"Is that… an airship?" An Eldian soldier raised his head, staring at the few white shadows drifting across the sky.
Yago also stood at the very front of the position, hands behind his back, staring at the Marleyan airships.
The airships advanced slowly, and their target was clearly the Middle Easterners' Grayle Fortress. Yago and his people could see the airships, and the Middle Easterners were not blind either—they naturally saw them as well.
But many Middle Eastern soldiers were seeing airships for the first time, so their eyes were filled only with curiosity. Quite a few pointed at the airships and discussed them, while some experienced veterans and commanders were more knowledgeable. The moment they saw the Marleyan airships, they more or less guessed what Marley intended to do.
Under the shouting of veterans and commanders, the Middle Eastern soldiers quickly began searching for cover. After all, the role of airships in war was nothing more than reconnaissance or dropping bombs. Grayle Fortress was extremely sturdy, and the Middle Easterners had great confidence in their fortress.
Marleyan bombardment? What a joke.
It seemed these Middle Easterners had never heard of the operation called "Marley's Wrath."
The airships boldly flew straight above Grayle Fortress. Because of their altitude, the Marleyans were not afraid of the Middle Easterners attacking them at all.
Attack how?
Could those Middle Eastern bearded soldiers aim their cannons straight upward and shoot down the airships?
Yago stared intently at the airships. Even though he could only see a small, blurry patch of white shadows from this distance, Serena walked up beside him and said softly,
"Not leaving anymore?"
Yago slowly shook his head.
"Not for now. There's a better way now. Also, Serena, how are the preparations lately?"
Serena replied, "Don't worry. Everything is ready. Everyone is also prepared to make contact with the other Eldian units. But Yago, is it really necessary to be this urgent?"
Yago nodded.
"As fast as possible. The more Eldian soldiers we recruit into the Revival Army now, the greater our chances will be. The enemies we must face are not just the Marleyans."
"Time is tight. We must act quickly. I've already arranged things on Bagge's side—go ahead and proceed."
"Understood."
Serena immediately turned and left.
After Serena left, Yago's expression gradually became solemn.
At that moment, a sudden change occurred in the distance.
...
On board the airship, Commander Magath stood beside the observation window of the command tower, looking down at the structure of the fortress below.
Beside Magath were three warrior candidates who looked like little radishes—Gabi, Falco, and Udo. Colt had gone to take care of Zofia, who was still in the hospital.
Although the Marleyan High Command was furious about Gabi's unauthorized actions that had placed Marley in a passive position in world public opinion, Magath, as the captain of the Warrior Unit, could not bring himself to reprimand her.
He had witnessed Gabi's efforts all along.
These warrior candidates had all been trained by him personally. It could be said that the emotional bond between them was quite deep. Therefore, up until now, Magath had not said anything.
However, he could clearly see the stiffened relationships among the candidates.
Gabi was obviously being isolated.
She herself had also become depressed.
But the war situation was urgent now, and there was no time to worry about such matters.
The airships arrived directly above Grayle Fortress.
Under the command of the Marleyan captain, the hatch opened.
But contrary to what the Middle Easterners had guessed, what was piled beside the hatch was not stacks of explosives.
Instead, there were Eldians with pale faces, eyes full of fear, armbands on their arms, and their bodies tightly bound.
Each of them carried a crude parachute pack on their backs.
Upon receiving the order, the Marleyan soldiers did not hesitate and pushed all of these Eldians out of the airship.
In an instant, it looked as if dumplings were raining down from the sky.
White parachutes opened one after another, and the Eldians slowly descended.
Reiner took a deep breath and jumped out of the airship last.
The powerful wind pressure buffeted his body. After descending to a certain altitude, Reiner suddenly pulled open his parachute.
The enormous force immediately halted his previously straight fall.
On the rearmost airship, Zeke crouched beside the hatch, frowning as he watched the falling Eldians.
All of them had been injected with spinal fluid.
In other words, they were now Titan weapons that could transform the moment Zeke let out a roar.
This was Marley's Wrath.
Zeke carefully observed the distance of the Eldians' descent.
Too early, and most of the Titans would probably smash to death upon transforming.
Too late would not work either—his roar might not reach them.
So the distance had to be controlled precisely.
At this moment, the Middle Eastern soldiers also noticed that something was wrong.
A sharp-eyed soldier pointed at the parachutes in the sky and shouted,
"There are people! People tied to the parachutes!"
The Middle Eastern commanders were puzzled.
What were the Marleyans doing?
Sending targets for them to practice shooting?
But soon, the Middle Easterners received their answer.
A moment later, Zeke's eyes narrowed.
"Now!"
Zeke suddenly took a deep breath, then opened his mouth and released a long, drawn-out roar.
"ROAR!!!"
In an instant, every Eldian who was falling began emitting dazzling golden lightning.
One after another—large swaths of golden lightning suddenly enveloped the sky above the Middle Eastern fortress.
Countless flashes of golden lightning descended like divine punishment.
The Middle Eastern soldiers were stunned by the sight.
In the distance, Yago also saw the spectacular scene.
Huge waves of golden lightning covered the entire sky above the fortress.
Even from such a far distance, Yago could still feel how blinding the lightning was.
But when Yago saw this scene, his heart was filled only with sorrow.
Those bolts of lightning…
Were the lives of Eldians.
If the golden lightning was the herald of divine punishment, then the countless grotesque Titans that suddenly emerged from that sea of lightning were the call of the grim reaper from hell.
Amid the frightened cries of the Middle Eastern soldiers, hundreds—thousands—of Titans, their bodies still steaming with fresh vapor, fell from the sky like dumplings.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Their massive bodies smashed into various parts of Grayle Fortress.
Some unlucky Middle Eastern soldiers failed to dodge in time and were instantly crushed into bloody paste.
Of course, some Titans were unlucky as well.
Some landed headfirst and shattered into pieces.
Others unfortunately smashed the back of their necks against the edges of buildings.
After twitching a few times on the ground, their bodies began to evaporate and dissipate.
But far more Titans slowly stood up, steam rising from their bodies as they swayed unsteadily.
Before the trembling Middle Eastern soldiers, countless Titans with vacant eyes began their slaughter.
One Middle Eastern soldier held up his rifle and shouted desperately around him,
"You demons! Monsters! Don't come closer! Get away! Get away!"
But around him, three ten-meter-class Titans had already stood up.
One of them even had a human leg hanging from the corner of its mouth.
As the Middle Eastern soldier waved his rifle wildly, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, and his entire body was lifted into the air.
By the time he realized that a Titan had grabbed his head and seized his body, all he saw was an abyss-like mouth dripping with sticky saliva.
"No! No! Don't eat me! No! Someone help me! Ah! I don't want to die!"
The Middle Eastern soldier screamed in terror and despair, even losing control of his bladder.
But the Titan, with its vacant gaze, still stuffed half his body into its mouth.
Crunch. Crunch.
Then came the horrifying sound of chewing.
And that sound was echoing from every corner of Grayle Fortress.