Chen Si activated his ODM gear and sped toward a group of Titans rushing from the distance.
Taking a quick look—damn. More than twenty Titans were charging straight toward Eren.
Chen Si glanced toward the area beneath the wall. What he saw was a horrifying sight: countless grotesque Titans packed tightly together, easily numbering in the thousands.
"That's seriously ridiculous," Chen Si muttered.
"If in the original story Reiner and his group had really gone all out without holding back, even with Eren and Levi around, the fall of Wall Rose would've been inevitable."
Feeling the Titan horde closing in, Chen Si drew both blades.
Twisting through the air at angles ordinary people could never manage, he darted freely among the Titans, slicing away chunk after chunk from their napes.
Chen Si landed on a rooftop with blood-stained blades in hand.
He glanced at the remaining Titans ahead of him, narrowed his eyes slightly, and took a deep breath.
Blue light suddenly flickered across his body.
In the next instant, he transformed into a streak of lightning, zigzagging through the air in sharp, flashing lines.
When he finally landed on another distant rooftop, he sheathed his blades and looked down at the street.
Only two or three Titans remained.
It seemed the others had nearly finished their missions as well.
Chen Si estimated that Armin—the "talk-no-jutsu Titan"—would probably go speak with Eren soon. Those two slaps earlier surprisingly hadn't managed to wake him up.
Better leave it to Armin.
Chen Si decided to keep an eye on Reiner and the others instead.
At a time like this, those guys definitely wouldn't stay quiet. They were bound to cause trouble.
In Chen Si's opinion, their biggest threat wasn't simply their ability to hide—it was the possibility that they might also know how events would unfold.
Chen Si immediately pulled the trigger, gas bursting from his gear as he flew toward the decoy squad's position.
The moment he left, more than a dozen Titans on the street collapsed one after another, steam rising from their bodies.
Members of the elite squad who had come to provide support stood frozen when they saw the scene.
"He said he'd 'delay the Titans'… and he ended up killing the entire group."
"That strength is terrifying. I didn't think humans could become this powerful."
"Maybe… with him and Captain Levi, we really can reclaim the district!"
The soldiers murmured in amazement.
Mikasa pulled her blade from the nape of a ten-meter Titan.
This was the fourth Titan she had personally killed.
Meanwhile, the two elite squads were each handling a 13-meter abnormal Titan.
Mikasa glanced toward the breach.
For the moment, that entire area had been cleared of Titans. Steam drifted through the streets like fog.
But soon she noticed that Titans were beginning to trickle in again—two or three at a time.
"Mikasa! How's the operation going? What's wrong with Eren?!" Armin shouted as he flew over and landed on Eren's Titan body.
"Armin, it's too dangerous! Get off him!" Mikasa shouted back.
"He's not under control right now. No one can wake him. Both my brother and I tried earlier!"
"How's the battle situation?" Armin asked.
"It failed!"
"Chen Si just cleared a large number of Titans near the breach, buying us some time. Everyone is still fighting so we won't have to abandon Eren—but Titans are still pouring through the breach nonstop!"
"At this rate, even if we kill countless Titans, the entire force will be wiped out!"
Armin clenched his teeth but ignored Mikasa's warning.
Looking at Eren, he drew his blade and estimated the location of Eren's human body inside the Titan.
Then he stabbed his blade directly into the nape.
"Eren! Wake up already!"
Meanwhile, Jean's ODM gear had been damaged, leaving him surrounded by five Titans.
Grinding his teeth, Jean hid inside a building.
He glanced out the window and saw several Titans slowly approaching.
"Damn it… I'm not just going to sit here and die."
Spotting the corpse of a soldier lying in the street, Jean rushed outside and started trying to unbuckle the dead soldier's belt to take his gas canister.
"Damn it! Why does this have to happen now?!"
In his panic, Jean couldn't undo the belt.
At that moment, a four-meter Titan approached and reached out to grab him.
"Jean! Calm down!" Connie shouted as he sprinted over.
Just then, Connie noticed a figure shooting down from the rooftop in the distance.
Chen Si dropped straight from the sky.
His foot, crackling with electricity and wind pressure, slammed into the Titan's nape.
The Titan's neck exploded instantly as it collapsed lifelessly.
"Jean-Jean, you're looking pretty pathetic," Chen Si said, glancing in mild surprise at the Titan he had just stomped to death—he hadn't even needed to draw his blade.
"The hell did you call me, 'Jean-Jean'?!" Jean shouted angrily as he yanked the gas canister and belt off the corpse.
Jean pulled the trigger and shot into the air—
Only to lose his balance and fall straight back down.
"Jean-Jean, you've gotten worse," Chen Si teased.
At the same time, he shot through the air with his ODM gear, reaching another Titan and slicing through its nape with a single strike.
Suddenly, a 13-meter abnormal Titan, running on all fours, leapt down from a rooftop and lunged straight at Jean.
"Jean!" Connie rushed forward with his ODM gear to strike the Titan's nape—but he flew off course and crashed onto the Titan's forehead.
Connie fell to the side and looked up in terror as the abnormal Titan opened its huge mouth and lunged down to bite him.
At the last second, a blade flashed like lightning.
Chen Si's sword struck the Titan's face, blasting it apart.
The Titan stumbled and collapsed sideways while Connie quickly launched himself into the air to escape.
The blade remained buried deep in the Titan's facial tissue.
Chen Si shot forward like lightning, pulled the sword free, and spun rapidly as he shredded the Titan's nape.
"Thanks, Chen Si," Connie said, shaken but relieved.
"No problem. I'm used to saving you guys by now," Chen Si said with a smile.
Connie scratched his head awkwardly.
"Let's fall back first."
Chen Si pressed his trigger again—only to realize his gas canister was nearly empty.
In the distance, Annie was shaking off pursuit from two Titans.
A Titan's hand swung toward her.
Annie's eyes sharpened.
With a swift motion, she sliced the Titan's hand off and launched herself into the air.
Seeing this, Chen Si flew toward her and raised his blade to strike the Titan's nape—
But suddenly his gas canister stopped releasing gas.
His body lost balance and began to fall.
A massive Titan hand swung toward him.
Electric arcs crackled around Chen Si's body.
In the next moment, a flash of steel cut through the air.
Annie sliced off the Titan's arm in one clean strike, flipped backward, landed on the Titan's nape, and killed it with a precise finishing blow.
"You should conserve your resources," Annie said coolly, glancing at Chen Si.
"Both your gas… and everything else."
"Thanks, Annie," Chen Si replied with a smile.
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."