That’s… Kuklo focused on the direction the soldier was pointing. He saw black smoke in the sky a few kilometers ahead. It was a beacon. The menacing puff made it clear that something had happened.
“The Survey Corps is coming back.”
The black smoke that polluted the sky was from a signal flare fired by a soldier. A “Black Star” indicated that the Survey Corps was heading back with a Titan in tow.
This was followed by a Yellow Star. It seemed the Survey Corps was being followed by a considerable number of Titans.
Before long, dots that appeared to be the Survey Corps emerged from beyond the horizon. They seemed to be advancing at full speed, their warhorses kicking up a storm of dust. At second sight, that was not all. The cloud was also due to grand, human-shaped creatures that madly pursued the Survey Corps.
“Titans…”
Only their silhouettes were visible through the cloud of dust, but there seemed to be ten at the very least. While varying in size, they were all easily larger than any human. That their shapes were clear despite the distance was proof.
“Burn this sight into your memories. Never forget what those Titans look like.”
Jorge’s instructions were superfluous, as his students all had their eyes glued on the monstrosities. Rosa, who was seeing a Titan for the first time, had her eyes opened especially wide. She was trembling, but the reaction was natural. It was hard to stay cool and collected in the face of monsters that defied human comprehension. Everything she thought she knew about the world had to be crashing down around her.
This was the trial Jorge wished to impose on his students. It was his way of screening them. If a recruit couldn’t weather it, he or she was incapable of challenging a Titan. It wasn’t a sign of Jorge’s severity─just the opposite.
Fortunately, Rosa and the others seemed to have conquered their fear. They stood firm, even if their faces had turned sickly pale…
As they watched, the Survey Corps grew closer and closer. The Titans were now clearly visible, too, and while initially there seemed to be around ten, the true count, including some smaller Titans, approximated twenty.
It was a dreadful sight, like something out of a nightmare. The Titans were about five hundred meters away from the Survey Corps. Though not slim enough to be covered instantly, the gap was nonetheless rapidly closing. It would only be a matter of time before the Titans caught up.
With the Survey Corps drawing near, the gigantic, ten-meter-tall gate began to open.
Commander Carlo brought up the rear as the group closed in on the gate, their horses neighing. His sharp gaze stared straight forward, and he skillfully used his reins to spur his mount.
“Fire!!”
The order came from a soldier who’d been gauging the situation from up high. The cannons placed on top of the wall spewed flames, and balls of fire shot out of their muzzles and into the ground a few hundred meters ahead. Amidst explosions, giant pillars of flame flared up from the ground, engulfing the bodies of multiple nearby Titans. Still, that did not stop the attack of the Titans. They seemed to know no fear, and they all continued to charge savagely forward, expressions unchanged.
The bombardment continued, blowing Titans away and bathing them in hellfire. It still wasn’t enough to incapacitate them, but it did pin them down, providing one Survey Corps soldier after another the chance to pass through Wall Maria.
“Close the gates! Close the gates!”
The portal shut almost as soon as a soldier shouted the command. Perhaps noticing that their prey had vanished, the Titans halted their attack.
After that, the monsters began to act erratically. While some wandered off, others stood in place as if they were reluctant to part. Unlike when they were chasing after the Survey Corps, they seemed to have no clear goal in mind. Eating humans was the only thing that interested them.
The Titans that had been knocked over by the shelling rose up. Though they should have been missing limbs, these had been restored, and their hideously burned skin had finished regenerating as well. Having recovered completely in just a few minutes, the monsters began roaming the land as though nothing had happened. The bombardment must not have so much as tickled them.
Kuklo balled his fists and glared at these implacable enemies of mankind. Perhaps noticing his impassioned stare, a familiar Titan, tall and lean, approached with a smile.
“Ogre…”
The Garrison soldiers did nothing to the sluggish figure. With the gates closed, Titans had no way of breaching Wall Maria. Perhaps the understanding was that it was safe to ignore them. The wall was thick enough to repel Titans and tall enough to be unscalable. A misguided strike damaging Wall Maria posed a bigger threat than any of the Titans outside of it.
“So, is that one your nemesis? Quite a fine young man, isn’t he?” Cardina joked, but his face was stern.
Rosa stood next to him, her expression no less stiff. “Did you see those monsters? How do you even…”
“As you saw, they can’t be defeated by orthodox means,” Jorge replied. “I doubt the current Survey Corps, which still relies on the same old tactics, can ever down a Titan.” Despite the Garrison soldiers around him, the instructor openly criticized the prevailing doctrine. Only Jorge, who’d defeated a Titan, could get away with that.
“To defeat them we need the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment,” Kuklo said.
“That’s right.”
“What if that doesn’t work?”
“Then humanity will gradually decline.”
Xenophon might come up with a groundbreaking new weapon, but waiting wasn’t the answer.
At a tortoise’s pace, Ogre ambled to a spot right below the watchtower. Then it looked up at Kuklo.
The more Kuklo looked at Ogre, the more it resembled a person. Aside from its size, it was nearly identical to a human, and this was what made Titans all the more repulsive. As if to greet Kuklo, it opened its mouth, a slit that stretched form ear to ear.
“Laugh while you still can,” Kuklo spat at the Titan. If he’d been holding explosives, he’d have thrown them into the Titan’s mouth, but unfortunately he was empty-handed. While he couldn’t settle things just yet, he believed he’d have the chance soon.