They only ventured a few meters forward, when the bee decided to take flight with a sharp buz~ of its wings, much to Imuru's relief; both he and Yosho glanced back to see it land delicately on the hard surface, its compound eyes observing them with eerie intelligence as it meticulously cleaned its shimmering wings and twitching antennae.
Imuru felt a cold sweat drip down his brow knowing this isn't a sign of good news. Looking forward, Imuru and Yosho moved with cautious steps deeper into the chamber, with only the audible sounds of each step they made as company. Every few paces Imuru would glance back over his shoulder, watching the bee grow smaller and smaller, the further in they went.
On the ground, they gradually began to run into, bending needles of crystals protruding from the ground, like a thorn patch, and farther ahead in the chamber's gloom, the formations lined the horizon into enormous ounces, some spearing down from the ceiling while others rested on the floor.
In a silent, predatory attack from his blind spot, Imuru's ears caught only the softest sound of a padded foot on stone before a massive, shadowed claw came rushing for his face. Just in the nick of time, he leapt back, the air whistling where the Great Bear's talons passed.
Yosho retaliated in the same stolen instant. There was no wind-up, no shout—only the silent activation of her Gift. One singular, instantaneous punch imploded the space in front of the beast's skull.
The Great Bear's head snapped back with a sickening crack, its enormous body lifted clean off its feet and sent tumbling back end over end before crashing into a crystalline pillar with a shower of shards and a final heavy groan.
"That sounded like it hurt…" Imuru winced, greatly remorseful of the creature on the other hand of Yosho's attack. His time to cower at Yosho's strength was cut short, as his hand swiftly reached for his weapon; blocking another strike from another bear, his broken blade screeching against its claws.
"Hmph." Imuru restrained himself from cutting down the beast. He decided to overpower the beast arm, leaving its body exposed, where he spun on his heels to deliver a straight kick to its body, the impact landing with a dense thud that drove the air from the creature's lungs and sent it stumbling back.
"Talk about a weird ecosystem… What's a bear doing all the way down here?" He asked himself, gazing at the down creature, perplexed.
From a jagged pile of protruding crystals, the earth itself seemed to heave as something massive lifted itself from the stone. The leader, an unnatural looking Great Bear twice the size of the others—rose to its full height on two legs. As Imuru and Yosho watched, a low, grinding rumble filled the chamber. The two bears they had just felled shuddered, pushing themselves back up from the ground like zombies. And they were not alone. All around them, from beneath, the earth began to shift as multiple bears began to rise.
"A mutation," Yosho mumbled under her breath, taken aback by the sight of the creature ahead of her.
Imuru narrowed his eyes, blade pointed forward to the leader. "Of course it wasn't going to be that easy." He glanced back and forth from creature to creature. "... It would be smart to get rid of the leader first."
The mutated Great Bear slouched, its crimson eyes beaming with intensity. The cluster of crystals fused to the Mutated Bear's back extended outward, slow and deliberate like a walking limb, before it rushed forth at supersonic speed, bending and winding through the air like a crystalline serpent aimed directly at Yosho and Imuru.
The pair dodged the initial spear-tip of the attack in a blur of motion, but from the body of the stretched-out crystals, another segment severed and shot off on a separate trajectory, forking the assault and forcing them to leap apart until the entire length finally crashed to a stop, shattering the ground and erupting into a dense, jagged cluster field, a forest of deadly spikes.
Imuru was already on the attack, having managed to flank the Mutated Great Bear, finding a seemingly wide-open angle behind its hulking form. He burst into a sprint, weapon hoisted over his shoulder for a decisive strike. Though its massive body couldn't turn fast enough, the living crystal on its back lanced downward, striking the ground between them with explosive force and erupting into a sudden wall of spikes that shot up like a deadly barrier.
Imuru skidded to a halt, mere inches from being impaled, the cold gleam of the crystal a breath from his face.
Before Imuru had the chance to catch his breath, the hulking mass of the Mutated Bear came crashing through its out spike field, swiping down at Imuru.
Reacting in time, Imuru bent down forward, he dug a foot into the ground, launching himself at the exposed underbelly to the beast, jamming his blade deep into it. To ensure its demise, Belzora erupted onto Imuru's blade, bursting through the creature's body, causing a chain reaction of explosions on the other side.
At the end of this, Mutated Great Bear fell over, taking its last breath in a raspy huff… It was over and the other Great Bears all separated in fear of Imuru's presence.
He let out a deep breath, sheathing his sword. "Yosho!" Imuru called out.
"I pray she wasn't caught into that."
Hurrying out from the dust was Yosho, all well and fine. "You took it down. Mutated… It must've been…"
"Wait! Are we gonna turn out like that too?" Imuru pointed at the creature, weary.
