Chapter 6

Shiganshina District Central Street.

In the blood-stained streets, countless Titans were wandering around looking for food instead of people.

In one corner of the street, some soldiers were still using their ODM gear, trying to survive somehow. But since they were out of gas for a retreat, they were effectively dead.

At that moment, a Titan approached in their direction.

The soldiers isolated at the forefront, seeing the peculiar 15-meter Titan, either accepted death on the rooftops or tried to flee to survive.

But the Titan didn't chase them. In fact, it didn't even seem interested. As the Titan simply passed by the soldiers, they were left in panic.

The Titan was armored all over its body.

The Armored Titan, Reiner Braun, was solely focused on his "mission."

'Endure it. We've come this far; there's no turning back now.'

Shiganshina District had become a complete hell.

Just a few minutes ago, the streets where people lived were now filled with Titans, their mouths stained red, wandering around in search of food.

The houses made of brown wood and gray stone were now stained with red blood. Debris was scattered everywhere, and the entire front line was burning, reduced to ashes.

This place. I must get out of here as quickly as possible. Reiner looked at the giant wall on the opposite side of the gate that Bertholdt had broken.

At the very center of that wall, a giant gate and many people were evacuating.

Seeing the gate, Reiner knew immediately. He had to break that wall. If he didn't, he couldn't infiltrate deep inside the inner wall disguised among the refugees.

Otherwise, their mission would fail. Reiner himself was very aware of that.

'Our hands are already dirty. If it's come to this, focusing entirely on the mission is the right thing to do!'

Reiner started running. His target was the gate leading to Wall Maria. Knocking aside any Titans in his path, he ran with all his might towards the gate.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. The 15-meter Titan armored all over its body ran with full force. Speed equals power. His task was to destroy the gate with maximum force.

"..."

But Reiner didn't quite expect this.

How the soldiers on this wall fought. No, he was certain they couldn't penetrate his armor and didn't care about how they fought.

Because of this complacency, an explosion occurred at Reiner's leg.

'What?! An ambush?!'

Feeling the high heat of the explosion through his armor, Reiner was startled and momentarily stopped, scanning his surroundings. Who was it? Were there still soldiers fighting the mindless Titans? With no information on the enemy, Reiner surveyed the entire area warily.

But he saw nothing unusual with his eyes. So he focused all his attention on his hearing. At the slightest rustle, he would quickly strike there and continue his charge.

Rustle.

'Is it there!'

Reiner swung his fist at the house where the rustling sound came from, smashing it to pieces. He then examined his fist.

If there was blood on his fist, it meant he had dealt with the ambusher. If not, the ambusher was still out there.

'Hmm…?'

But there was no blood on Reiner's hand. Instead, there were just broken bottles stuck to it.

And then, Reiner heard a new sound.

A girl's voice that didn't fit the atmosphere of this hell.

"Hello."

Reiner felt a pull at his legs. No, he felt like his arms were being pulled back.

Looking back hurriedly, he saw a strangely dressed soldier and a girl riding on top, drawing the attention of several Titans.

The sight of people flying in the sky was more concerning to Reiner than the Titans. But he couldn't see the soldier anymore.

Ugly Titans were knocking Reiner down. Reiner pushed the Titans away with his fists and stood up again.

But then,

"Do we have enough sound bombs?"

From behind Reiner's neck, a large number of dolls fell. Looking cute on the outside, Reiner didn't immediately evade them.

Moreover, being in the form of the Armored Titan, the dolls didn't fall straight to the ground. The armor covering his entire body caused the dolls to get stuck in nooks and crannies.

Reiner saw no reason to avoid them. Even if it was a trap, he thought his armor would protect him.

'Wait… this sound?'

But by the time Reiner realized, it was too late. The dolls simultaneously emitted loud noises, exploding. The noise spread across the entire area, even if not the whole city. Reiner realized something different.

Titans could hear sounds and could be lured by them.

And now, hundreds of Titans had entered Shiganshina District.

With more than ten Titans nearby, the sound bombs implanted in the dolls were enough to provoke them.

