'' Let's save our sparring match for once we get out of here though, I can barely see much around here. ''
Seiya threw those words in not long after what he said earlier. It was best to keep their spars in a more open and convenient area for the two of them and trying to fight in a cave like this that may collapse was just a recipe for disaster.
Despite their agreement not to battle, the beast within the cave decided to stomp on their plans of not having violence within the tunnels as its sudden emergence from within the darkness had revealed what was lurking.
A Black bear with spider legs etched into its torso, as if it was a unholy mixture of two species.
'' Was this the source of the voice from earlier? ''
Hakai spoke in a calm tone but this was mainly due to him trying to keep from attracting the attention of the Bear-Spider as the Hybrid Beast focused on Seiya who was the closest to it.
'' Is there anyway to just run past it? ''
Seiya asked the other two as he tried looking around the beast but its overall size was too big to simply slip past. They needed to do something about this beast and it seemed like they couldn't just wait for something to happen.
They needed to act.
Seiya held out his hand and shot out a focused blast of frozen energy to hopefully stop the beast from moving but the beast's body heat seemed to have been hot enough to melt the frozen energy that Seiya produced.
'' Looks like we're going to have to put our hands together. ''
Sakura teased Seiya as she ran past him, drawing up a large amount of vines from the ground to restrain the Bear-Spider by latching onto all of the limbs and restraining them.
The Bear-Spider's mixture of roaring and screeching had sounded like its efforts to resist but it didn't seem to have the strength to pull itself out of the grip that Sakura forced upon it.
Hakai had held out his hand, preparing to draw together a condensed amount of darkness to impale the beast but he felt a lingering hesitation on killing the beast.
'' Hakai, what're you doing? Sakura's holding onto the Beast. We should do something about it now. ''
Seiya's words dictated urgency but the black haired male shook his head in response. He knew he couldn't do it.
'' I can't kill this beast. If its here on this mountain then surely its supposed to serve as some guard for the mountain or perhaps an important part of this mountain's ecosystem. ''
Hakai wasn't entirely sure if he believed what he said but something told him that if it was here on this linear path up the mountain that this had to be associated with the mountain on some intimate way. That or this encounter was possibly a trial to decide whether or not they were worthy to continue their ascent.
'' So what do we do? I can't restrain him like this forever. ''
Sakura asked Hakai as she continued holding down the Bear-Spider with her vines, knowing that eventually her stamina will run out and the Hybrid would be free and so Seiya decided to act.
The male threw a barrage of punches laced with his ice powers, encasing the being with ice consistently rather than the initial approach. If he kept up with quantity of attacks to encase the entirety of the being then they'll have enough time to get past the Hybrid before it melted the cage Seiya made for it.
Luckily it worked and the Hybrid was in a cage of ice crystals and the three of them got past the frozen being before it had done anything to them.
The three of them let out a collective sigh of relief as they continued down the path of the cave and inevitably the moonlit sky's glow shone through the exit of the cave.
They were finally free.
On the other end of the cave, a small garden of glowing yellow flowers welcomed them although the smell was heavy with the fragrance of pollen that was off-putting for the noses of Seiya and Hakai but Sakura was fine.
'' What is that smell? ''
Seiya had clenched his nose with his hands, detesting what he smelt but Sakura spoke as if everything was normal.
'' It is these flowers although I don't think I know what they are. ''
Sakura spoke completely oblivious of the struggle that Seiya and Hakai had although information on these flowers were not something she could comment on. They were clearly of a kind exclusive to this mountain or they were highly rare.
'' You two, we should continue moving. We aren't getting anywhere just standing around here. ''
Hakai told the other two to keep their heads focused on the climb, nearly stopping once he noticed the bees that were lurking around the flowers had strange tendrils sticking out of their sides.
'' What in the... Are all of these beings on this mountain hybrids? ''
Hakai looked at the bees and assumed those tentacles were akin to an octopus due to the suction on the lower end of the tentacles but wasn't sure of the purpose.
'' I wonder what kind of person we'll meet once we reach the top of the mountain. ''
Seiya asked the other two as he continued looking up the mountain. They weren't at the top yet but surely there was much more for them to see on their way up. If it stands to reason, this mountain may be their new home for awhile.