Attack On Titan: Pure Blood

Chapter 25: The 57th Expedition Part 3

Deep in the forest of giant trees, in a small clearing, all the Scouts present watched in a stunned, yet wary manner as the Female Titan struggled under the force of hooks embedded in every part of her body.

Levi unsheathed one of his swords, eager to discover the identity of this Titan.

"Wait, Levi," Erwin stopped him, eyeing the Female Titan warily before raising one of his swords. "An eye for an eye... Cannons 2 and 3! Fire!"

Immediately, a second volley of cannons was fired directly at the Female Titan.

Even if she seemed to be immobilized, none of them lowered their guard, as they knew how dangerous she was.

The sound of explosions was heard throughout the forest, alerting all the Scouts who had been assigned to guard the forest's borders.

Fearfully, Krista watched as a 6-meter Titan began to slowly climb up the tree, holding on firmly to the bark or a low-lying branch.

"Excuse me... it's starting to go up," she pointed to her squad leader.

"It's true..." Nanaba commented, looking at the Titan with almost disinterest. "If it gets up here, I'll take care of it. But... the withdrawal order will not take long to be given."

"Does this have something to do with the explosions we've been hearing for a while?"

Nanaba glanced briefly over her shoulder and squinted into the forest as the sound of explosions rang in her ears.

"Who knows..."

Elsewhere in the forest, Sasha shared the same concern as she crouched on a tree branch, listening to the shrill sound of explosions.

"Mikasa, what do you think those noises are?" she asked her companion. "Why do you think they are firing cannons into the forest?"

Mikasa remained silent as she continued to survey her surroundings. She felt a growing anxiety and discomfort in her heart as she gazed deeper into the forest. It almost seemed as if something was drawing her to the place where the explosions were taking place, as if her instinct told her that she should go there.

'I don't remember seeing them carry cannons...' Reiner reflected, glancing suspiciously at the place where the explosions came from.

"They've been being noisy for a while now," Ymir commented, slightly annoyed. "And to top it off, we had to split up to cover more ground due to the casualties we suffered. This is bullshit. Hey, do you know where Christa was assigned...?" She turned to look at one of her squad mates to which she was assigned. "... Bertholdt?"

The tall boy looked at her with his usual nervous expression before replying:

"I'm sorry... I don't know."

Ymir sighed with disappointment before turning listlessly to observe the limits of the forest, making sure that no Titan enters it.

Connie sighed wearily as he leaned his back against a tree trunk.

'I don't understand what is happening anymore' he thought, before looking at the sky, 'What are we doing here?... I want to go home'

As the sound of explosions continued, Jean and Armin's group decided to change places as the Titans slowly began to reach higher, using the trees for support. And although they did so slowly and clumsily, neither wanted to risk unnecessarily confronting them.

"That bastard is starting to find its way up," Jean commented, landing on a higher branch of a distant tree. "It climbs more and more easily."

"That shows they have the ability to learn," Armin pointed out. "Although some are better than others."