Deterrence

The surrounding warriors were stunned to see so many Colossal Titans. After hearing the Mother Superior's words, even those who wanted to argue could only choke into silence.

Although they were now familiar with the existence of Giants, when the sixty-meter-tall Colossal Titans appeared-and an entire group of them at that-they could only call it a miracle.

After hearing the Mother Superior's words, many warriors spontaneously knelt on the ground and prayed to the gods, hoping to receive their blessings.

Their kneeling made the people around them exchange glances before kneeling as well. After all, if this really was a miracle, failing to kneel along with them would be disrespectful to the gods, and the gods might punish them for it.

Some, however, observed the Colossal Titans as they kowtowed. The Colossal Titans had certainly shocked them.

But they now knew that their king was the son of a god, the gods' representative in the mortal world, so the Colossal Titans would not harm them.

Thus, beyond their initial shock, more of them were curious about the Colossal Titans.

After all, with such enormous figures standing there, how could people not be curious when they knew they would not be harmed? Curiosity was human nature.

As the warriors observed them, many noticed two rather strange-looking Giants among the Colossal Titans.

Ordinary Colossal Titans had exposed red muscles, with very little skin covering their bodies. Their entire bodies constantly emitted steam and astonishing heat, and it was obvious that they had been mass-produced.

These two Giants, however, were different from ordinary Colossal Titans. Not only did they look unlike the Colossal Titans, but their overall appearances were also peculiar.

One Giant had a ridge running backward from the middle of his head, two duck-egg-shaped eyes on his face, and a strange circular object in the center of his chest. Red lines formed from red muscle radiated from that circular object.

The other was covered in armor, his armored body marked by sharp, angular lines. A V-shaped emblem sat atop his head, and his overall appearance had a thoroughly metallic quality.

Although the warriors did not know why these two Giants looked so strange, they felt that the two looked fiercer than the Colossal Titans with exposed red muscles.

In fact, the Gundam Giant Eren had designed really was more formidable than an ordinary Colossal Titan. His entire body was encased in armor formed through Hardening, giving him greater overall defense and strength than a Colossal Titan.

Eren had not given the Ultraman Giant the power of Hardening, however, so although skin covered more of his body, his actual combat strength was about the same as an ordinary Colossal Titan's.

Eren had not designed these two Giants to fight. He merely wanted to fulfill a dream from his previous life. After all, who had not dreamed as a child of transforming into Ultraman or piloting a Gundam?

While the Mother Superior continued tirelessly spreading word of the gods' deeds, Eren directed the Colossal Titans toward the area around the prisoner camp.

And to prevent the Colossal Titans' steam and heat from burning the vegetation on the Dothraki Grassland, Eren specifically directed them to reduce their steam and heat to a minimum.

The Dothraki Grassland would become Eren's dedicated base for raising horses and grazing livestock. If these places were destroyed, restoring them later would take considerable time.

The commotion caused by 150 Colossal Titans walking toward the prisoner camp together was even greater than that of Eren's current cavalry force of over a hundred thousand charging all at once.

The prisoners in the camp had already begun clamoring and stirring when the enormous pillars of light appeared as the Colossal Titans manifested.

When the prisoners saw more than a hundred pillars of light stretching between heaven and earth, many had no idea what had happened. They thought heaven was about to punish these hateful Dothraki.

Eren had transformed the people into Colossal Titans in the open ground west of the army camp. His army camp stretched for a full twenty li, while the prisoner camp had been set up to the east.

Thus, although those in the prisoner camp had seen the pillars of light reaching into the sky, they had not clearly seen the Colossal Titans because of the distance.

But now Eren was directing the Colossal Titans toward the prisoner camp.

As the distance steadily closed, the noise of 150 Colossal Titans walking together gradually grew louder as it approached.

As the ground shook more and more violently, the prisoners in the camp first began to see the Colossal Titans' heads on the distant horizon.

As the Colossal Titans drew closer, their bodies grew larger and larger in the prisoners' sight, until they could finally see the Colossal Titans' full forms.

The Colossal Titans surrounded the entire prisoner camp with their bodies. Because the camp covered such a large area, they could only stand somewhat spread out, but the shock they brought the prisoners was still considerable.

And because the Colossal Titans were so enormous and the prisoner camp so vast, they trampled to death some unlucky souls who had not managed to retreat in time.

The Colossal Titans' sixty-meter height brought the prisoners nothing but endless despair. Many had already begun kneeling and begging the gods for forgiveness. Others kept crying and calling for their mothers.

Meanwhile, Jace and his companions were at the edge of the prisoner camp. Since they held every gathering at the edge, they had now taken up permanent residence there to make it easier to organize meetings and discuss the enemy's situation.

But being at the edge also meant they were closest to the Colossal Titans, and the fear the Colossal Titans brought them was even greater.

At such close range, they could clearly see the exposed muscles on the Colossal Titans' bodies, which looked utterly horrifying. Steam occasionally drifted from their bodies, and their vacant eyes remained fixed on them.

It made the hair on every member of the rebel faction led by Jace stand on end. On top of that, they had just witnessed a Colossal Titan crush an unlucky fellow who had been too slow to run away.

They felt cold all over, fear flooding their entire bodies. The sight of that unlucky fellow being crushed to death reminded them of how they had stepped on insects in the grass as children.

Now they were finally beginning to understand the despair those insects they had trampled as children must have felt before dying.

To these Colossal Titans, were they not also merely tiny insects?

Although their homeland had been destroyed by the Dothraki, they had still been driven to act, believing they still had hope of fighting back.

But now their hope, just like that unlucky fellow moments earlier, had been crushed beneath a Giant's foot.

"Jace... what do we do now?"

"Do we... still have... any hope?"