They were left here to die. That's what immediately came to his mind. The King of Atlantis, after coldly sweeping his gaze over them, decided to leave them.
With the man's power and status, surely there are many ways to save them here, especially seeing as the two ocean behemoths were slowly advancing towards the island, with Scylla even slapping a few of her tentacles on the island, almost wrapping them whole with its length and size.
Charybdis, on the other hand, was also the same, his gaping mouth was no doubt capable of swallowing half of the entire island if he ever wanted.
"W-We're dead…" The crew and the slave people gritted their teeth, despair overwhelming their tone.
And in this kind of situation, there can only be one person to expect to save them.
"L-Lord Henry, please save us! We're gonna die!" One of the crew members approached him and grabbed him by the scuffle of his shirt.
However, when Henry was unresponsive and deep in thought, that expectation soon turned into blame.
"T-This is your fault! You brought them here! You brought us to our graves!" His face reddened in anger as he accused Henry, who turned his head to him in surprise.
What happened next was like a chain reaction. Through his words, the others started to lean towards the man, pointing their fingers at Henry and blaming him.
"W-We shouldn't have followed you! This is madness!"
As if that wasn't enough, even the slaves he saved also joined in, "That's right! You brought those monsters here! When you saved that mermaid! The gods must've cursed us!"
"They cursed us because of you!"
By now, Henry was left alone; the people who had trusted him and hid behind his back now spat on his face in front of him.
He was stunned, he turned to one of the slaves, a woman, and he croaked, "I saved you…"
There was a hint of recognition in the woman's eyes before eventually suppressing it with hate, "No! You doomed us!"
A classic human behavior. A disgusting one.
They slowly surged forward, pushing their pointy fingers at Henry's chest and pushing him, "We're gonna die because of you!"
"You made the gods angry and cursed us!"
Even Frank, who has been the closest with him aboard the ship stayed behind the crowd, shamelessly looking away—neither joining them to blame Henry nor to defend him.
Henry took a step back, disbelief and confusion coloring his face, 'What's going on? What did I do? I just wanted to save them.'
As Henry kept stepping back, his feet eventually touched the line between the shore and the waves—he felt a brief coldness on his feet that snapped his attention to the ocean.
It was clear that there were no monsters in the ocean that would hinder any attempt to escape.
Just then, a dangerous thought plagued his mind.
'I can just save myself…I have my Water Bubble spell to reach the nearest island.' He gulped his saliva hard. It was indeed a dangerous thought but also the most plausible in his current situation.
The crew including the slaves are around 30 in total. He can't supply them with the Water Bubble spell until they reach the next island. Not to mention, not everyone among them can swim, at least on the side of the slaves.
There are children among them, the youngest one being a five-year-old.
"Save myself…" Henry murmured to himself. What this action entails goes against everything he stood for through the years. He has shown kindness and compassion to other people not to build his fame or anything like that.
That's just who he is. If others feel exhilaration from committing deeds that go against their moral behavior, he's the opposite.
Doing kindness without asking anything in return makes him feel happy. His heart would bloat with thrill.
He doesn't know why and neither does he want to know. He's content with it and even grateful for it.
Slowly, Henry raised his foot, ready to step forward and escape the madness behind him. Save himself to live another day, in exchange for turning a blind eye to the people who weren't even grateful for what he did for them.
When he craned his head behind and saw the same people who used to shout and blame him earlier, crying and kneeling in despair, some young girls even hugging the older ones—clearly the pirates kidnapped a pair of mothers and daughters, Henry felt a pang of pain in his heart.
'They're just humans, like me. I can't blame them for wanting to vent on someone for something they have no control over.' Henry thought to himself.
Before he knew it, his raised foot took a step back instead. One step, two steps, and three steps. The shoreline was slowly gaining distance away from him.
"I can't do it." Henry clenched his fists before slowly loosening them, gritting his teeth as he turned to the crowd who turned silent upon his stare.
He opened his mouth and asked, "Who among you knows how to swim?" In an instant, there was silence among the crowd.
"S-Swim? I don't know how to swim."
"Me too."
"I don't wanna swim! I don't want to drown!"
Soon enough, complaints started being thrown all over the place. Henry gave them a solution and they refused to take it. So what if they don't know how to swim?
Desperate times call for desperate measures. They could just jump into the sea and let their body naturally learn how to swim under the pressure of drowning. At least, that's how Henry learned how to swim in his previous life.
Just as Henry was about to stop them before their argument could escalate to blaming him again, a few of them suddenly gasp.
"Look! There's a ship approaching us!"
"It's a ship!"
"We're saved!"
Henry creased his brows and turned around. True enough, there was a ship in the distance, and with his sharp eyesight, he was able to deduce who the ship belonged to based on the fluttering flag.
"It's a Lioncrest Ship." He murmured to himself in surprise. What's a Lioncrest Ship doing in a place like this?
———
"We are nearing, Princess Elsa." Seeing the island rising in the distance, Liam informed the royal princess behind him.
There were footsteps behind him before Elsa came to the edge of the deck, her eyes widening at the sight of the island. However, their gazes soon turned to the island's south coast, and there on the shoreline, they became witness in something that no human has ever seen before.
Two enormous behemoths were slowly engulfing the island, one with her monstrous tentacles while the other seemed to be eating the island itself.
"By the Gods. What is that!?" The retinue behind him gasped in shock and fear. They have seen many things in the ocean yet neither of those two is among them.