Yosho smiled. "Not quite. For some creatures that can't properly manage Perivállon in their body to counteract the excessive amount on the outside they likely will succumb to the effect and start to show signs of Crystallization or Degradation of their tissue into pure Perivállon… It depends."
"So not to worry, we should be just fine," She said confidently.
"Uh… Okay. That makes me feel somewhat better," Imuru replied, nervously.
"This is quite fascinating…" Yosho stood over the corpse, leaning forward, hands on her knees. "...Don't you think?"
"The further deep down we go the more intriguing this all becomes. Dare, it makes me wonder what else this place holds?"
Imuru stood there watching Yosho standing uncomfortably in place. "Mm. She does get a kick out of this?"
"... Well… I just need to be happy for her."
Yosho patted her thighs, standing up straight. "Shall we continue. Just imagine what else you'll find down there. This little adventure just kept getting more exciting."
"What if we meet an overgrown lizard?" Yosho said, through gritted excitement.
"You mean dragon?" Imuru asked, to confirm his suspicion.
"Precisely," Yosho replied swiftly.
"That's quite an adventurous spirit…" Imuru lit up abruptly. "Speaking of adventure… That would be fun," He mumbled underneath his breath.
"Yes!" Yosho's eyes lit up, sparkling with such vivid, likely intensity that it seemed literal stars danced in their depths, a brilliant, almost childlike glee at the very idea. "Anytime!" She chirped, her voice bright and eager.
Imuru smiled tenderly. "Wow… Almost as excited as me."
"Let's end this off, I think we've been here long enough," Imuru said, looking at the massive formations ahead.
Intending to finish this leg of their journey, Imuru and Yosho marched resolutely toward the central crystalline formations that seemed to stretch from right to left endlessly. As they approached the clustered spikes, they grew larger, rising from the earth stone like the teeth of a primordial leviathan, until the towering structures completely dwarfed them in size.
Stepping inside the silent, glittering maze, they moved with cautious reverence, their eyes scanning the multifaceted surfaces around them, each reflection holding a fragment of their own wary faces.
"I wonder where this all leads?" Imuru murmured curiously to himself, spinning in a slow circle as he walked. Pausing briefly, he glanced up at the soaring shards above, then gathered his strength and leapt, scaling the glassy surface of one the tallest crystals in a few powerful bounds. From the peak, the view was staggering, a vast, silent forest of glimmering spikes stretching to a distant, hazy glow. He sighed, it finally hit him just how far he and Yosho had to go.
"Anything intriguing to note, Great Imuru?" Yosho exclaimed, looking up towards him.
"Nope," Imuru replied, taking one last look at the expanse before he leapt down to the ground.
"Hmm." Imuru scratched his chin thoughtfully. "This is all pretty valuable, and we'll honestly be down here long enough… So, let's just discover what we can here before we turn back."
Yosho's gaze slid away from Imuru, pulled by a faint blur of motion just at the edge of her vision. She tilted her head, her brow furrowing.
"Hm?" Imuru glanced over his shoulder from his perch, perplexed by her fixed stare. "Something, the matter?"
Before she could even open her mouth to answer, the answer came on its own. A low, grinding rattle began, the crystals around them coming to life.
Their silent question about the source of the rattling gradually began to reveal itself... The very ground beneath them shook, but with a deliberate, rising heave. They felt themselves being lifted higher, the world tilting as if something immense had been slumbering beneath them... and was now awakening to stand.
Bursting forth to land, releasing a deep guttural growl.
A massive creature, its body milky white. It stood on thick, cylinder-like shaped legs that ended in flat, slab-like feet, giving it a disturbingly stable, tripodal gait. Its head was not a separate part, but a very flat, curved head, fused directly to the broad shoulders, lacking any semblance of a neck. Across its head, burned, six cold, blue eyes. Along its ridged back, there rested the jagged, spear-like crystals, and from its rear extended a power tail.
It stood above the forest of crystals as a titan, motionless.
"Yosho," Imuru whispered, his voice thin with fear. "What is this?"
"It must be a Cryipiyd..." Yosho whispered back, a hint of undeniable excitement threading through her tone. "This is the perfect environment for them... and also the only place they can manifest naturally. Though their appearance will vary slightly, depending on where the Perivállon doesn't integrate properly."
"I didn't see that in the book!" Imuru hissed, narrowing his eyes, his brow furrowing.
"Did you not?" Yosho replied, almost absently, blatantly avoiding eye contact.
"That doesn't matter now anyways," Imuru thought, his mind spiralling into panic. "I'm glad to know that the source of the world is out to get you one way or another... Like, seriously, how do people even live here? Never mind, they do live, but strive? Ow, no, definitely not."