After leaving the large tree in the suburbs, Ellie quickly composed herself and continued to scout around the edge of the wall.
The afternoon sun was somewhat dazzling, and she wandered along the base of the wall for a few hours until her neck was practically strained from looking up.
“This is lift platform number three, it’s about two hundred meters away from the city gate…”
“Hm, several old cannon positions have actually rusted over.”
While making marks on her small piece of paper, Ellie couldn’t help rolling her eyes heavily in her heart.
These old men of the Garrison, they didn’t even maintain their equipment normally!
No wonder the wall collapsed entirely the moment it was breached; they were simply professionals at slacking off!
Just as Ellie was about to find a corner to gnaw on some dry rations to fill her stomach, a hurried sound of bells suddenly came from the direction of the city gate.
“Clang—clang—clang—”
The originally noisy street quieted down for a small moment, and immediately afterward, the crowd surged toward the main road in twos and threes.
“It’s the Survey Corps!
They’re back!”
“Go take a look!
Who knows how many people died this time!”
Ellie’s heart stirred, and she also squeezed to the edge of the street along with the flow of people.
The heavy gates slowly opened, and a procession slowly drove in accompanied by the sound of tired horse hooves, however, completely different from the triumphant hero scene expected by the civilians, the morale of this procession was extremely low.
The soldiers’ green cloaks were tattered and stained with dried blood and mud.
There were also several severely wounded soldiers with broken hands and feet, secured to the backs of horses by their companions.
There wasn’t a shred of joy of surviving a catastrophe on their faces, all of them staring blankly ahead.
In pairs of hollow eyes, it was as if something had been left behind forever outside the wall.
At the rear of the procession, several dilapidated wooden carts drove past slowly.
Neatly lying on the carts were rows of human-shaped outlines, each one was tightly covered by a blood-stained white cloth.
When the wind blew, the corners of the white cloths gently fluttered, occasionally revealing a section of mud-stained boots or a hand that had long since lost its color.
The surviving soldiers all hung their heads low, not daring to meet the eyes of the civilians on both sides of the street at all, let alone face the questions of the families of the deceased.
Even though Ellie had rehearsed the horror of the Titans countless times in her mind, when she truly witnessed this miserable state with her own eyes, she was still shocked.
Is this the world the Survey Corps faces…
Knowing full well that Titans were everywhere outside the wall and that every expedition might mean not returning, they still insisted on stepping outside the wall!
Sighs burst out from among the onlookers, mixed with harsh mockery.
“So many people died again…”
“What on earth are these guys doing?”
“Spending our tax money to run outside the wall and throw away their lives for nothing, what is the point of it all?”
Right at this moment, an old woman with white hair stumbled out of the crowd, lunged toward the officer at the front of the procession, and cried out asking about the whereabouts of her son.
The officer lowered his head, remained silent for a long time, and finally tremblingly pulled a cloth-wrapped severed limb from his bosom—
This was the only arm her son had left behind…
Ellie silently watched this scene and shook her head.
This was the real world; in front of the Titans, humans were like blades of grass!
No matter how brave they were in life, or how many family members were waiting for them to come home.
Once a mistake was made and they were eaten by a Titan…
what might be left behind was perhaps only a single arm!
Even this arm could already be considered fortunate!
There were even more soldiers outside the wall who were swallowed whole into the bellies of Titans or turned into indistinguishable flesh and blood amid the tearing and biting.
They couldn’t even leave behind their bones!
How tragic!
However, right at this moment, Ellie gave a start!
Wait a minute! Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Isn’t this scene the exact plot at the beginning of the first episode of the original anime?!
The Survey Corps returning with heavy casualties, an old woman looking for her son…
If the Survey Corps returned today, that meant—
Bertholdt, Reiner, and Annie had already arrived at the outskirts of Wall Maria!
In other words, the wall breach might happen within the next few hours!
“Finally…
it’s coming!”
Ellie took a deep breath, and her previously somewhat nervous mood miraculously calmed down at this moment.
Four years.
She had laid low like a child in the Reiss Estate for four years, repeatedly conducting dry training and carefully plotting everything.
Wasn’t it all for this very moment?
“The story has already begun; next, it’s all about how to change all of this!”
At four o’clock in the afternoon, the sky was clear and cloudless.
Ellie quietly climbed up onto the roof of the church spire along the vines of the outer wall, as her legs dangled in the air, she sat on the high ridge of the roof, the breeze blowing her short blonde hair slightly messy.
From this excellent vantage point, she could clearly see past the overlapping houses and gaze far into the distance at that magnificent fifty-meter-high wall.
At this time in Shiganshina District, people were still routinely preparing their dinner, cookware smoke rose slowly, mixed with the aroma of food.
A few children were still chasing and playing in the open space of the neighborhood, their laughter crisp.
