"Gale, what are you still doing here? Get out of this place, quickly!" Hannes looked at the Female Titan, who was trying to stand up by supporting herself with her hands.
Without worrying about the chaos around him, Gale walked toward a little girl who was crying and helped her onto a horse. The next moment, he mounted the horse as well.
"Mr. Hannes, the regiment has prepared explosives in the field and assigned us the task of detonating them," Gale said without breaking his act.
"Explosives? When did they prepare them?" Hannes was stunned.
"There's no time for explanations! Let's go, quickly. I know where the explosives are and how to detonate them. The soldiers will help lure the Female Titan to the explosion point!" Gale's cold voice snapped Hannes out of his daze, and he didn't bother asking any more foolish questions.
"I… I understand. Where are the explosives?" Hannes hesitated for a moment, then chose to believe Gale, who had no reason to lie to him now.
Over the past six months, he had grown used to doing things according to Gale's instructions. Although he had become a senator, he was well aware that he was merely a spokesman and lacked the ability to truly fulfill the role.
When Wall Maria fell, he realized he was nothing more than a coward without courage.
Gale was the one with real ability.
Although he was more than twenty years younger than him, Hannes had witnessed the design of the waterwheel, the construction of the iron foundry and weapons factory, and the glass greenhouses that made winter cultivation possible.
He was one of the few people who knew of Gale's existence and had long been fascinated by those things that were ahead of their time.
In truth, Hannes believed in God in private. He had the feeling that Gale was a messenger sent by God to save humanity, a holy child.
He still remembered the moment he met Gale. The boy wore ragged linen clothes and was covered in dust, yet his blue eyes were ethereal, as if they could see through everything.
"Mr. Hannes, take care of this!" Gale pulled out a bow, arrows, and animal fat from his saddlebag.
Hannes nodded, slung the bow and arrows over his shoulder, and ran in a set direction with Gale, leaving the task of organizing the evacuation to the other members of the merchant guild.
Gale and Hannes headed in the opposite direction of the Merchant Association; they moved toward the field and prepared the ambush, hiding behind a haystack.
Back at the mansion, the Female Titan stood up.
She protected the nape of her neck and looked around, her eyes sweeping across the area, observing the soldiers surrounding her and Eren in Titan form, whom she had knocked to the ground.
Another intelligent Titan—and not one of the intelligent Titans Annie was familiar with.
According to the information Annie had obtained before infiltrating Paradis Island, there are nine Titan shifters in the world, each bearing a unique power. The Marleyan government possesses seven of these powers: the Beast Titan, the Armored Titan, the Jaw Titan, the War Hammer Titan, the Cart Titan, the Colossal Titan, and the Female Titan—the last of which is in Annie's possession.
The two Titans not under Marley's control are the Founding Titan and the Attack Titan.
More than a hundred years ago, King Karl Fritz, the 145th Eldian monarch and holder of the Founding Titan, abandoned the continent along with his people and moved to Paradis Island. There, he raised the three walls and isolated the Eldians from the rest of the world, renouncing war through a vow that limited the use of the Founding Titan's power.
As for the Attack Titan, Marley never managed to subjugate it. Throughout the generations, its inheritors have acted independently, opposing both Marley's rule and any attempt at control.
As if embodying an unconstrained spirit of freedom, the Attack Titan has always moved forward, fighting for freedom even against fate itself. It is said that those who inherit its power receive not only its strength, but also fragments of the will of its predecessors, driving them to defy any form of oppression.
That was why she asked herself: who is this intelligent Titan?
Annie wondered how she had been discovered.
Was it because of the Founding Titan's power?
What exactly did Gale know?
Were Reiner and Bertolt also in danger?
Could the chaos she had caused shake the entire world, just as they had feared?
Annie calmly analyzed everything she had to face, and with very little information, her final decision was to flee. There was no point in getting involved in this battle with these ants; it would only be a waste of energy.
Although the Female Titan's endurance is above average compared to other intelligent Titans, that same endurance makes her too ordinary in every aspect, without any particularly outstanding strength.
She could not break down walls like the Armored Titan, nor did she possess the immense destructive power of the Colossal Titan.
Staying here would only put her at a disadvantage. Her mission was to retrieve the "Coordinate," not to fight.
"We must return…" This was the promise Annie had made to that person.
Her 14-meter-tall field of vision allowed her to see the direction of the wall. She protected the nape of her neck and attempted to escape in the opposite direction of the capital.
The Female Titan had good speed and endurance, enough to leave those riders behind.
She needed to find a secluded place, transform back into a human, and then consider what to do next—perhaps notify Reiner and Bertolt so they could meet up with her.
However, just as she tried to take a step, Eren, on the ground, grabbed her ankle.
The Titan Eren had transformed into gripped her foot tightly, preventing her from leaving.
The soldiers surrounding the Female Titan watched her movements nervously. After the lesson learned earlier, no one dared to attack recklessly again.
The Female Titan crouched, suddenly grabbed Eren's Titan arm, leaned back, pulled his entire body out of the mud, and threw him behind her.
It was a 180-degree backward throw, his nape slamming into the ground like a wrestling move—a combat technique.
Eren's bones were torn and shattered by the impact, and steam rose from them as they automatically repaired themselves.
She stood up cautiously and began running toward the outside of the wall.
The area was a plain, an extremely disadvantageous terrain for soldiers using Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.
Without horses, the soldiers had no way to catch up to the Female Titan, and it seemed they had no choice but to watch her leave.
But at that exact moment, a torch appeared in the giant's field of vision.
The Female Titan stopped, staring at the boy holding the torch, then suddenly turned, rounded a corner, and walked toward them.
Gale did not move aside; he simply watched as Eren staggered to his feet and threw the torch onto the haystack.
The rising flames were perfectly visible to Eren.
Roarrr!!!
Eren let out a terrifying roar and charged forward once again like a tank, pinning the Female Titan against the battlefield.
"Mr. Hannes!" After that shout, a rocket streaked through the darkness like a meteor, landing at a point in the field and igniting the fuel pouch, which burst into flames.
Under the fire, the detonator's gunpowder ignited, hissing like a venomous snake.
With his last strength, Eren hugged the nape of his neck, kicked off, and rolled out of the field.
What followed was a blinding light and a deafening roar that nearly left everyone deaf.
Boom!