The day after, the ship arrived at a cliff of a forest. "Alright the first possibility is here." A knight pointed to the map of the area. He pointed to a cave nearby their landing spot. "You might be able to find it there." The knight said. The four set off to the cave.
"What exactly are we supposed to find?" Asked Vincent.
"Something that can break a very powerful magical barrier." Ernst replied. "Supposedly it's a key, but we don't know what form it'll take."
"So how do we find it?" Erina asked.
"That's what Vince here is for. You can sense magical power can't you?" Geis said. Vincent nodded.
"That's correct Geis. Very good." Ernst replied.
After a while of walking, they got to the cave. "Keep your guard up. We won't be able to see much in there." Ernst said holding several necklaces with glowing stones. "Take these, they'll provide you with some light." He said as he handed the three of them their own and they began to venture into the cave. The cave was dark and there were many damp and wet places, even some waterfalls and lakes.
"I can barely see anything..." Erina said, her words echoing throughout the cave.
"Shh. You never know what might be lurking within the shadows." Ernst said, ready to attack anything that moves. He suddenly felt nervous as the thought struck him that he had his family with him and their lives might be in danger. He was okay with it being just him, he took out multiple hostile fleets many times before. He was suddenly getting a sick feeling in his stomach and was starting to have second thoughts of bringing them here. He was even thinking of taking them back.
After a while of venturing, he saw a glowing item from within the lake. It was right in the middle. Vincent stepped in and the ripples he made hit something they couldn't see. Just then, a pair of massive bright green eyes opened. Apparently, something has spotted them. Ernst became even more nervous. It bore its teeth and lunged forward.
"MOVE!" Ernst shouted like a commander at war and the three of them dogged the massive beast. It crawled on all fours, all of which were webbed and clawed, and had scales. Its colour matched the colour of the cave, almost blending in like it was part of it.
Almost instantly, Erina began shooting the beast and Vincent began shooting giant balls of fire and light. The creature dogged every attack, and hid in the darkness. For one so big, it was very quiet. They were left with nothing but eerie silence for a while, when Ernst noticed ripples in the water. He was able to identify where the creature was going, and shouted for them to move once again. The creature lunged forward and missed its prey.
"So that's your game huh?" Said Geis as he noticed that it changed their only way of recognizing it in the darkness; its eyes. Geis lunged forward and did a massive blow to the beast, leaving it screeching and roaring, as it hid once more in the darkness. Geis heard its panting from his left side and lunged forward, swinging his halberd, before it could strike. Dealing a critical hit the beast let out a sharp cry. Erina shot and effectively blinded it and Vincent began to deal even more damage.
"Nice one!" Ernst said. "Hey!" He said as he ran toward Geis. Geis braced himself and lifted Ernst up as he jumped off Geis' back and swung his sword into the beasts' throat, killing the beast. The beast roared and fell dead as Ernst landed gracefully in a kneeling position, with one hand holding his sword upright and another on the ground to support him.
"Now, for the key." He said as he began to swim toward the light in the middle of the lake. He got the light and swam back. Ernst almost gasped as his foot was grabbed by something.
"Something's wrong...he's not coming back..." Erina said. "BROTHER!" She yelled.
"Look! He's being attacked!" Vincent said holding a magical light in his hand that nearly light up the entire cave.
"RUN!" Ernst said, trying to swim to safety.
"Hold on!" Geis leaped into the water and began to fight off the monsters.
"Geis no!" Ernst said as he swung his sword and injured one of the monsters. Both of them got to land, but then thousands of screeches were heard from all over the cave. They looked around to find hideous monster crawling with great speed, toward them. They looked like starved humans with gills and piercing eyes.
"RUN!" Ernst said as he grabbed Erina and Vincent and pushed them forward. Geis was already running, and soon enough Erina, Vincent, and Ernst caught up to him. They found the light of the cave entrance, and ran out. The creatures screeched as the sunlight hit them, and they fled back into the cave. All of them were panting for their lives.
"Sir, are you alright?" Asked one of the knights who guarded the ship gate. "You're all wet, let me get you towels. TOWELS!" He screamed and towels were thrown down from the windows. The guards caught them and put them over the four.
"Th-that's enough for today." Ernst said his heart racing from almost losing his family. He fell silent and almost catatonic for a while, saying nothing and looking at the ground.
"You kidding me? That was awesome!" Geis yelled.
"GEIS WHAT THE HELL!?" Erina yelled at him, still panting. Suddenly Ernst hugged all of them.
"Well...I guess that means!" Vincent said as he tried to hug Erina but she pushed him away. "Aw, come on..." He said. Geis laughed at him and patted him on the back.
"Let's go back to the ship. Come on, you guys need to get dressed, you're all wet." Ernst said.
"Says the one who went into the water." Erina said.
"Just get to the ship already..." Ernst said, pushing the four of them toward the ship.