter should possess?"
Lyon glanced at him and said, "What, Mr. Lex wants to be a Hunter?"
Without waiting for Lex to answer, Lyon continued, "I don't know about excellent Hunters, but as a qualified Hunter, I think he must be familiar with his prey."
"He should know what he is hunting, what habits the prey has, including their preferences, frequently appearing locations, and so on."
"A good Hunter should also have patience, analyze the prey, formulate a plan, wait for the prey to take the bait, and finally deliver a fatal blow. These things cannot be done without patience."
"Furthermore, do not attack your prey casually. You must know that once you miss, the prey will escape, and it will be very difficult for you to catch it again. Therefore, Hunters must make thorough preparations, bait, traps, and utilize all means at your disposal."
"Maximize your advantages, and when the prey has nowhere to go, give it a shot and complete the hunt."
As expected of the best Hunter in Town, he explains it in such detail. Huh, what is this smell… Lex lightly sniffed, and just as a gust of forest wind blew, a certain smell entered his nostrils.
It smelled somewhat musky and fishy; this smell was definitely not pleasant.
Rustle, rustle, a clump of grass leaves not far away gently swayed, and then the Big Beard Hunter emerged.
He looked both nervous and excited, and whispered, "I found a den, a wolf den!"
Not far from the Hunters' resting place, there was a cave, and on the rocks at the entrance of the cave, an adult gray wolf was lying. It occasionally licked its paws, looking bored, and when the mountain wind blew past it, it would emit a musky and fishy smell.
Lex, hiding behind a bush, almost wanted to pinch his nose. As a 'Hunter', his senses were too sensitive, so much so that this smell became too strong and too obvious in his nostrils.
Lyon made a gesture, pulled Lex away, and retreated to a wooded area before saying, "It is indeed a wolf den, a small one. If there's only one guard, the number of members in the wolf den should be five to six."
"First, lure and kill the guard, then clear out the wolf den."
Big Beard immediately took out a piece of fresh beef wrapped in oil paper from his backpack; it was still dripping blood.
The Hunter took out a dagger and made a few cuts on the beef, then put on leather gloves, took out a small bottle wrapped with several layers of cotton cloth, unscrewed it, poured out some dark purple liquid from it, and injected it into the beef.
Lyon explained from the side, "That's the juice we collected from poisonous herbs in the mountains, mixed and prepared. It will paralyze your entire body and kill you quickly."
After adding the poison, Big Beard casually pulled a vine from a nearby tree, wrapped it around the beef, and threw it forcefully.
The piece of beef landed in the distant grass.
Lex looked at Lyon in confusion.
The Hunter signaled everyone to separate and hid with Lex in the grass, then explained, "Although wolves are not as suspicious as foxes, they are never reckless."
"That piece of fresh meat has been cut open, and the blood inside will accelerate its release, attracting the attention of the guard outside the cave. It will find the meat, but it won't eat it easily."
"If it smells humans on the meat, it won't even take a bite, so we have to wrap it with a vine and throw it out. And next, what we need to do is patiently wait for this guard to fall."
So for the next 20 minutes, Lex had to hide in the grass, enduring mosquito bites, until the low growl of the gray wolf before its death sounded from the distant grass, only then was he able to leave the grass.
That guard died.
It ate the poisoned fresh beef. Next, the Hunters acted separately. They collected dry grass and branches, lit these things, and then threw them into the cave.
Soon, a large amount of thick smoke poured out of the cave, accompanied by barks, and gray wolves began to emerge from inside.
And these gray wolves, dizzy from the thick smoke, were shot dead by the Hunters as soon as they came out. Lyon and the others thus easily killed five gray wolves.
After the smoke stopped coming out of the cave, the Hunters entered the cave. The cave was small, with wolf excrement all around. Deep inside the cave, there were also two stunned wolf pups.
Lyon walked over, finished them with his dagger, and said to Lex, "One last thing, Hunters cannot be merciful to their prey, especially intelligent beasts like wolves."
"If these two pups are not killed, perhaps one day in the future, they will bite open my throat."
Lex nodded: "Thank you, Mr. Lyon, you gave me a vivid lesson today."
Next, the Hunters began to process these spoils of war; they intended to take the wolf carcasses back. Lex sat aside, carefully recalling what Lyon had said.
Perhaps in playing the role of a 'Hunter', these experiences would point him in the right Path. Just then, a gust of wind blew, and Lex smelled a musky and fishy scent in the wind.
This smell was a hundred times stronger than before!