"We have caught up. The bear used this tree to rub its back. The scent is still strong. It hasn't been more than an hour since it left here." A hunter spoke in a low voice. Bruno and the other hunter nodded to acknowledge the speaker's deduction. Vincent and the others waited calmly for more information. The hunter's were much more skilled and knowledgeable regarding the forest's terrain and hunting.

Vincent was observing the hunters and soaking up every knowledge he could. The things he had read about hunting were finally coming together as if a jigsaw puzzle was being solved. Previously, he had no idea how to utilize the knowledge he had read about. Seeing the hunters in action, he could finally make sense of most of what he had read.

'Real hunting is much more difficult than what the books made out to be. Experiencing the real thing sure changes the way you look things. I am acquiring a much wider perspective. I am not as tense as I was when I entered the forest. Hopefully everything goes as planned.'

Vincent increased his level of alertness a notch further. Though the party hadn't encountered any danger so far, things would get a lot more unpredictable now. They had finally made their way into the deeper part of the forest. The hunters were all tier one warriors and they had never ventured so deep into the forest. The advantage they had regarding the familiarity with the environment was no longer present. Though their current position was the territory of the scarlet bear, other beasts that possessed threat to the party still existed.

"I need to pee." Zach spoke while crossing his legs. It seemed as if he had been holding it in for a while now. Vincent was surprised seeing the young man get embarrassed. In his view, the things he had said yesterday were much more shameful.

Listening to Zach's words seemed to have triggered a domino effect. Nathan and Casper also needed to relieve themselves. Looking at the trio head towards a bush, Vincent too got the urge to pee. He followed them and pulled down his trouser.

PSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!

Several sounds of stream could be heard. Nathan was almost done relieving himself when he noticed Zach had a strange expression on his face. Zach slowly raised his hands and pointed his finger with a ring towards Nathan. The ring started lighting up, indicating that the magic gear was ready to fire. Nathan got a huge scare, he didn't know what he did to offend the other party. He hurriedly pulled his trouser up and took a step back.

Nathan watched as a ball of fire slowly emerged from the ring and flew towards where he had been standing. Cold sweat dripped down his face. Had he been a tad bit slower he would be a giant piece of roasted meat. He was about to raise his voice and give the fat guy a piece of his mind when sharp hissing sounds came from where the ball of fire had landed.

A three meter long snake was hissing as it trashed around madly. Fireball was a second circle spell. The fire used mana as its fuel and burned hotter than normal flames. Soon, the smell of burnt meat filled the air and the snake gradually came to a stop. The party gathered around the charred snake and observed it. It had skin that greatly resembled barks of the surrounding trees. The color helped it blend into the surrounding and provided excellent camouflage. Nathan and Casper who had been right by it didn't even notice it. The former was a tier one warrior while the latter was a tier two warrior. Their senses were incredibly sharp but they had no inkling about the snake that was slowly positioning itself to attack them.

Nathan was pale with fright as he thought about what would have happened to him if Zach hadn't noticed it. "Thank you, young master Zach. I owe you one for this."

Zach waved his hands dismissively and spoke, "Don't mind it too much young master Nathan. You are here because of me anyways. I wouldn't be able to face Baron Gill if anything had happened to you."

"Still , it doesn't change the fact that you saved my life. You even used a second grade magic gear. This might affect the hunt. I will be sure to return this favor."

Vincent crouched down beside the corpse and turned it over using a stick. "This is a Bark Boa. I didn't expect to find one here. They live in place with much more humidity and dense forest. You would have been fine with Casper by your side young master Nathan. After all, it's a non-venomous snake that constricts its prey."

Bruno moved beside Vincent and spoke, "It is indeed a Bark Boa. Though its size is on the smaller side, it shouldn't have attacked young master Nathan given our numbers. They don't attack humans as far as I know. It's strange no matter how I look at it."

"So they can be found here. I hadn't read about that. It is certainly strange that it tried to attack young master Nathan. The cause is probably the perfume he is wearing. The essential oil must have been extracted from a flower it didn't like." Vincent made a mental note regarding the presence of Bark Boa here and suggested a possible reason.

"I see. The smell had probably irritated it and made it violent."

One of the hunter looked around and said in a hushed voice, "The Scarlet bear will probably catch this smell and move away. Though there are chances that it might come here to check it out instead. It would be advantageous for us if it's the latter. But, if it moved away it would be troublesome to hunt it since it would mean that it is alerted about our presence and doesn't want to encounter us."

Vincent channeled his mana and waved his hand. The surrounding air that had carried the smell came back and gathered near the corpse. After ensuring that none of the smell had escaped he channeled his mana once again to cast another spell, the air around the corpse became still and were no longer affected by the wind.

"I didn't except you to be so proficient in using these spells. Even though they are just first circle spells 'Lesser air control' and 'Stationary air', the mastery you displayed really shocked me. To be able to bring back the air carrying the smell so efficiently and use another spell to ensure the smell wouldn't spread. I am impressed by your performance Vincent. With this, the bear won't come in contact with this smell." Zach praised Vincent.

The eyes of the three hunters lit up. Initially, they were just wondering what the young man was doing when the air came back with the burning smell. It seemed pointless as the wind would carry it away anyways. But, after listening to Zach's explanation, they were thoroughly shocked. The use of magic had been ingenious and the idea that the problem could be solved this way had never crossed their mind.

Bruno furrowed his brows after thinking for a while. "But the smell has already clung to our bodies. What do we do about this? The bear will notice us if we get anywhere close to it. The difficulty will increase by a lot if we can't get the first strike in."

"Don't worry. I had foreseen this and have brought a smell remover. With this, all our smell will be removed. The bear won't smell us even if we are right next to it." Zach said in a smug manner as he brought out a vial of transparent liquid. Just the fact that the container was made of clear glass spoke of its value. The price of the liquid inside should naturally be higher.

Nathan didn't miss the chance and began commending, "Young master Zach is indeed resourceful and farsighted. To have prepared for all eventualities. Truly outstanding."

"Hoho... it's nothing much. This much is only to be expected of me." Zach's nose seemed to grow bigger as he tried to laugh off the compliment. The hunters also joined in on the chance to bootlick the rich young master and the group slowly proceeded towards the bear after skinning the snake and using the smell remover. Though Zach shamelessly boasted about it, Vincent had to admit that the young man was indeed resourceful and had come prepared for the hunt.

After an hour, the group finally spotted the bear. It was sleeping by a huge tree. The beast was around three meters tall and four meters long. Looking at its size, it probably weighed around 1400 kilograms. Thick scarlet fur covered its entire body. Just staring at the enormous creature, one would find their courage leaving their body. The party observed the bear and swiftly positioned themselves according to what they had planned earlier.

It was finally time to take action.