Aberrant Horde (2)

"Orders from Erwin, the special operations team is to prepare for combat, there is a strong likelihood the aberrant horde will break through the left centre, do not let them near the carts at all costs." A messenger was relaying in a panicked tone towards a short person, his height was around 160cm.

Even though he was short but no one dared to look down on him, everyone in the survey corps knew of his strength. He was nicknamed "Humanity's strongest soldier" .

The only person in the entire survey corps history to have more than five hundred confirmed titan kills.

"Captain… this …" Petra said, looking extremely worried.

"Yes, this is very bad … I would rather fight 10 normal titans than one 1 aberrant titan in an open field. I can predict the actions of normal titans, killing 10 of them by myself would be a piece of cake, but aberrants are a different story. Their actions are simply too unpredictable, and they can suddenly exhibit explosive bursts of speed and action. Engage at the wrong time and you are as good as dead...furthermore there are those frenzied …. " Levi said solemnly but didn't finish the sentence.

He was about to recall an unpleasant memory of an extremely powerful frenzied aberrant that killed his friends from the underground world, a very painful one.

"Erwin .. we really ran out of luck this time, an aberrant horde that would normally be encountered only once in 50 years, we came across twice in a row? Tch" Levi gritted his teeth and mumbled under his breath.

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"NOO , SAVE ME!"

"LET JOHN GO! YOU TITAN SCUM" Janie's 3D ODM had managed to grapple onto the nape of a massive 10-metre class titan, right now she was rapidly approaching its nape , ready to deal it a killing blow. She was determined to save her squad member.

SPLAT

The sound of flesh being crushed echoed across the battlefield

'NO JANIE, ARGHH"

A 4-metre class titan jumped up, and devoured the squad leader whole as she was wholly concentrated on trying to save her comrade. That was the reality of fighting against multiple titans who were close to each other. One could not let their attention down even for a second, especially against aberrants who exhibit unpredictable behaviour.

The fight against the aberrant horde was made more difficult by the fact that the titans had grouped themselves closely into 2 groups. It was hard to approach them, and if they couldn't get close how were they supposed to kill them?

"The remaining 7 titans have split into 2 groups thanks to the squads engaging them, but they won't last long, we have to take out at least 1 group of them before the survey corp members are all dead!

If that happens, it's just me and Marie against seven of them, with the others around at least the titan's attention will be split and there is still a chance.

The 1st group consists of the three 4-5 metre classes along with the 10-metre class, we have to take that out first and fast!" Eren thought to himself.

"Marie, l can see a route for my 3D ODM gear which will take me right through the napes of the 3 smaller titans, I`ll try to deal a killing blow to them at one go, u help Sean's squad to focus on the 10-metre class ." Eren told Marie, before taking off from the horse with his 3D ODM gear, without giving her a chance to reply.

"Wait Eren... Damn it , that's way too reckless!" Marie shouted, knowing her protests would be of no avail to that man who was now rapidly approaching the titans .

She turned her attention to the 10-metre class titan locked in fierce combat with Sean's squad.

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"Sean, we can't get close to that 10-metre titan all, not with the 3 smaller titans around it, if we're not careful, when we're trying to kill it we'll get taken out," said Daniel.

"I`ll make an opening, once I manage to take out the ankles of the titan go for it's nape"

"It's too dangerous squad leader! These are aberrants, their reaction and attention to surroundings are much higher than normal titans. It is very likely you'll be killed before you even get close."Daniel replied anxiously.

"There's no tim… eh, what's that?" Sean looked in astonishment at a figure approaching the aberrant titans rapidly.

=====

CLICK CLICK

"Okay, just as I visualized, I managed to hook on the right spots with the grapple hooks, one more movement cycle will take me right through the napes of these 3 smaller titans. I only have one chance, I need to make sure my cut is deep enough ." Eren murmured to himself, tightening his grip on his blades once more as he rapidly approached his targets and took a deep breath.

3 2 1 , CLICK CLICK CLICK

Eren eyes became intensely focused, the grip on his blade tightened to the point blood could be seen dripping from his fingers, at this moment his speed exploded, it was part of the effect of the Master ODM skill.

