Playing the hero, commonly known as showing off, is something every story's protagonist has to do.
Hearing Mikasa expose his "true colors" in her flat tone, Lock smiled slightly, seemingly unbothered.
He glanced at Eren, not far behind Mikasa, and said, "Doesn't that kid Eren like playing the hero too?"
"Why are you all picking on me?"
"Eren is different from you!" Mikasa said with a serious face.
"How is he different?"
If it were Annie, she would probably say that Eren never considers himself and is in a hurry to die, while you, Lock, never do anything beyond your capabilities.
It's just that your strength is great enough that it makes you look no different from Eren.
But Mikasa isn't Annie; she said in a deadpan tone, "Eren does it to get my attention, while you do it to maintain your image in everyone's eyes."
Lock didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The first half of the sentence fit Mikasa's character perfectly, while the second half indeed accurately pierced Lock himself.
Just then, Eren walked over and asked curiously, "What's going on? I thought I heard you guys talking about me?"
Lock took the chance to counterattack, "Eren, Mikasa wants me to advise you to stop acting impulsively. It might be because you worried her by taking down a Titan alone just now."
"You!" Mikasa was stunned by Lock's superb lying skills.
But she did mean that, so she was momentarily speechless.
Hearing this, Eren said, somewhat irritated, "Mikasa, killing Titans is our duty as Soldiers, okay? Don't always treat me like a child."
"But Eren..."
While the two were arguing, Lock left the spot.
He went to the edge of the wall nearby, and sawthat Reiner had already reached the top of the wall using a simple lift made by Soldiers with Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.
Lock knelt, reached out to Reiner, and pulled him up with force.
Looking at the exhaustion on Reiner's face, he said, "It would have been better if I just carried you up on my back; it would have been faster."
Reiner forced a smile and said, "The commander ordered those of us without Omni-Directional Mobility Gear to round up your horses. How could I disobey orders?"
Lock teased, "You're still the same, putting a Soldier's duty first."
Hearing this, Reiner said excitedly, "Of course! Otherwise, why would I have gotten such a serious injury?"
"And this is the second time. I hope the commander will let me become a squad leader this time, considering my contributions."
Beside him, Bertholdt looked at Reiner like this, looking uneasy.
Lock smiled and said, "Of course. You didn't even go back to your home for the sake of the mission. The commander will definitely see how hard you're working."
Hearing this, Reiner's expression suddenly changed.
Lock asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Isn't your hometown just to the south, not far from here?"
Bertholdt looked at Reiner and suddenly said excitedly, "That's right, Reiner, let's go back to our hometown!"
Lock stopped paying attention to their performance. He reached out and pulled up Armin, who had arrived at the wall using his Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.
Armin's eyes involuntarily drifted toward the two behind Lock who were talking excitedly, but Lock said, "Is everything going smoothly?"
Armin snapped out of it and quickly looked away.
He looked at Lock and nodded, "Yeah, basically everyone is up. No one is injured except for Ymir, and there's no sign of other Titans nearby."
Lock stretched and said lazily, "Then we just have to wait for the report from the Garrison Regiment to see if that so-called big hole actually exists."
"It must be there, otherwise these Titans..."
Just then, Eren and Mikasa's voices came over: "It's Uncle Hannes!"
Lock and Armin looked down from the wall at the same time and saw a middle-aged Garrison officer riding a horse alone to the base of the wall.
It was Hannes, who was preparing to return to Trost after patrolling the wall... When Hannes climbed up the wall, his first sentence stunned everyone on the spot: "We found no breach."
"At least between the Trost District and the Krolva District, there is nothing unusual about the wall!"
Hannes looked serious: "We turned back after meeting the Soldiers from Krolva District, and we didn't encounter any Titans on the way at all."
"But... Titans definitely appeared inside the wall." Armin's tone was full of unease.
Eren questioned Hannes directly, "Did you really check thoroughly? You haven't sobered up yet, have you?"
"I haven't been drinking!"
Looking at Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, Hannes suddenly asked, "By the way, why are you guys here?"
The three of them didn't speak for a moment.
Hange interrupted in time and ordered everyone, "Since no breach was found, let's temporarily withdraw to Trost District and wait for further orders."
...Everyone, filled with questions, prepared to move along the wall toward Trost.
Lock stayed behind and turned to look at Reiner and Bertholdt, who were still standing there, "What are you two just standing there for?"
Seeing it was Lock, Reiner said seriously, "Lock, can you call Eren over? I have something to tell him."
"Sure," Lock agreed with a smile.
He shouted directly to Eren, who was walking ahead, "Eren, Reiner wants to talk to you!"
Eren was startled, stopped, and turned to look at Lock, who smiled and pointed behind him.
Mikasa was about to stop Eren, but Armin reached out to hold her back.
Eren walked toward Reiner with some trepidation. As he passed Lock, he heard him whisper, "Be careful, there's something wrong with Reiner."
Eren came to Reiner and asked, "What is it, Reiner?"
...Lock walked up to Mikasa. Faced with her dark, questioning gaze, he shrugged and said nothing.
He used his extraordinary hearing to eavesdrop on the conversation of the three behind him, and the more he heard, the harder it was to keep a straight face.
The "I'm the Armored, he's the Colossal" famous scene really is timeless.
Lock was having a hard time holding it in.
He looked at Mikasa's hand, tightly gripping her blade,e and said calmly, "Mikasa, let me handle it later."
It took Mikasa a moment to react: "What did you say?"
"Clang, clang..."
A sudden gust of wind snapped a long-rotted flagpole, sending it falling off the wall.
The echo resounded through the air!
All the Soldiers sensed something was wrong and stopped in their tracks.
Sunlight tore through the haze, shining upon the wall.
Reiner slowly removed the triangular bandage sling from his arm.
The wound on his arm, where he had been bitten by a Titan while saving a comrade, healed instantly amidst a puff of white steam!
He again transformed from a Soldier into a Warrior!
"Reiner, are we doing this?!"
"Right now?!"
"Right here?!"
"That's right, right here, let's settle this once and for all!"
Reiner rushed toward the stunned Eren, reaching out to grab him.
In the blink of an eye, Lock, who had quietly approached, lunged out from behind Eren. His blade precisely passed through the gap between Reiner's defensive arms and pierced straight through Reiner's neck!
With a step, he thrust another blade into the left side of Bertholdt's chest with a backhand strike.
His heart pierced, Bertholdt roared through the pain, "Reiner!"
Reiner's mouth was full of blood as he grabbed Lock's blade with both hands, his face contorted.
Lock knew it was bad. He let go of the blades, turned, grabbed Eren by the back of his collar, and threw him behind.
Countless golden sparks swirled around the two of them, and a terrifying pressure descended from the sky in an instant!
"Boom!"
Two intertwined bolts of golden lightning fell from the sky!
Lock jumped straight off the wall to the side, barely avoiding the impact of the explosion.
He fired his grappling hook to catch the wall, stopping his fall.
Under the terrifying wind pressure, Lock struggled to look up. Amidst the white mist filling the air, the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan stood atop the wall.
"Tsk!"
Lock knew his attempt had failed again.
The two of them moved much faster than they did in the anime; even Bertholdt had reacted first this time.
Although he was mentally prepared, Lock was still somewhat surprised.
"Is this the ripening power of a jealous lover?"
Lock wondered maliciously.
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