The whole world was asleep in this false peace.
They probably thought today would be just like the past hundred years.
The sun sets, the city gates close, everyone eats dinner and goes to sleep peacefully, waiting to continue their ordinary lives tomorrow.
Only Ellie knew—
This peace that had lasted for a hundred years had already entered its final countdown!
Through her clothes, Ellie touched the spinal fluid injection vial pressed against her heart.
“I wonder when that big guy Bertholdt will pop out…”
Just at the moment the breeze swept past, in the distant wilderness outside the wall, at the extremely distant skyline—
A dazzling golden flash quietly cut through the dim sky!
“Boom—!”
Immediately afterward, a faint rumble of thunder passed through the thick wall and reached Ellie’s ears, she abruptly stood up from the roof and looked in the direction where the lightning had fallen.
That flash of lightning was clearly the signal for a Titan transformation!
If she remembered correctly…
Judging from the distance, the one transforming was Annie’s Female Titan!
Next, the Female Titan would run wildly all the way with Reiner and Bertholdt, simultaneously attracting countless Pure Titans to close in on the wall.
That is to say, the Colossal Titan was about to make its debut!
Ellie excitedly curved the corners of her mouth.
“That flash of lightning just now was definitely Annie, no doubt about it!”
She quickly turned around, leaped off the roof, and melted into the shadows of the houses in Shiganshina District.
The wind in the alley swept past her ears, and Ellie ran wildly straight toward the outer gate direction of Shiganshina District.
Annie had transformed into the Female Titan outside the wall, in an attempt attract all the wandering Pure Titans on the wilderness to the foot of the wall, by now, she had probably finished her mission and turned back into a human.
And Reiner and Bertholdt…
those two guys must have already been in position!
“Time is running out for me…”
“I must catch Bertholdt during those few seconds of weakness after he kicks open the gate and breaks away from the Titan!”
Ellie said with a solemn expression.
At this moment, five minutes had already passed since Annie transformed into the Female Titan and Ellie had already reached the bottom of the wall.
As she was thinking, suddenly—
“Boom crack—!!!”
The thunder tore the entire sky apart, and the violent shockwave swept through the entire Shiganshina District, shattering the glass of the houses on both sides into a messy heap of pieces!
Ellie was staggered by this shockwave, barely stabilized her posture, and abruptly raised her head.
Then, her eyes widened sharply!
Above the fifty-meter-high Wall Maria, a billowy white smoke actually billowed up!
Subsequently, a huge red head slowly crossed over the top of the wall!
The Titan’s muscle fibers were exposed to the air, and steam constantly spewed from between its teeth.
The Colossal Titan…
had appeared!
Even though she had seen it countless times in front of a screen, when she truly gazed up at this behemoth blocking out the sky with her own eyes, Ellie’s brain felt an instinctive pressure.
“What the hell…
This guy looks way too absurdly huge in reality?!”
Before Ellie could recover from the shock, the behemoth above the wall suddenly retreated a step slowly and immediately afterward, its right leg, like a pillar supporting the heavens, kicked fiercely toward the outer gate of Shiganshina District!
“Boom—!!!”
In an instant, heaven and earth shattered!
The sturdy stone gate was like a fragile wafer biscuit under this kick, turning into countless huge rubble and dust filling the sky, The shockwave carried countless sharp stones, smashing fiercely toward the entire urban area like rain!
“Ahhhhh—!”
“Titans!
There are Titans!”
“The gate has been smashed open!
Run quickly!”
The residents of Shiganshina District were scared out of their wits, and the originally peaceful neighborhood instantly turned into a living hell.
They had been paralyzed by fear…
luckily before long almost all came to one conclusion.
They had to get to Wall Maria.
“Bang!”
An adult man rushing blindly smashed fiercely into Ellie’s petite shoulder and nearly lost her balance.
“Hiss…
It hurts!”
Ellie drew in a sharp breath and shook her wrist, this burning sharp pain immediately woke her up.
“What the hell, what am I spacing out for?!”
She slapped herself hard in her mind.
Wake up!
“Four years!
A full four years!”
“Being thrown left and right by that woman Traute every day, wasn’t it all for this very moment?!”
If she didn’t get onto the wall now, it would be too late!
Ellie clenched her teeth, supported the ground with both hands, and nimbly climbed up and with her petite figure, she flexibly drilled through the gaps between adult people.
Then, utilizing her familiarity with the nearby terrain, she bypassed the blocked main road and passed through two narrow alleys.
At this moment, everyone else was fleeing from the wall!
Only she alone rushed desperately against the surging human tide toward the material lift platform at the base of the wall!
“Bertholdt, your Colossal Titan—I’m taking it today!”
================================================================
Broski is screwed…
poor guy.