XXth September 847

The sun had set and nine people stood next to me stationed atop their horses.

"Commence reclamation of Troste!" Commander Erwin waved his hand and had his horse gallop through the slight opening in the wall. Without wasting another moment, we followed.

Nighttime had two advantages, masking our movements and inactivity of titans.

Titans only survived on sunlight. If they needed food, they would've starved outside the wall and the world would've become a much better place. But that reality was a little too good to be true.

"I'm leaving." I told Captain Levi.

The plan was to split up before landing on the ground. I needed to bring myself to my maximum potential. A state only possible on a filled stomach. So that's what I did.

I found a prey only seconds into my hunt. Sleeping blissfully amongst the buildings.

Even these things are not scary when knocked out.

I pulled out my tail and impaled it straight through its neck without giving it a chance to wake up.

Titans are prone to waking up under a lot of commotion. But since they don't have a source of power strong enough to maintain themselves, they can only last so long before they pass out again.

But the little while before passing out again is when the titans are in their most aggressive state.

I consume the corpse of the titan as it slowly smokes out of existence.

'The other's should have secured the carriage by now.'

A couple of days ago, Captain Erwin sent a large carriage through the wall under the guise of emergency supply.

Right then, as I was got back, I saw the special squad preparing the carriage for me.

It didn't take very long for me to reach the destination with my ghoul speed. But by the time I arrived everything was set up already. The special squad was efficient alright.

"I'm back." I announced.

"Great, we're ready too." Hange was the one to respond.

"Then, I'll try to lift it."

"Eren, are you sure you're fine with it?" Mikasa tugged on my shirt.

It was a little too late to ask that. But yeah-

"I'm sure."

I buried my feet as far into the ground as I could. Then I applied as much tensile strength onto my back as I could. Controlling my 'tail' was hard to explain. I could move it as naturally as a person with a thumb could move his thumb. As long as I knew what to do, I would be able to do it.

Two long appendages grew out of my tail bone.

They slowly wrapped around my arm in layers that got successively larger. First, it was the size of a glove, then a canon, and finally the size of a titans hand.

My body became lopsided in the forward direction. So I used my other two tails to anchor myself on the ground.

Making a structure of that girth did take a toll on me. Even though I was full, the density of tissue packed in the tails was something no one would be able to produce normally.

At best I would be able to hold this form up for say half an hour. But I only needed it for a minute or two in total.

I grabbed the rock as hard as I could and lifted it up. It was as if the Earth rose a little after I lifted the rock up, but it was just my body sank into the ground under the pressure.

Beads of sweat turned into streams within seconds. Water from the surface of my body started turning into steam.

I needed to put the rock down on the carriage gently enough for it to not break. But the weight of the damn thing made it next to impossible for me to do that.

"AAAAARRRRGHHH!!!" I dislodged the tails anchoring me and attached them to the rock. The entire weight of the rock was not balanced on my back.

I somehow managed to put the rock down as gently as I could but it still made a noise befitting of something its size. The next thing I saw was the look of awe in their eyes.

"Squad, get into position!" Commander Erwin commanded.

Everyone except Mikasa and Captain Levi got on the carriage. Those two were tasked with doing the protecting til we reached the destination.

The rest of us pulled the carriage.

It wasn't as heavy with nine horses pulling, but it was still a chore nonetheless. The main bulk of the strength came from me. The street was riddled with holes by the time I moved another step.

The corner was the biggest obstacle on the way to the hole. Honestly, I would've rather wiped a building or two off if it meant that we could continue without issue. But there was an issue. The operation wouldn't be overt anymore.

So we turned.

The rest of the squad was stationed up front and pulled to the right.

I went behind and pushed the to the left.

This was by no means overt. The sound of the carriage and the rock grinding against the streets made a sound that would not only resonate throughout the whole town but might also reach the walls.

The titans didn't take too kindly to our actions.

A freshly woken titan was a beast of its own. Even the normal titans turned irregular.

Too bad for them, we had two beast butchers on our side too.

Mikasa and Levi took to the skies and started their attack. They were equipped with gear that could house more blades, but they didn't even break a single one.

They only had to hold off until the titans ran out of energy. Since the event of awakening started at the same time, the time limit should be the same too.

And by the looks of it holding the titans off wasn't too big of a task for them. Hordes upon hordes were slaughtered within minutes. Not a single titan got through.

Fifteen minutes is how long the titans lasted at night. We continued on our predestined route.

It was then that everything went wrong yet again.

A flash of lightning lit the night sky and the sound of bones crackling woke the town. It was the start of my longest nightmare.