Chapter 13: This Is the Feeling of Soaring (Fourth Update, Monthly Ticket Bonus)
"Die, you damn giant."
Mikasa glided gracefully through the air, her Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear's cables anchored to Eren's shoulder. After a burst of gas from her waist device, she charged toward the nape of the 'Eren Titan'—the location of Eren's true body. Cutting that nape would be equivalent to beheading Eren.
Eren's giant eyes shifted to the side as he swatted a palm toward Mikasa. At this moment, Eren no longer recognized her; his mind held only one thought: to kill every giant in sight.
Mikasa could have easily dodged this attack, but the aftereffects of her hangover kicked in. As she adjusted her body's trajectory, a burst of gas propelled her at high speed into a chimney on a nearby rooftop.
Bang.
Dizzy and disoriented, Mikasa landed on the roof. The slanted tiles sent her rolling downward. The house was over ten meters tall—if she fell, she'd be crippled or dead.
A figure with disheveled blond hair rushed out, barely catching Mikasa's arm. It was Armin.
The two crashed onto another rooftop. Due to the blades in her hands, a shallow cut opened on Mikasa's calf.
"Mikasa, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. There must have been something wrong with what we drank yesterday."
Mikasa's vision swam from the impact, dust smearing her pale face.
Boom. Boom.
Eren didn't spare Mikasa and Armin a glance. He strode toward Rose Wall, where many giants were gathered.
"Why isn't he interested in us? That was a perfect chance to attack, and at this distance, there's no way he didn't notice us. What's going on?"
Armin, clever yet young, stared in confusion at the giant Eren had become.
Eren continued forward. His pace wasn't fast, but each step covered great distance. In less than two minutes, he made contact with an ordinary giant.
The ordinary giant acted abnormally upon seeing Eren—instead of ignoring the civilians, it began converging on Eren with the others.
There were about five ordinary giants nearby, the tallest reaching fourteen meters.
Without any pre-battle provocation or communication, the giant Eren and the ordinary giants clashed in the most brutal struggle.
Though Eren lacked conscious awareness, his subconscious retained combat instincts.
Adopting a boxer's starting stance, Eren threw a straight punch at the giant's head.
Bang.
A massive head was sent flying. Eren didn't stop; he bit into the giant's nape, tearing and pulling until the giant collapsed.
"This is... what's happening?"
Mikasa and Armin stared dumbfounded at the scene before them. A giant attacking other giants—this overturned everything they knew.
Su Xiao observed Eren's battle with the giants from a small alley. That punch from Eren was incredibly fierce; he absolutely couldn't be hit head-on.
Fortunately, the giants were massive and slow.
A new problem arose: how to make Eren lift that massive boulder. Eren's mental state was currently stable, but Su Xiao had already considered this. He just needed to wait for events to unfold.
With giants breaching the wall, Su Xiao didn't believe the garrison forces inside would stand idly by.
Nearby rooftops were soon filled with new recruits from the Training Corps, drawn by the sight of the giants.
"Armin, Mikasa, what's going on? How did the giants get inside the wall? Didn't the higher-ups say everything was fine?"
Fellow Training Corps members from the same class as Mikasa gathered around them.
Armin didn't know how to explain. Yesterday, the defenses were ironclad; today, they were breached at dawn.
A figure flashed through Armin's mind—the man who had slaughtered giants with a long blade in an overwhelming manner. Had he been defeated?
The Training Corps recruits couldn't hold off the giants, but soon, a female Survey Corps member with glasses arrived.
"The worst has happened. Those bastards in the Military Police."
Hange Zoe stomped her foot in frustration. She had been assigned to the second district's defense line, but upon learning that other sectors had been breached, she rushed to reinforce.
Though Hange Zoe wasn't as strong as Levi, she understood giants far better. She had studied them for years, harboring an almost obsessive passion—of course, for researching their anatomy.
"Damn, too many giants. Unless the Survey Corps mobilizes en masse... what?"
Hange's body froze. She saw the 'Eren Titan' locked in combat with other giants.
"What's this? A giant attacking giants? No, I have to capture this abnormal type. I have to."
Hange's cheeks flushed, as if she had forgotten that Rose Wall had been breached.
"All of you, come with me to capture that abnormal type."
Hange called out to over a dozen Training Corps members and charged aggressively toward Eren.
On a street near the battlefield, Su Xiao hurried toward a certain direction.
"Help! Someone, save me!"
A faint cry for help reached Su Xiao's ears, and he quickened his pace.
A Training Corps member lay on the ground, half his shoulder bitten off, blood pooling beneath him. Upon seeing Su Xiao, the recruit let out a tearful laugh.
"Save me, quick. My injuries aren't serious."
Su Xiao crouched beside the recruit, examining him.
"Are you a doctor? Please, save me."
Click.
Su Xiao unfastened the buckles of the recruit's Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear. After undoing several straps, he removed the device.
Closing his eyes to recall for a moment, Su Xiao skillfully strapped the device to his own waist.
The device came with two blade handles, each with a cable at the end and a trigger shaped like a handguard. One trigger controlled gas ejection, the other released or retracted the metal cables.
Su Xiao didn't plan to use the device's attached blades—they were too dull and fragile.
Pulling tools from his storage space, Su Xiao quickly modified the blade handles. He bound the two handles together, removed useless decorations, and sawed off one trigger.
This allowed him to operate the device with one hand. The shorter trigger controlled gas ejection, the longer one the metal cables—easy to distinguish.
"What... what are you doing? Why aren't you saving me? Aren't you a doctor?"
The wounded recruit shouted at Su Xiao when he realized he wasn't being helped but instead having his gear tampered with.
"You're done for. I suggest you use your blood to leave a last message."
With that, Su Xiao gripped Dragon-Slaying Flash in his right hand and the modified control handle in his left.
Ding.
The anchor at the end of the metal cable embedded itself into the outer wall of a tall building. Su Xiao took a few running steps, then pressed the gas ejection trigger.
Pfft.
A burst of thrust came from his lower back. Su Xiao immediately tightened the metal cable, launching himself into the air.
Gliding through the sky, a faint smile crept onto Su Xiao's face. This thing was unexpectedly thrilling.
Using the Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear to reach a rooftop over ten meters high, Su Xiao ran a few steps, fired the grappling hook again, and ejected gas.
He sped across the tops of buildings, the strong wind brushing his face and lifting his short hair.
Most of the time, he was gliding. When the momentum faded, he sprinted a few steps on the rooftops before using the gear to glide again.
His speed had increased by at least thirty percent, if not more.
And the sensation of high-speed gliding was exhilarating. Before long, Su Xiao had grown fond of the device.
Its principle was essentially a 'jet-propelled Spider-Man.'
When Su Xiao arrived near Eren, he found the original characters—Hange Zoe, Mikasa, Armin, and others—locked in a struggle with him.
Thanks to the intense movement, Mikasa's hangover had faded significantly, and she was no longer trying to kill the 'Eren Titan.'
She had realized that this giant had eyes identical to Eren's—those dark green irises occasionally flickering with the same expression.
PS: (I'm really a useless mosquito now, but it seems the monthly ticket rankings are about to climb up.)