There was a thunderous crash as she landed, while Jay remained high up in a tree.
Bai Yu surveyed their surroundings, then spoke to Annie.
"Go ahead."
As he finished speaking, he jumped onto a nearby tree and covered his ears.
"ROOOAAARR!!!!!!"
An immense, piercing roar tore from Annie's mouth. Even Erwin, far in the distance, heard it faintly and narrowed his eyes. Birds startled out of the forest and took to the sky.
Every soldier in the Survey Corps looked toward Annie in the distance, bewildered.
Suddenly, the commotion intensified. Even up in the trees, they could feel the trunks trembling beneath their feet. The ground shook, and Armin's pupils abruptly contracted as he looked into the distance.
T-Titans?
Dozens? Hundreds? Or... or thousands???
All the Titans raced desperately toward Annie, scrambling to get there first. Even the ordinary Pure Titans ignored the Survey Soldiers in the trees before them and broke into a run.
"Hey, Erwin, what's going on?"
Beside him, Levi watched the Titans ignore them and run toward the other side of the forest. His grip on his drawn blades tightened involuntarily, his body poised for action.
"The first stage of Bai Yu's plan worked."
Those quiet words made Levi understand, and he too looked toward Bai Yu and the others.
"So that was it."
"There are too many Titans around here. If we advance straight through, we'll suffer heavy casualties. We won't be able to avoid many of them even if we try, so we have to eliminate some first."
Bai Yu slowly drew his blades from their sheaths and crouched slightly.
An eight-meter Titan had barely appeared when its vision flooded with crimson. Blood sprayed out, and it lost consciousness, crashing to the ground and beginning to evaporate.
Bai Yu smiled as he stood