Liam gulped his saliva and gave an order, "Let's reroute our course and avoid the isl—" Before he could finish his sentence, Elsa interrupted him by pointing her finger forward.
"There are people over there!" Sure enough, when Liam squinted his eyes at the island, scanning the shore starting from the monsters on the right and then sweeping to the left, his gaze found a bunch of small dots that slightly resembled humans, jumping and waving their tiny arms at them.
The chivalrous side of his heart thummed heavily, years of training in knightly moral codes, courage, and justice flaring and spreading throughout his veins, "There are survivors!"
———
"T-They're coming over her—!?" Just as relief spread among the crew and slaves, there was a sudden resounding earthquake that shook them off their feet.
Rumble!
Henry immediately knew what the source was, and when he craned his head to the left, he saw Scylla and Charybdis closing in on them. Their tens of eyes are locking in on them.
In an instant, Henry's blood ran cold and he quickly alerted everybody, "Everyone. Swim!"
It doesn't matter who complained earlier. Whether they know how to swim or not, everyone quickly ran like a bunch of headless chickens. They may have been separated but their destination is none other than the ocean.
Soon they ran past the shoreline, and then to the sea. Their running turned to jogging, and then to a slow march as the weight of the sea was pulling their legs down. By the time the water level reached near their necks, they flailed their arms all over the place, some expertly swam forward and leaving the others while some stayed to help those who were having a hard time floating.
Among the latter was Frank. Perhaps not all hope is lost.
Seeing this put a smile on Henry's face. Thank the heavens he did not lose hope in them.
Now that they're off the island and the concern over who can swim and who can't is over, Henry turned his full attention to the two massive beasts.
His eyes suddenly constricted at the sight of a huge tentacle belonging to Scylla, just a few inches above his head, shadowing his entire figure.
He only has a few seconds to react and during those seconds. He immediately made a decision on-the-fly.
'Flame Burst!' Henry yelled in his mind.
Bright orange flames immediately erupted from his foot soles, disintegrating his boots at the same time. In just a blink of an eye, there was a resounding BOOM and he reappeared a few meters away from his current position, leaving only an afterimage that faded away as soon as the large tentacle landed.
BOOM!
'That was close.' Henry recovered from his shock. Everything that happened was almost instinctual. Not one bit did Henry think to move a muscle.
His body was in sync with his mind and moved out of the way in its own with the help of the Flame Burst spell.
However, things aren't yet finished. Just because he dodged one tentacle, doesn't save him from the rest.
There was another tentacle, no larger than the first one, and this time, Henry reacted in time. He was in control of his body this time and with a bright orange flash on his step, he disappeared with an afterimage.
When he reappeared, he wasn't on the shore anymore. Instead, he was on top of the first tentacle from earlier. It seems like Scylla hasn't lifted it yet, giving Henry a chance to make his move.
"I hope this works." He muttered to himself as he raised his hand, instantly forming a familiar Flame Ring spell on top of his palm. But it didn't end there.
Moving according to his will, the Flame Ring began to spin like a disk. It started slowly before eventually kicking the throttle and it started spinning wildly in a matter of a second.
With a grin, Henry brought it down to the tentacle and watched as the flesh sizzled and sliced through cleanly. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to watch too long before a resounding cry echoed behind him, followed by the sliced tentacle thrashing around in pain.
With a jump, Henry used Flame Burst to launch himself out of the way, staying mid-air for a few seconds as he watched Scylla cry out in pain, all her tentacles smashing everything around her.
Before Henry could allow a smile on his face, he caught a gaping maw from his peripheral vision.
It was Charybdis and unlike Scylla, this monster couldn't easily move on the ground, instead, it stayed on the sea while using its large endless blackhole-like mouth to devour the sandy shore while making his way towards him.
Their eyes locked and Charybdis's chewing hastened.
———
"He's in danger!" Everything that just happened was witnessed by everyone on the ship. Elsa's eyes widened in fear as Henry was flanked by two enormous monsters on his left and right sides.
Her earlier cheering for him came to a conclusion as the realization of danger dawned upon her.
"What do we d—" Before Liam could finish his words, Elsa already took her fancy leather-covered slippers off and jumped out of the ship's railings, "Princess Elsa!" The man cried out in disbelief.
As if that shock wasn't enough, just as Elsa's toes made contact with the ocean, it suddenly froze into ice, spreading outward until it spread enough to give her a footing.
Everything she did was guided by her instincts over her powers, so the ice avoided freezing the waters near the ship behind her.
At first, even Elsa was surprised but determination soon filled her face and she started gliding over the ice, her speed faster than a running human.
She doesn't know how she's doing this but everything is simply clicking in her mind. As if she's been doing this for years.
Liam and his Retinue, including those who were swimming towards the ship stared at her in both surprise and amazement.
For every distance that Elsa gained forward, the more the ice beneath her feet spread in the same direction.
'I'll save him!' Elsa thought to herself, her eyes locking in on Henry's figure in the distance that she's quickly closing on.
She then continued, 'And then I'll confess my love to him!'
—————————————
[I hope you guys don't mind since some of you finds the arc boring. I'd like to take my time for this arc, and it'll take around 10-15 more chapters before volume 1 ends and 2-3 more Disney movies will be added in the next one.]
[I suggest you do what you do, which is to stockpile chapters. Perhaps come back in a month or so.]