Still in the mine, Briar and the others end up encountering a frightening monster. They soon figure out what the monster is saying, that there are still magestones in the cave. Deuce decides to charge after it to attack the creature.
The monster shouts, "Begone! Begone! Begooone!"
Before Deuce can attack, the monster swats Deuce away and the young boy falls to the ground.
Sereia gasps, "Deuce!"
"Aw, crap! He's got loosey-Deucey on the ropes! Not on my watch!" Ace says.
Then charges for an attack as well, "Heeyah!"
And performs his wind spell with his magic pen, but has no effect on the monster.
The monster lets out a roar, "Rrroooarrrrgh!" And swats Ace away as well.
Soon, the monster begins to approach Grim.
Grim screams in fear, "Myaaah! Stay away from us!"
Then Grim unleashes his fire power, but it has no effect as well.
The monster roars, "Grrraaawrrr!"
Sereia then screams, "Go away, scary monster!"
Then fires her water and bubbles at the monster, but has no effects either. Trinket even flies over and tries to hit the monster on the glass head, but it's not working on it either.
Grim is shocked, "It's like nothin's even hurrtin' it!"
Sereia turns to Briar and asks, concerned, "Briar, are you okay?"
"I... I think so..." Briar says.
She is soon able to open her eyes and look at the monster standing in front of them. But suddenly, she notices a strange glow.
"Huh?" Briar questions.
And at that point, her pain begins to disappear a little, and notices something glowing from behind the monster.
Briar turns to the others, "Hey guys, look over there! There's something sparkling behind the monster!"
The others look ahead and notice the flashing light behind the monster.
Suddenly, Briar hears a faint sound, almost like someone is saying.... Help. That makes Briar shocked and wonder if they're not the only ones in the mine.
Ace exclaims, "She's right! Behind the monster! There's something sparkling in the mineshaft!"
"Could it have been a magestone?!" Deuce wonders in shock.
"It must be!" Sereia speaks out.
Just then, the monster roars, "GWAAAAAAAAAH! Nooo give yooouuu stooooooooone!"
Grim turns to Briar, "Briar, we need to book it, and fast! That thing's gonna pound us into tuna paste!"
Briar is soon able to struggle to stand up, "You're right... we need to make a run for it..."
Ace rushes to Briar and asks, "Are you going to be okay?"
"I... I think I can manage," Briar says.
"Then let's hurry out of the cave before that monster crushes us," Deuce says, and picks up Sereia.
Ace then picks up Briar, "I'll help you. Can't leave you behind."
The monster lets out a, "GRRRAAAWRRR!"
With that, the group retreats from the mine and away from the giant monster. After they escape from the mine and the monster, they find themselves at the Dwarfs' old home. They quickly hurry inside and close the door.
Grim sighs in relief, "This should be far enough, I think?"
Deuce turns to Briar still in Ace's arms, "How are you feeling?"
"A little better now," Briar says, and can tell she's not feeling the headache anymore.
Then turns to Ace, "You can put me down if you wanna rest."
"Sure," Ace says.
Ace then places Briar back on her feet, and she sits on one of the small chairs close by. Trinket flies over and sits on her shoulder in concern.
Ace groans in pain, "Owwwww..." and sits on the other chair.
He then asks, "What was that thing? No one said there'd be anything like that in the mines!"
"You mean, you didn't know?" Sereia asks.
"No. I'm not sure if anyone else knows it either. The mine has been closed out for years, maybe longer," Ace says
"That was no normal ghost, that's for sure," Deuce says.
"It was really scary," Sereia says.
"Whatever that thing is, it made Briar feel very uneasy," Grim says.
Deuce then kneels to Briar and asks, "Briar, what happened back there?"
"Yeah. You were in serious pain, and you even can tell that thing was in the cave," Sereia replies.
"I... I don't know... I sensed some strange energy and it was frightening, so dark, so negative... and so... sad. My head was hurting like I felt it, and I feel like my body is going to get paralyzed," Briar says.
Ace sighs, "Let's just give up and go home. I'll happily take expulsion if it means never having to fight that thing again."
But Deuce disagrees, "What?! Nuh-uh, not happenin'! I'd rather die and get expelled from Night Raven! How can you give up when the stone is right there?"
"Pfft. Big talk from someone who's not even half the mage I am. You want that stone so bad, go get it yourself. I'm out," Ace says.
Deuce then slams his fist in his other hand in anger. "Oh YEAH?! Fine, go back to your coop, you big chicken!"
