Mount Banahaw

The two of them began their journey towards the mountain known as Mount Banahaw.

For the first day of their travels they encountered a couple high ranking 1st grade monsters such as earth snakes, shroom beast, iron raven, and etc. They handled the monsters with relative ease due to their martial arts and new weapons that easily penetrated through the monsters defenses.

The second day of their travel they encountered more 1st grade monster and a low level 2nd grade called Tree Ent. The monster was undoubtedly strong as it was a 2nd grade monster which is miles stronger than a high level 1st grade monster. But despite that fact Andres and Lila coordinated a attack pattern that was hard to read for the monster due to their techniques originating from two different beast, but not just ordinary beasts, one is a ancient beast and one is a descendant of a mystical beast.

With their martial arts applied to their attacks, the monster could hardly dodge. After an hour of fighting the monster finally gave out and died from one of Andres technique called Tempest Dance. One of the 3 techniques he had currently learned from the Wind Serpent Martial Arts.

In the third day they encountered alot of high level 1st grade monsters which they dispatched off easily. In this day the two of them had finally arrived at Mount Banahaw.

"We're finally here.." Lila mumbled whilst looking at the majestic mountain that towers at the height of 2,170 ft. "This is much majestic than I expected.." Andres spoke with his mouth slightly opened from astonishment. "Oh by the way, this isn't reallh a mountain it's a volcano, so we should probably be more cautious here Lila." Andres spoke whilst warning Lila of what they might come across the mountain.

As the two of them began hiking the mountain, Andres couldn't help but feel the pressure one felt when they are infront of somebody or something strong. 'Is the mountain alive or something! What the hell is this pressure?!' Andres thought to himself whilst clearly sweating. Lila saw this and she got curious as to why Andres look so tense. "Hey, are you okay? Lila asked with a slightly worried face. Andres whom was so focused on not passing out from the pressure suddenly snapped out of his state before looking at Lila. "Sorry what's that again?" Andres asked with a awkward smile. "Hmm, nevermind you look fine now." Lila spoke before deciding on not questioning Andres anymore.

After an hour of hiking the steep mountain they found a a opening thats wide enough to hold couple of houses. "Hey, you need to rest?" Andres asked Lila whom looked very tired. At this time the pressure that lingered around Andres had already vanished which relieved Andres a lot. "Yeah..haa.. we should rest for a while here..haa.." Lila answered whilst gasping for air.

They then began setting up camp in the huge opening within the mountain. "The fact that this place is a volcano really dumbfound me." Lila spoke whilst setting up their tents. "Do you know why they call this volcano a mountain?" Andres asked Lila. "No, not really.. do you know why?" Lila asked slightly curious. "Well the legend says that Igna one of the 7 celestial gods that resides on one of the seven moon, well used to.. anyways, he had sealed off this volcano."Andres spoke. "But why?" Lila asked a little more curious than before. "Well in this volcano one of his children resides, unfortunately that child of his was corrupted by one of the supreme demon. And that caused a lot of trouble, his child became so hungry for power that he began ordering he humans to feed the volcano their offsprings every month or he destroys them. Igna was angered by this so he used his powers to put the volcano asleep removing his son's power turning him into a mortal, where the humans whom he used to threaten killed him." Andres answered Lila's question. "Thats horrible.. but what was his name?" Lila asked.

"Banawe.. Banawe was his name he was a demigod whom wanted to become a true god like his father, but he was corrupted by one of the 7 supreme demons." Andres answered before taking a seat at their camp. "Finally we can rest!" Andres followed right after taking a seat. "Banawe.. so the Bana in the mountain's name means his name.. and but what about the haw?" Lila mumbled to herself. Andres heard her mumbles and spoke. "Its uhaw the haw mean uhaw. It's a word that means thirst, the humans named the volcano Banahaw which meant 'Thirsty Banawe'." Andres explained to Lila. "I see, that makes sense, what a dark history.." Lila mumbled. they rested there until they lost track of time.

When the sun began setting the two of them decided that it would be a good idea to camp for the night in there. They were only at the lower parts of the mountain hence the reason why they haven't encountered any monster yet.

After spending the entire night camping they decided to ascend further ao they could finally encounter a monster. "You know when I think about, it's been a while seen we've done this.." Lila spoke to Andres. "Done what?" Andres asked. "Well...this.. It's been quite a while since we last hiked to hunt.." Lila answered Andres's question.

Andres showed a bittersweet smile after hearing Lila. His face says it all he was reminiscing their moments, their past, their life before the demon destroyed everything.

They began hiking towards the middle parts of the mountain where monsters could be seen.

"Let's eradicate all of them." Lila suddenly halted her movements and spoke. "The demons or the monsters we'll encounter in the future?" Andres asked despite already knowing the answer deep inside of him, as to he also want to do the same.

"All of them." Lila answered while looking at Andres with spiteful eyes. Instead of reacting negatively to it Andres instead smiled and ran higher to the mountain.

After a while of hiking they arrived at a camp where a group of around 20 people could be seen. They went closer towards the group before a man in his 20s approached them. "Hey, you're not from around here ain't ya?" The man asked the two of them. Lila and Andres looked at each other before Andres spoke. "Y—yeah are we not allowed here?".

"Of course not!"

"Oh then, may I ask who you guys are?"

"Oh us? We are just a small group of hunters, we're here to hunt some mid level 2nd grade monsters to increase our arc."

"Arc..? what's that?"

"Ya don't know? There's no way you came here without having a progress in your arc?"

Lila suddenly stepped in their conversation. "Perhaps you can explain to us what arc is?" she asked the man.

"Ohh~ what a fine lady. Of course I'll tell ya about it, follow me!" The man said to the two of them. Despite not knowing each other's identity they decided to follow the man as he seems friendly enough but slightly flirty and possibly a womanizer. They followed him through the camp until they reached a tent that coukd fit 5 people.

"Come in, it's a little messy here so ya can sit anywhere you like, imma get some drinks for ya." The man said. The two of them took their seat beside each other near a table before the man. After a while the man brought a teapot and a 3 tea cups. "Here ya guys have some tea." The man said.

"Since I'll be teaching ya fellas about arc we should prolly introduce ourselves, name's Aksel how about ya two?" He introduced.

"My name is Lila and this is my friend here is named Andres, now can you please tell us about this arc?" Lila Introduced herself and Andres. "Come down Lady Lila, imma tell ya about it later, for now let's get to know each other wadcha say eh?" Aksel said. "I believe getting to know each other is a good idea Lila." Andres said to Lila. "See ya friend Andres here gets it! Building friendship before sharing info is a must!" Aksel exclaimed. Lila sighed and just went with it, on the other hand Andres was laughing in his head as Lila seems frustrated by Aksel's behaviour due to the fact that Askel resembles a person they used to know which always annoyed Lila.

Aksel began introducing himself more and about the group of people within the camp. The group of people is a hunting group assigned by the Adventurer Guild to enslay the demon that is spotted lurking within the vicinity. After hearing this Andres figured that the pressure he felt the other day came from the demon. Now that Aksel mentioned the demon and the Adventurer Guild the two of them had now more questions to ask. And their curiosity regarding the thing called 'arc' peaked.