"Long-Distance Enemy Scouting Formation, deploy!"
Leaving the desolate streets and officially entering Titan territory, the Survey Corps began to deploy according to the formation Erwin had researched.
The overall shape was roughly semicircular, with the periphery on guard, the middle relaying messages, and the center guiding the way.
Different-colored signal flares were used to transmit information.
The purpose of the formation was to avoid direct confrontations with Titans as much as possible.
This formation had been tested in actual combat, and every recruit needed to memorize their position and responsibilities by heart during their first month in the Corps.
It could effectively reduce Soldiers' mortality...
"Red smoke again!"
Armin turned his head toward the sky on the right, knowing that the Soldiers responsible for the periphery had encountered a Titan once more.
That's the third time... despite the doubt in his heart, his hands didn't stop moving.
He took out a red signal flare, loaded it into the signal gun, and fired it toward the sky.
Soon, red smoke also rose from his left, relaying the signal all the way to the center of the formation.
Seeing green smoke rise from the center representing the direction of movement, Armin pulled the reins and changed direction...
"Something's not right; the frequency of encountering Titans on the right side is too high."
Based on the previous signal positions, Armin reconstructed the general formation of the Survey Corps in his mind and found that it still hadn't returned to its original state.
Even after changing direction several times, the right side of the unit was still being harassed.
"Could it be..."
"Bang!"
The sound of a signal gun came from not far away, and the color of the flare was black!
"It's an Abnormal Titan!"
A 12-meter class Titan charged out of the forest, heading straight for Armin.
Armin was momentarily flustered, but he quickly suppressed it. During training, it had been explained that Abnormal Titans would be specifically handled by the Survey Corps veterans on the periphery.
What he needed to do now was trust the Squad Leader and the others and stick to his own duties.
Two horses approached the Abnormal Titan, and the Soldiers on them drew their blades.
One person stood on horseback and fired a grappling hook to catch the Titan's calf, sliding along the ground to slash the Titan's Achilles tendon.
The Titan instantly collapsed to the ground, and the other person seized the opportunity to cut the Titan's exposed nape.
The Abnormal Titan in Armin's field of vision soon fell and never stood up again.
But before Armin could breathe a sigh of relief, a 14-meter class Titan appeared in his vision again, sprinting toward him.
"What... is that?"
Armin looked at the Titan's running posture in shock; it was an exceptionally standard human-like arm-swinging run!
"It's too fast..."
He hurriedly fired the signal gun again.
At the same time, he saw the Squad Leader and the others preparing to use the same trick to stop this suddenly appearing second "Abnormal Titan."
The two of them fired their grappling hooks one after another, hooking onto the Titan's left and right shoulders, and flew toward the Titan's nape with blades in hand.
The Titan stopped instantly, raised a hand to swat away the first person to approach, then grabbed the other person's grappling hook, swinging the Soldier—who hadn't yet reacted—in a semicircle through the air before slamming them violently onto the ground.
The whole process was as simple as killing two tiny insects.
The Female Titan stood upon the earth with her blonde hair covering her face and her back to the sun!
Time seemed to stand still at this moment.
Armin was deeply shaken by this terrifying scene.
The Female Titan seemed to have spotted Armin and began running toward him.
Fear instantly soaked through his entire body, and Armin's hand holding the reins couldn't help but tremble.
"No, this isn't an Abnormal Titan!"
"It has intelligence; it's just like the Armored Titan, the Colossal Titan, and Eren!"
"It's a human who has turned into a Titan!"
The terrifying footsteps of the Titan instantly approached from behind, and a shadow covered the sky above Armin's head.
Armin looked up, watching death approach, and muttered, "What... what exactly is your goal..."
"Thud!"
The massive vibration knocked Armin off his horse.
He struggled to get up from the ground, the shadow overhead enveloping his entire body.
Boundless fear left him kneeling rigidly on the spot, quietly waiting for the fate of being crushed to death by the Titan.
The hood of his cloak was flipped back, and Armin looked up in confusion.
He met the Titan's eyes, hidden behind her blonde hair.
"Is it... observing me?"
After seeing Armin's face clearly, the Female Titan slowly stood up and left the spot.
"Is it confirming my identity?"
Armin knelt on the spot, feeling no sense of surviving a disaster; his mind was full of questions.
"Is it... Looking for Eren?"
Then he touched his face and said in disbelief, "Does it... know me?"
"Armin!"
Reiner's voice came from a distance, interrupting Armin's thoughts.
On the other side, Jean also rode over...
"Armin is here, so is it possible that Eren is nearby?"
Annie glanced at the three people approaching on horseback behind her and deliberately slowed down.
They were all wearing hoods, so Annie naturally couldn't identify them.
According to what was in Reiner's letter, she had now reached the area the recruits were responsible for, and Eren seemed to be stationed here, so she couldn't just kill indiscriminately anymore.
She had to identify them first.
Annie paused her step to avoid a grappling hook fired at her ankle; the person, with nowhere to gain leverage, jumped off their horse.
Annie swung her hand back, and the resulting gust of wind flipped open the person's hood.
Brown hair; it wasn't Eren.
She turned and charged toward another person, flipping both the person and their horse to the ground.
Annie squatted down to check: "You again, Armin. Aren't you going to run away yet?"
A grappling hook caught her left shoulder blade; the brown-haired man from before had already flown behind her.
She immediately used her left hand to protect her nape.
Annie looked back and saw through the other's flight path at a glance, raising her right hand to crush them in one smooth motion.
"Jean! We have to avenge that suicidal bastard!"
Armin suddenly roared while squatting on the ground.
Annie instantly stopped her movement.
Was the person behind her Jean after all?
Eren is already dead?
No, with the Power of the Titans, Eren can't die so easily.
Armin must be lying to me; he's only saying that to save someone.
But no matter what she thought now, she indeed didn't kill Jean in that first moment, and Jean successfully released his grappling hook and landed on the ground.
"What happened?"
Jean, standing up again, felt a lingering fear; when he had met the eyes of the Female Titan as she turned her head just now, he really felt like he was done for.
Annie watched as a grappling hook caught her right shoulder, and the last of the three people flew toward her.
"A fool seeking death," Annie commented flatly.
By the time the person flew in front of her, Annie could see their face clearly.
Her expression shifted as she received the other person's hint.
Annie grabbed Reiner in her hand, blocking the view of the other two.
Soon, she cooperated with Reiner to have her fingers cut off, allowing him to escape smoothly.
Annie stared at her palm; on it was the information Reiner had passed to her using his blade.
"Rear of the center."
So Eren is at the Rear of the center?
It looks like the Survey Corps high command passed false information to all the recruits.
Why did they do that?
Was it to draw us out... Annie said coldly, "It's all in vain."
She slowly stood up, and after careful identification, she ran directly toward the direction where Eren was.
Annie knew that there would likely be a trap specifically set for her by the Survey Corps ahead.
But she wasn't afraid at all.
"A bunch of frogs in a well; I'm curious to see how far you can go."
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