"Whaaaaa?! Who're you callin' chicken, huh?!" Ace remarks.
Grim, Briar, and Sereia are rather surprised. Deuce seems to act differently. He sounds more aggressive.
Grim is the first to speak up, "Whoa, Deuce... is it just me, or did you, like, turn into a totally different person just now?"
"Huh?!" Deuce reacts.
He clears his throat and says, "Sorry... lost my cool for a second there."
Briar asks, "So what do we do now? The magestone is in the mine, and the only way to get it is to get past that monster."
"And that monster looks really strong," Sereia says.
Then Briar says, "And I think we weren't the only ones in the mine."
Everyone turns to Briar with confused looks.
Ace asks, "What do you mean?"
"I don't know if it's my imagination, but I thought I heard someone calling for help. Like, someone's trapped in the mine, and couldn't get out with that monster around," Briar says.
"Then it's all the more reason to go back in there. If someone is in trouble like you said," Deuce says.
"But how?" Sereia asks.
"Can't you guys just blow that thing up with magic?" Grim asks.
"Using magic at a greater scale, or different types of magic-those things require training. Like Sereia said, that monster looks pretty strong," Deuce says.
"Yeah, that's why magic academies exist. It takes a lot of training before you can snap your fingers and turn your thoughts into magic. And the more flustered you are, the more likely you are to make mistakes," Ace explains.
"Oh, that sounds interesting. Where I'm from, magic never really exists, except magic tricks from stage magicians. And the way you explain it, it shows that casting spells doesn't just come naturally," Briar replies.
"That's right, although if the magic's your specialty, you can use it more intuitively," Ace says.
Then Deuce says, "Anyway, we need to find some way to defeat that creature and get the magestone. And see if anyone was really trapped there".
"Yeaaaah. Just like the time with the chandelier, right? You 'found some way,' and now here we are. We just fought that thing and it creamed us. So what exactly is your plan here, genius? Because I sure don't trust you to improvise" Ace questions with a smirk on his face.
Deuce feels instilled and angrily says, "What?! You're the one who..."
"Aaand they're at it again," Grim says, annoyed and crosses his arms.
Having enough, Briar angrily scolds them as she stands up, "Would you two knock it off already?!"
That causes the boys to gasp in surprise and turn to the girl. Even Grim, Sereia, and Trinket are startled by Briar's shouting.
Grim is surprised, "Whoa, that was loud. Where'd that come from?"
Briar calms herself and says, "Look, I know we all landed ourselves in a dangerous situation, but like we talked about, we can't hurt that thing."
This catches the group off guard.
"Urk... but... but what are we going to do, then?!" Deuce asks, still a little stunned.
"The only way for us to defeat that monster and get the magestone is that we need to work together as a team," Briar says.
This catches everyone by surprise.
"'Work together'... is that some kind joke?" Ace questions, acting like it's a joke.
"Trust me, it's not a joke," Briar says, and crosses her arms with a stern look.
"I agree with Briar. All this tension you three have, especially with Ace has with Grim and Deuce is why we were getting ourselves into trouble all day," Sereia says, trying to sound brave.
Grim scratches his head, "I... I guess..."
Ace sighs, "You always say the lamest thing with a straight face, Briar."
"Agree. No way could I work together with him," Deuce calmly says with his arms crossed.
"Yeah, but... Gettin' expelled' on the first day... That's pretty lame too. Maybe even lamer," Grim says, feeling a little down.
That catches Ace off guard, "W-well..."
Deuce isn't saying a word either.
"What do we do now?" Sereia asks.
Just then, Briar says, "Well... I actually have one idea... but... but it's very risky."
Deuce sighs, "Gah... Fine. Let's just get this over with, then."
"All right, Briar. What's the plan?" Ace asks.
Briar says, "Alright guys, here's what we need to do..."
With that, Briar begins to explain to everyone the plan on how to get the magestone and get it away from the monster.
Sometime later, at the Dwarfs' Mine Entrance everyone gathers over to get ready to begin the plan Briar has set up.
Nervous, Grim asks, "Briar... is this plan of yours really gonna work? I'm sca-! I mean, I'm a little... uh, hungry."
"It's okay to be scared, Grim. I'm scared too. We all must be scared because we're doing this," Sereia says.
Trinket nods her head and expresses her fear too.
"I'm scared about it as well, but I'm sure the plan will work. In case it doesn't, we just need to brace ourselves if the monster tries to fight back," Briar says.
"It really could. Let's go," Deuce says.
Everyone nods their heads in reply, and so the plan to retrieve the magestone begins.