Eren had chosen at this point to use his gas for a sudden short burst of speed so that the titans couldn't react . He was moving at seven times the normal speed of what people could in ODM Gear, making full use of the skill effect from the system.

He swung both his blades to his left side.

"DIE!"

"SPLAT SPLAT" The cutting sound of two chunks of meat could be heard.

"SPLAAA .. "

"OH NO" Eren panicked.

The final cut on the third titan wasn't deep enough, most of the kinetic energy from the sudden increase in speed had already been transferred , and used to increase the depth of the cut for the first 2 titans that he had just killed, leaving little left for third .

To kill three titans in a single movement was still too much for him to accomplish.

It was at this moment, a huge hideous face appeared right in front of him, it's mouth was right open , ready to devour him.

"Shit, it's the 4-metre titan I failed to kill, I`m suspended right now, I won't have enough time for my grapple hooks to finish attaching to a new direction! It'll get me! It's heading towards me!"

Is this it? No, he still had not taken revenge for his mom.

He could not die here!

"TAKE THIS!" Eren screamed as he threw both the blades in his hand with all his might towards the eyes of the approaching titan.

"AOWROWRO"

A huge deafening roar could be heard as the 5-metre class stopped in its tracks , the damage and loss of eyesight for him had clearly stopped him from going to eat Eren, instead, it was now covering his eyes with both of its huge hands .

The skill effect from expert throwing had taken effect. As the titan's eyes were so close to Eren, it was a guarantee that the skill effect would be triggered.

"Now's my chance!" Eren quickly reacted, the time he brought was enough for his grapple hook to reach and finish attaching to the tree behind the titan.

CLICK

Eren moved towards the tree to circle around the back of the howling titan who had just lost it's eyesight, before grappling right towards the nape with his gear and dealing it a fatal blow.

"SPLAT" .

The 5-metre titan fell to the ground with a large thud.

'HUFF PUFF HUFF PUFF" Eren was on his knees right now, supporting the upper part of his body with a bloodied broken blade. He felt that his stamina was too low, it was just such a short battle and he could barely move anymore.

"EREN",

Upon hearing, instinctively EREN did not even look to see who was calling, the feeling of danger and concern in that voice was enough to warn him.

He jumped with all his might.

"THUMP" A huge hand had just landed at the spot where was kneeling earlier.

"The 10-metre class! It's after me. Shit! " Eren cursed as he started running and firing his grappling hooks to the nearest tree he could see. Being on the ground was simply too dangerous. He had to regain mobility.

THUD

A huge noise could be heard as the titan suddenly fell down. Followed by the cutting of flesh , the troublesome 10-metre class titan was dead.

The squad leaders Marie and Sean had taken advantage of the window when the titan was focused on Eren to disable it's movement and deal it a fatal blow. It would have been impossible if it was still surrounded by the 3 smaller titans earlier.

But now that they were dead, they were able to take full advantage of the opening Eren presented to them.

"We did it…. Huff… well done… Eren.. that was way too reckless of you" Marie said as she tried to catch her breath.

"There was no choice, if we didn't take them out fast, it might have grouped up with the other 3 aberrants, which would have spelt the end for us," Eren replied as he quickly changed into his 2nd last pair of blades, he had been very wasteful with his blades and dulled them too easily.

"We got trouble Marie! James and Nikii's Squad have been wiped out. The remaining three titans are coming right at us! One 12 metre class and 2 10 Metre classes. Get on the horses and move NOW!" Sean said as he quickly rode on his horse .

The remaining 3 titans were all 10 metres and above, which was really grave news.

The taller the titan, the further the distance their grapple hooks have to travel before they could attach themselves to the nape.

The longer distance also means that there is more time for the titan to make a movement in that period, leading to a higher likelihood of missing it.

Unlike smaller titans, to kill a large titan in an open area directly by hooking on to its neck and getting close to slash it is incredibly difficult.

Can I survive this? Eren thought to himself as he readied himself for another bloody battle, riding on his horse towards the approaching titans.