Outside Xiangyang City, numerous trenches designed specifically for Titans and giant caltrops were spread all over.
The gaps between the giant caltrops, made using tree trunks, were even wide enough to allow passage for horseback riders, specifically targeting Titans.
For the common Titans, it was indeed easy to fall into such traps.
The Titans, with their foolish expressions, hung on these caltrops, some of which were already starting to emit steam and evaporate.
Squads of cavalry weaved orderly through the gaps in these caltrops.
"Eren, don’t you feel anything yet? Uncle Tao said the key is with you."
Astride three fast horses, Yang Guo, Eren, and Mikasa rushed forward to finish off the Titans tripped by the barriers.
"I don’t know either, I feel much stronger, but I really can’t control the Titans."
Eren was also somewhat distressed, then spurred his horse forward, using the Spiral Nine Shadows to land behind a trapped Titan and deliver a strike.
Just then, suddenly, several Aberrants appeared all at once, charging quickly towards their direction.
It was as if they were doing so with purpose.
"It’s the Aberrants, quite troublesome, why are there so many this time?"
Eren, seeing the dust kicked up by the Aberrants suddenly charging from the front, also looked serious.
Soon, under the command of Armin, they quickly retreated, with several squads from the nearby cavalry dividing into small teams, weaving together a formation specifically designed to deal with fast Titans, pulling ropes in an orderly fashion.
However, at that moment, the sky suddenly darkened, and several giant rock fragments flew with a whooshing sound, heavily smashing into the midst of the grassland troops, stirring up clouds of dust!
The entire cavalry encampment seemed to have been bombarded.
The boulders tumbled along the ground, causing vibrations, and any horse or person hit along their path was either dead or injured, with blood and screams ensuing continuously.
Not only did they cause significant casualties, but the key was the great blow to morale, and it also disrupted the original formation.
The ropes that had been stretched out began to entangle and, in turn, affected the cavalry formation, causing Zhao Min and Armin, who were directing from behind, to change color.
"Order them to retreat! As expected, these Titans are being controlled! Can it be believed? Is someone truly able to control the Titans?"
Zhao Min’s pretty face showed a shocked expression, and Armin felt the same.
Tao Yu had always said that it was possible for the Intelligent Titan to control the normal Titans, advising them to pay more attention to Eren, but although Eren had become a Titan capable of crystalizing, there was no sign of him controlling the Titans.
Now, this abnormal encirclement and attack, coupled with the targeted stone-throwing from behind, completely confirmed that these Titans were being controlled!
Huang Yaoshi, who had been steadying the situation on the city wall, with Barrett in position, immediately aimed and pulled the trigger.
The neck of an Aberrant Titan was severed instantly.
At that moment, Guo Jing also leaped down, leading a group of experts as they charged forward.
The Inner City Pioneers at the scene also looked slightly perturbed.
"These Titans can be controlled?"
"If Titans can be controlled, they’d be the perfect weapon of war! Even more useful than Aliens!"
"This intelligence should fetch a good price, right?"
A hint of excitement emerged on their faces.
They did not go down to risk their lives and were just watching from the city wall. In fact, there were several armed Martial Artists on guard by their side all the time.
Because Tao Yu had always claimed that the Pioneers employed dirty tactics, and conflicts had occurred when Martial Artists were scavenging resources in Alaska and Canada, so trust was never extended to these few.
Any requests from them to learn some skills were met with evasion and dismissals.
Huang Yaoshi, preparing to shoot again, suddenly felt a surge of alertness and quickly floated back with a tap on the ground.
Suddenly, several enlarging shards of rock, dense and numerous, smashed toward Huang Yaoshi’s location.
They were incredibly accurate!
And the attack pattern of the shards was extraordinarily lethal in its area of effect.
Several Martial Artists nearby instantly lost their lives to the rock fragments.
A few Pioneers also found themselves dodging in a rather awkward manner.
"Damn it, what is this, some kind of catapult?"
"I’ve seen it, it’s an Ape Titan!"
One of the Pioneers, controlling a drone, watched the footage being sent back and a shock crossed his face.
This Titan, nearing twenty meters in height, was positioned behind a small hill, constantly hurling stones without showing himself.
It seemed to have detected the threat of the sniper rifle.
There was also a quadrupedal crawling Titan constantly bringing suitable stones for it to throw.
After observing stealthily and seeing Guo Jing and others beginning to approach, it started to turn and flee.
Without a doubt, it was intelligent!
"So it’s just a monkey. We have to catch it."
Huang Yaoshi, who had come up from behind, saw the footage on their drone and immediately leaped down, rushing forward to inform Guo Jing and the others of the primary target this time and incidentally took down a few Aberrants with gunshots.
``` Stay tuned with empire
Watching those martial artists move about with such ease and grace made all the Pioneers’ faces flush with envy.
