Chapter 59: Chapter 59
Henry took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the refreshing air of the sea, but instead of loosening the knot that formed in his abdomen, the freshness only made it tighter, mostly because he knew what was waiting for them in those open waters.
His ship was on the very vanguard of the armada, followed by the five hundred ships filled with the combined armies, each ship having the same number of human soldiers, shadow demons, and ice demons in order to create a balance that would help them when it is time to face the rumored sea monsters.
“We are almost there!” Eren whispered next to him, his voice barely audible as his eyes scanned the horizon.
“Can you see them from here?” Henry asked while following the shadows’ lord line of sight, but he saw nothing except the calm blue water reflecting the first rays of the sun.
“No! but I can see the irregularity of the water!” Henry hummed in agreement, a frown settling between his eyebrows as he kept on watching the water.
The forbidden sea was known to be a dead sea, no fish lived in it and no goods came out of it, for the water to tremble only meant that they were inching closer toward the swarm of the sea monsters.
“Have you…?” Henry didn’t know how to say the words for he didn’t really understand how the dark magic worked, all he knew was that the shadow demons were going to mask the humans’ scent using their magic, something the ice demons were not able to do, for some reason he couldn’t understand!
“It is due to our element and our nature, we are the creatures of the dark forest, we blend with the shadows, and unite ourselves with our environment, it is how we survived, the ice demons, on the other hand, they are more resistant than the rest of the demons, and can go for a long time without feeding!”
“What about the fire demons?” Henry asked with a curious expression, he knew it wasn't really the time to have that kind of conversation, but it was harmless to know, not to mention distracting.
“They are the most destructive, for the fire element is the most destructive!” Henry hummed understandingly, even though he didn’t fully understand the whole thing, not that he had to, he had plenty of time to learn about the demons once they win the war.
Focusing back on the trembling water, Eren couldn’t help but wonder again about the need for such barriers.
What if they were not as strong as they made everyone else believe? Eren wondered, after all, the Gods didn’t only hide behind the humans in the first great war, but also hid in the center and surrounded themselves with layers and layers of protection and barriers, it was a reasonable assumption, but his doubts quickly died when he remembered her!
Even though she was a hybrid, Sara’s powers were undeniable when provoked, just like that time when he sneaked into her dream, pure Gods should be stronger than the hybrid who didn't know anything about her powers or how to use them, and that conclusion sent him back to square one with the same question: what was the point of the defense lines?
“We are going in, Now!” Eren whispered softly, mind linking all of his demons who transferred the message to the rest of the soldiers, Henry leaned over the railings to see what the shadows lord’s eyes were seeing, and even with his human eyes, he managed to see them.
The swarm of the sea monsters.
Henry gulped down the breath he was about to exhale, feeling his mouth becoming dry, the creatures were there, under them, they looked exactly like the ice queen described them, similar build to that of human children, swimming smoothly with the streamlining of a fish, their hands and feet were enlarged, the long-clawed fingers were not separated and instead joined with thin layers of skin, turning the deadly weapon like hands and feet into peddles as well.
Their looks, however, were not what made the human king’s heart shiver, it was their numbers, there were thousands of them, tens of thousands, swirling around the ships, sensing the intruding presence but not attacking them.
“Why aren’t they attacking us?” Henry asked in a hushed tone, noticing how the creatures were touching and sniffing the ships, when he didn’t receive any answer, he turned to look questionably at the shadows’ lord, only to find him engulfed in a cloud of his shadows with his eyes closed in focus.
Henry didn’t need to ask again, for he understood that Eren was probably busy hiding their sent and blending it with that of the sea using his magic, embracing the small reassurance of having such a strong ally, Henry turned back to watch the creatures as the ships advanced slowly into the deadly circle.
“We are almost there!” a demon informed the human king who had his eyes focused on the fog filling the horizon, the same fog Rima warned them about.
The ships sailed slowly, taking advantage of the creatures inability to hear and see, the circle was a little bit less than a mile wide, and the ships were dispersed transversally, passing the circle all at once, with the shadows’ demon helping their lord by using their magic to hide the humans’ scent, while the humans and the ice demons held their weapons in hand, ready for any surprising attack.
Henry felt slightly relieved and proud because his plan was so far successful, analyzing the pieces of information he received from the ice queen, he understood that the creatures main strength was not just their numbers, but also their speed and the way they flocked to attack all at once, focusing and intensifying their assaults on individual targets, dispersing the ships the way he did, he assured that the creatures would at least be divided into small groups, their attacks won’t be that intensified if something wrong happened.
However, the human king knew that his plan wasn’t enough to survive the circle unscratched, that at some point, they had to fight the sea monsters, and that moment came when one of the larger monsters jumped from the water to land directly on the back of the ship.
Henry, as well as everyone who was on the ship except the shadows’ lord, held their breaths in anticipation and fear, as the creature sniffed all around it, his instinct telling it that something was wrong, but his senses betrayed it, especially with the shadows lord’s covering all the smells, the creature moved ad turned all around himself, the sensation of being trapped and surrounded by enemies driving it crazy, it hissed loudly, threatening the predators it couldn’t see and alarming the rest of the swarm.