'...What the hell is this…'

...

Reiner still didn't seem to know much about the soldiers inside this wall.

Which was good for me. As long as I didn't directly reveal myself to him, I could still ambush him.

"He's… unharmed?"

The Armored Titan had stopped its steps, dealing with the Titans swarming from all directions.

As if he thought I was crazy, the Armored Titan kept pushing away the Titans, occasionally glaring at me.

"Hey… that guy looks fine. Shouldn't we retreat now?"

[Time until rebound: 2 minutes]

Nile, who had carried me close to the Armored Titan, spoke. Nile's words were reasonable. We didn't have many bombs left, and even if we used them all, it was doubtful they would be effective.

But thinking differently, even if we couldn't directly harm the Armored Titan, we had enough to hinder its movement significantly.

The Armored Titan had momentarily stopped running. Though brief, the experimental throw had caused him slight mental shock.

"Nile, let's go to the refugees now."

Nile silently flew towards the gate of Wall Maria. I, carried on Nile's back, flew with him.

'Sigh… why am I not adept at using ODM gear?'

If I had the aptitude, I would have flown with the ODM gear too. Will my ability to use ODM gear improve if my femininity stat increases? Lost in such absurd thoughts, I soon arrived at the refugee line.

The refugees, startled by our sudden appearance, quickly lost interest and focused on fleeing.

Even I was fine with that. Get in quickly and run away. That's how the number of people eaten by Titans will decrease.

"Oh? Aren't you that…!"

"?"

A familiar voice came from the refugee line.

A voice that sounded dumb the moment I heard it made me turn my head slightly.

It was Eren.

Behind Eren were Mikasa, Carla, and Hannes.

"Oh, you survived?"

"What do you mean, survived!"

No, not you, but Carla behind you. Eren wouldn't know. He would never know how Carla died in the original story. Maybe it's better if he never finds out.

At that moment, I heard the sound of hooves beside me. Who rides a horse leisurely in this urban warfare? Turning towards the sound of hooves, I saw the Military Police I had brought commandeering the merchant's horses and giving evacuation instructions.

"…How much are those?"

"Half a soldier's annual salary per horse."

"Quite expensive. We'll have to deduct that from their pay."

The soldiers are acting on my orders, but they technically belong to the Royal Government.

So I don't need to cover the costs.

Honestly, I didn't want to pay. Didn't I say they could suppress the merchants by force, not loot them…?

Well, it's all the same.

"…You seem to have changed a bit. Were you always like this?"

Eren asked me. Changed a bit… Certainly, I had changed a little.

'Probably because my femininity stat increased by 1.'

Instead, my charisma is temporarily maxed out now.

Having such high charisma was very helpful, especially since the Military Police, who usually rested comfortably inside, were voluntarily following my orders.

"In this situation, staying sane is more surprising, don't you think?"

"…Is that so? Come to think of it, when I was trying to save my mom, I wasn't in my right mind either."

"Never mind, go inside quickly. We have work to do."

I quietly took a signal flare from a nearby Garrison soldier.

A signal flare, called that but it just emits smoke.

In the distance, the Armored Titan finally appeared on the central street.

Judging by the blood of Titans staining its body, it seemed to like the Titan gifts I gave it.

The Armored Titan, slightly delayed by Nile and me, started sprinting towards here, and I quietly took out the signal flare and remaining bombs…

No, I couldn't take them out.

My muscles suddenly froze.

"Huh…?"

[Charisma 10 effect ends. The accumulated fatigue in your body triples as a rebound.]

[Due to excessive accumulated fatigue, you will lose consciousness.]

[Femininity stat is 1 or higher. Upon losing consciousness, you will experience a nightmare of being a woman with colic.]

No. This is crazy…

It was unfair that my femininity stat had increased. And now there's a rebound? In this situation?!

With that last thought, I lost consciousness.

Ignoring the Military Police and Eren hurriedly rushing towards me, my vision filled with the status window.

With the worst words written on it.

[Nightmare of being a woman with colic ON]

Damn it.