"Such a desirable ability, damn it! Why were we just a step behind? That’s a fortune right there!"
The Inner City Pioneer, with traces of mechanical modification on his drone controller, hammered at the nearby wall in frustration.
The Chosen Ones, Inner Strength intelligence—if we could just get our hands on some methods of learning Inner Strength skills, we could gain even more!
If Inner Strength doesn’t conflict with our existing systems, setting up a dojo ahead of time would be like picking up money!
"No, we must at least try to learn Inner Strength—even if we can’t eat the meat, we should at least drink the soup!"
Their leader, a pale-faced, beardless Inner City Pioneer, said with an undercurrent of dissatisfaction.
We have the strength, the skills, the dynamic vision, but being just a beat too slow meant we missed everything—it’s just not fair!
But just then, suddenly one of the Pioneers pointed to the sky.
"Look, a flying vehicle!"
At that moment, something that looked like a large drone appeared, carrying a cage and flying from afar. It seemed to have spotted the Ape Titan too, as it headed directly towards its direction!
"That’s coming from even deeper within; it couldn’t have eaten all the good stuff already, could it?"
"And surely said some ill things about us!"
"Probably a scout. A personal flyer, looks portable, something worth a few hundred thousand—a person of some standing, but not someone we can’t handle."
The pale-faced leader watched the flying apparatus with a flicker of excitement in his eyes.
This is a low-grade product that feels awful to use. Although it costs several hundred thousands, all the value is loaded onto its functionality.
His brother is one of the Inner City’s seven great lords of the New Development Zone, and their family is among the top five in the Inner City!
At the very first sight of the flying machine, he had already made several assessments.
The device is somewhat practical, but too limited; with personal weight limitations, lots of other supplies cannot be carried. It isn’t as ideal as it seems—just something for getting around quickly.
That the other was using this device confirmed he wasn’t a novice, but it also indicated that his ceiling wasn’t high!
"Hmph, he can’t possibly be a senior partner. Even if he’s a lone, regular senior partner, as long as we avoid being ambushed, we can stand our ground against him."
"The intel we gathered mentions only one, but there might be others in hiding, so let’s not take any chances—get a clear understanding first."
Meanwhile, Tao Yu, who had been chilled by the breeze all the way, was now somewhat damp from the flight. People in poor health really couldn’t endure being in such personal flying devices for long.
But looking at the monkey below, Tao Yu also formed an impression; it had appeared in animations before, and it supposedly could command Titans? It was unclear how, though.
Seeing the Titans pressing against the city, the Pure Titans trapped in pitfalls awaiting the finishing blows from long-handled weapons, and the Aberrants being shot down by sniper rifles, Tao Yu realized that Eren had not yet mastered that ability, and then locked his sights on the ape.
"He must know what it’s about. Capture him alive."
Tao Yu rapidly maneuvered the flying machine downwards, and his appearance attracted the attention of the monkey that was preparing to retreat.
Unsure of what Tao Yu was, the Ape Titan didn’t hesitate to pick up a rock brought by the Cart Titan and crushed it with both hands before scattering it towards Tao Yu.
"Such accuracy, shit! Don’t damage it!"
Luckily, the personal flyer was small, and thanks to Tao Yu’s dynamic vision and reflexes, he swerved to avoid the rocks as they whistled by.
The turbulent air made the flying machine unstable, but it eventually landed safely.
Upon landing, Tao Yu quickly disassembled the flying machine, turning it into a box that he then strapped to his back.
Then, before another wave of rocks could land, he stepped into the Spiral Shadow Ninestep and rapidly dodged the assault.
Seeing the dust kicked up nearby and the pits created by the stones, Tao Yu was secretly alarmed.
This guy’s aim is good, and he throws with such force!
"I haven’t even attacked you yet, and you’re already hitting me? That’s too much!"
Tao Yu lightly touched the ground and sped forward like an arrow, easily circumventing several subsequent interferences.
His speed surprised Zeke so much that he could hardly believe it.
This is way too fast!
On his way here, he had already seen martial artists, but most couldn’t outrun a horse—yet this one broke the mold by far.
Such swift speed and nimble footwork made Zeke think of a short person who had given him a bit of a mental shadow.
Clearly, this person in front of him was much more difficult to deal with!
Not even the Omni-directional Mobility Gear was as fast as him running directly!
You’re the real non-human, aren’t you?
And Pieck, beside him in her Cart Titan form, immediately took on the protective role.
As the second most dexterous Titan after the Jaw Titan, Pieck possessed the best endurance among the Titans, capable of maintaining Titan form for extended periods—even without the world’s power, she had extraordinary range.
As Zeke started to fatigue after a few throws, risking the loss of his Titan form at any moment, she became the last line of defense for transportation and protection...