Earth-shattering explosions rang out one after another, booming like thunder. The distant ground was torn apart, forming enormous, bottomless chasms that rapidly spread toward them.
"Fall back! Fall back! Retreat now!" Levi shouted at the top of his lungs.
Despite his panic, Armin immediately turned around.
"Ah!" Sasha wheeled her horse toward the rear, but the ground beneath its hooves split open in an instant. Both she and her mount lost their footing and plunged down.
"Sasha! Hey, hey! Ah!" Connie tried to rescue Sasha in terror, only for the ground beneath him to collapse as well, swallowing him up.
At that critical moment, two figures shot out one after the other. Levi and Hange reached out and grabbed Sasha and Connie, pulling them back and setting them on the wagon. Sasha's horse fell into the chasm, while Connie's frantically clawed at the ground and scrambled out of the collapsing earth, narrowly escaping death.
"Sasha! Connie! Are you two all right?" Mina called to them from beside the wagon.
"I'm fine. Thank you, Captain Hange. Ah, my horse!" Sasha said gratefully, only to see her horse plunge into the fissure and die in a spray of blood.
"Thank you, Captain," Connie said as well.
"Armin, speed up now! Connie and Sasha, both of you get on the wagon. Hitch Connie's horse to the front and pick up the pace!" Hange immediately ordered.
The cracks in the earth continued to spread, but ultimately could not keep up with their horses.
"So Rod actually turned into a Titan?" Kenny said, somewhat surprised.
"That Titan must be over 150 meters tall," Hange said, looking back as cold sweat trickled down her forehead.
By then, Erwin had led the Survey Corps to a cliff. Before them, the unprecedentedly enormous Pure Titan Rod had transformed