The entire sequence, under the extremely rational arrangement of events, had finally pushed Asahi to this juncture.
The Female Titan's foot was covered by a layer of glossy hardening, amplifying the power of the attack to the maximum level. At this intensity, even he would be in serious trouble, perhaps even... dead!
Bang!!!
He reacted extremely fast: observation, retreat to disperse force, a foot push—executing a continuous chain of actions in less than a single second, surpassing the ultimate reaction speed of normal consciousness. Despite this, the huge momentum contained in the direct kick sent him flying far away. The armored plating attached to his hands, used to block the attack across his chest, shattered. Asahi shot down the hill like a cannonball, his body snapping several trees before finally hitting the ground.
"I underestimated them..."
He muttered softly, struggling to stand up from the wreckage. Looking up at the hilltop, he saw the Female Titan using her jaws to rip out the nape of the Colossal Titan to carry the person inside away. He couldn't help but feel helpless.
In truth, Annie and Bertolt's ambush plan wasn't particularly ingenious. It primarily succeeded due to the confluence of many external factors and one extremely crucial element: speed!
The moment Asahi approached the hill, the counter-attack plan was instantly deployed, striking him so fast he couldn't react in time. Otherwise, given Asahi's operational experience, how could he not have noticed something anomalous?
Clenching his hands that were trembling from pain, he looked up at the sky, which was much gloomier than before. Not only was the rain heavier, but thunder and lightning had also appeared.
The sound of cannon fire quickly erupted; it was from the infantry ambush outside the forest. Previously, Asahi had positioned a line of troops, including artillery, outside to prevent the two Titans from escaping the forest and to provide him with support. Now, it seemed rather impractical.
At this moment, Annie, in her Female Titan form, was running like the wind on flat ground. She ignored the sound of cannon fire near her ears and the shouts of the soldiers, focusing only on running straight toward the Wall.
Flattening an entire section of the forest with her strides, she successfully broke through the infantry's encirclement, paying the price with several spots on her body that were smoking from cannonball impacts and were slowly recovering. Fortunately for her, even with such a large size, the accuracy of the older generation artillery shells was not high, combined with her fast and flexible movement, the wounds on the Titan's body were negligible, considered only light injuries.
"Not far now... not far now..."
Annie seemed possessed, continuously muttering while manipulating the Female Titan's body to flee. Behind her were many mounted Garrison soldiers giving chase. She paid them no mind, only increasing her speed, using her colossal body to continuously widen the gap. Her speed even exceeded that of the military horses. The pursuing soldiers felt helpless, watching the Female Titan grow smaller and smaller in their sight.
"Damn it! This weather is too unlucky!"
A soldier near the end of the pursuit squad growled. Right after, he saw a black shadow flash across his vision, moving so fast it left only an afterimage. It was even faster than the burst speed of the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.
The soldier was so astonished he couldn't speak, even thinking he was hallucinating in the bad weather.
Asahi was moving too fast now, to the point where all the naked eye could catch was a vague afterimage.
Annie hadn't even had time to rejoice at outrunning the pursuers when she suddenly felt that familiar danger. Like a small mouse locked onto by a snake.
"Damn it, he's coming again! That kick clearly..."
Although she knew she couldn't judge him by ordinary standards, that kick was absolutely the strongest blow she had ever delivered, unleashing her full concentration under the immense threat of Asahi. It was not only precise in terms of position and timing, but the contact point also utilized Annie's hardening ability to maximize power. This single blow could completely shatter a multi-story building into pieces, perhaps even collapse an entire block of houses.
In reality, at that moment, Asahi had jumped in the same direction as the force of the kick to minimize damage, by creating a footing point in the air. Annie hadn't noticed this.
She was extremely urgent, only able to urge the Titan body to increase its speed even more in a desperate attempt to escape Asahi's pursuit. But before she could get far, she felt the danger closing in, like a sword hanging over her head.
Bertolt, in her mouth, must have also realized Annie's urgency. He hesitated for a moment, finally gritting his teeth and speaking.
"Annie, it's highly likely... one of us won't be able to escape."
After saying this, Bertolt couldn't help but feel a sense of powerlessness. This trip deep into enemy territory originally involved four members; one had unfortunately died along the way, Reiner had been captured, his fate unknown, and now, between the two of them, Bertolt and Annie, only one had a chance of returning.
This wasn't an exaggeration or an attempt to sound tragic; it was a harsh reality laid bare before them. Asahi's speed surpassed theirs many times over; catching up was only a matter of time. Moreover, he had demonstrated terrifying physical capabilities repeatedly. What did the two of them have left to fight with now?
Boom!!!
A giant lightning bolt tore across the sky once again, accompanied by the massive, sixty-meter-tall figure of the Colossal Titan appearing. Despite the terrible weather, the appearance of the Colossal Titan could be seen from afar, once again bringing an indescribable fear to the human army. Even Asahi became serious.
This was the thing that had breached the Wall after nearly a century of peace. Although the hole had been quickly sealed, the impact it caused was not as great as imagined. But the image of the colossal, bizarre head of the Colossal Titan peeking over the "impregnable" Wall and looking down at the tiny humanity below was still a nightmare for many.
A terrifying heat wave emanated from the Colossal Titan's body, almost enough to burn living people to ashes. Even the hot air could roast a person alive, making it fundamentally impossible to approach. Its entire body was almost completely skinless, all intertwined muscle fibers. Asahi guessed this was perhaps because the body was too large for an ordinary human's spirit to endure, preventing the true form of the Colossal Titan from being fully materialized from the real-world coordinates. Furthermore, it was very clumsy and slow.
That was also why Bertolt decided to stay behind.
Asahi was about to approach the heat radius emanating from the Colossal Titan, meaning the battle was about to begin. Immediately afterward, he saw the Colossal Titan perform an unthinkable action. It swung its arm, on its palm was the Female Titan curled up into a ball of flesh, which it then hurled far away.
"Run! Annie!"
"This is... all I can do..."