Unsheathing his sword slowly and carefully, the human king stared at the creature who took few steps his way, sniffing the air in the process, gulping down, Henry steadied his feet, preparing himself to strike once the creature attacks him, but instead of attacking, the creature sniffed the air a bit more only to stiffen when it was only a few feet away from the human king, and then turned away.
Henry didn’t have the chance to feel confused with the creature's behavior because it sniffed the air once again as if looking for another prey until a certain smell caught it attention, turning to its source, the creature hissed loudly before lunching at the shadows’ lord.
Sensing the upcoming hostility, Eren’s animalistic survival instinct kicked in, and right when the creature opened his mow to bite him, the shadows' lord opened his eyes and jumped in the air, letting the creature pass under him before he grapped it head and smashed it in a single hit.
Cursing under his breath, Eren tried to clean the thick substance that coated his fist, angry at himself and his sharp instinct which made him dodge the attack instead of focusing on his task, masking the scents of humans!
Eren didn’t have to wait to know how dearly his mistake was going to cost him, for a loud wave of hissing erupted from under the water and not a second after, the creatures started jumping out of the water and into the ships, moving in full speed as if angered by the trick and deception, lunching and munching on any and everything, turning the peaceful sail into a blood bath.
Eren didn’t waste any time before giving the order to all the ships to pick up their speed, he and Henry fought back to back, each of them watching over the other’s blind spots while admiring his peer’s fighting skills, Eren was surprised with the great swordsman the human king was, while the later was beyond amazed by how strong and agile the shadows' lord was even without his magic tricks and shadows.
Their amazement with each other though didn’t stop them from noticing the strange attacks, for one, Rima mentioned that the creatures were attracted to humans, which was true to some point, however, that wasn’t the case in their ship, the creatures did attack the humans but didn’t bother with devouring them at all, they ignored their flesh once they were dead, the same way they ignored the demons’, their attention was driven by something else.
Eren!
Henry only spared Eren a quick pointed look, and the one he received in return told him that the shadows’ lord reached the same conclusion, something was strange with the creatures, not only they were attracted to a demon and not a human, but they also completely overlooked the human king.
“We are leaving the circle!” a demon announced, shedding off a creature that attacked him, Eren looked behind him and narrowed his eyes, for their army was being butchered.
Even though the soldiers were fighting ferociecely, the sea monsters still managed to kill a lot of them, the lines were breached and the ships sailed aimlessly, all hoping to make it out of the hellish circle alive, their arraying was gone, the order was lost, and pained screamed were to be heard in each ship.
The seawater was turning red, the lives were being taken one by one, and the creatures were slowly getting the upper hand, Eren though as he took down several creatures with a single hit, not missing the way they hissed angrily before attacking mercilessly whenever he was near, it was so strange! The creatures were attracted to humans, but for some reason they were also attracted to him, it wasn’t due to his human half for there were many other hybrids in the armies and none of them got the special attention he was getting.
What made him special to the creatures?
His thick blood? Eren quickly discarded that thought, it wasn’t that and he knew it, but then what?
Could it be?
“Henry!!” Eren said, retreating all his shadows and allowing his scent to be spread all over the place, gaining all the creatures’ attention.
“What are you doing?!” Henry asked with wide eyes as he saw the shadows’ lord fight the creatures with his bare hands, allowing them to injure him, the more blood was spilled, the more creatures came after him!
“I will drive them away before they butcher all of our soldiers, the rest is up to you!!”
“What?! No! I can’t!!” the demons won’t listen to me! Henry wanted to scream at the man, the painful heaviness of the responsibility settling on top of his shoulders, weighing him down.
“You must! It is the only way! And…” Eren hesitated before looking at him, the solid mask he always wore slipping a little, “If I didn’t make it and you did! Promise me something!”
“Where can I find her?!” Henry understood what the shadows lord wanted to say, it was something the ice queen mentioned before, that the cold-hearted lord may have fallen in love with his prey, the princess, his half-sister, he knew from the lord's expression that it was hard for him to say the words so he did himself, sparing him the pain.
just like he spared her life.
“The edge of the dark forest! Take care of her, and tell her that I am sorry!” Eren said in a low voice, he didn’t want to tell the human king about Sara, but he wasn’t sure that he was going to make it out f the circle alive, especially with what he had in mind, he didn’t have anyone else to trust with her safety, and he wanted to make sure that someone was going to look after her if he didn’t make it out of the circle alive, he didn't know much about Henry, but he knew he was an honorable man who didn't have anything against his fair lady, or at least that is what he hoped.
“Anything else?” Henry couldn’t find it in him to refuse the shadows’ lord request, not only because the army was being destroyed by the creatures and they had to move fast, but also because of that vulnerability he saw in Eren’s eyes for a fragment of a second.
the shadows' lord was a strong man, but in that second, he looked sad and vulnerable, which only meant that the girl he was talking about meant a great deal to him, he looked not just pained but lost, contradicting the determination he had in his eyes about the sacrifice he was about to make.
“Tell her that I loved her, wholeheartedly, until my last breath, and tell her to find happiness!” Eren said sadly, giving the human king one last look before jumping off the ship to go to another, his shadows carrying him as if he was a bird, going from one ship to another, spreading his scent for all the creatures to smell and then charge at him while the ships sailed out of the circle, leaving him behind.