Chapter 190: Armored Titan! Colossal Titan!
She really knows how to act, Ren thought.
He saw Furina's message and really wanted to complain. Ren had seen Furina's actions—entering the live broadcast room, immediately exiting in a panic, and then re-entering after a while—all clearly.
He could already imagine Furina suddenly getting scared and jumping out of her seat, then cautiously clicking back in, pretending she wasn't.
[Nami: "What are those two huge guys? They're hideous!"]
[Mikasa: "Titans."]
[Silver Wolf: "A descriptive name."]
[Tendo Kisara: "Are these two Titans the enemies this time?"]
[Ren: "The shorter Titan in armor is the 'trial participant,' Reiner Braun."]
[March 7th: "A new enemy? What's a 'trial participant'?"]
[Ren: "By dominating his memories, although I don't know what the exact description should be, based on some information, I've summarized the meaning of a trial participant."]
[Ren: "An unknown existence chose him to be a trial participant, giving him trial tasks. As long as he completes the trial tasks, he can gain powerful strength."]
[Kiana: "Isn't that... very similar to us?"]
Kiana's words made everyone pause.
Yes. Isn't their Chat Group like that? The Chat Group issues tasks, and they traverse worlds to complete tasks and receive rewards.
Ren shook his head; he had noticed these things long ago, but just hadn't mentioned them. For example, he himself, reborn into this world, was also very similar to a reincarnator.
It was just that he didn't want to think about these things; any conspiracies or schemes were useless without the absolute power to act upon them.
[Ren: "No conspiracy theories. Only think about these things when you become strong enough. Otherwise, it's just added trouble."]
[Silver Wolf: "That makes sense. If you're not as strong as an Aeon, thinking about these things is useless; you can't even take care of your own world."]
[Saeko Busujima: "I'm more curious... what is this Reiner's trial task?"]
[Emilia: "I'm also very curious."]
[Ren: "It's to kill several people, including Mikasa."]
Not only that. There were also Eren, Levi, Armin, etc... and Ren's gaze fell on Ymir and Krista. These two were also targets.
From Reiner's memories, as long as he killed any of them, he would gain their Titan's Power, and afterwards could even directly gain the Founding Titan's power.
His target this time was Mikasa and the other two.
"Mr. Ren, thank you for saving me!" Krista said, bowing deeply to Ren.
Although she wasn't sure exactly what had happened, she knew she had been saved by the person in front of her.
"Thank you?"
Ren thought of Horobi's... apology. He looked at the small, blonde, and very pretty Krista, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.
"Do you want to pledge yourself to me?"
"Eh?"
Krista was stunned; she had never heard of such a way of thanking someone.
"What kind of mischief are you planning?!"
Ymir rushed over, shielding Krista behind her, glaring warily at Ren.
[Ren: "Just kidding. Don't get so worked up."]
"How… how did you stop the Titans' time?" Ymir hesitated when she said the words "time stopped."
"Psychic power."
Ren didn't want to dwell on this boring place. Now that he understood what the trialists were, his gaze fell on the two frozen Giants.
The Armored Titan, one of the Nine Titans, was Reiner.
The Colossal Titan, one of the Nine Titans, was Bertholdt.
Both were not only Marleyan warriors but also from the same hometown.
"May we not be born on the same day, month, and year, but may we die on the same day, month, and year."
Ren felt this sentence was very suitable for the two of them.
His right index finger overlapped his middle finger. The power of space enveloped the bodies of the two massive Titans.
Immediately after, space began to collapse and contract towards their centers, like a box being crushed.
And those affected by the collapsing and contracting space were, naturally, the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan.
The centers of their bodies became like void vortices. Their limbs and bodies began to twist, stretch, and be pulled into the vortex, their giant forms distorting impossibly.
It looked as if a black hole was devouring them.
[Ding! Detected that Reiner Braun has died, Doom Companion has ended!]
[Ren gained 100,000 doomsday points! Mikasa gained 20,000 doomsday points! Tingyun gained 10,000 doomsday points!]
Ymir and Krista witnessed an extremely bizarre, silent, and horrifying scene.
The sixty-meter-class Titan and the fifteen-meter-class Titan, in the blink of an eye, had their shattered flesh and bone eaten by a bizarrely twisted vortex of nothingness.
The Titans were gone… not even a drop of blood was left.
Ymir yelled, "Where... where are the Titans? Where did those two Titans go?!"
Mikasa withdrew her Inherent Armament and said coldly, "They are dead."
"Dead?"
Ymir and Krista exchanged glances; they had never encountered anything so bizarre. First, the Titans stopped moving, then they were eaten by the air.
Mikasa, however, walked very naturally to Ren and Tingyun's side.
Tingyun asked curiously, "Does this mean it's over now? This humble one didn't do anything; I can't accept rewards without merit. Do these so-called doomsday points need to be given to Young Master?"
Ren waved his hand. "No need. This should be a guaranteed reward for those who participated in the companion journey."
"Alright. Then should we confirm our departure as prompted?" Tingyun didn't decline; she herself was very interested in the various functions of the Chat Group.
"That's up to you. But before that…"
Ren looked into the forest, his gaze sharp. "Stop hiding. You've been watching for a while, haven't you?"
Ymir and the others tensed, following Ren's gaze.
"..."
After a few seconds of silence in the woods, a figure slowly walked out.
It was a woman, wearing the same Survey Corps uniform as Mikasa and Ymir. However, inside the brown-yellow uniform was a white hoodie.
Her skin was fair, with long golden hair and azure blue eyes, a tall nose, and downward-cast eyes that seemed slightly melancholic.
"Annie?" Mikasa frowned.
Only three of them were sent here; how did Annie follow?
Krista scrutinized Annie and pointed out directly, "Annie, where's your Omni-Directional Mobility Gear?"
Ymir narrowed her eyes. "You're not here to carry out a survey mission, are you? Are you... following us?"
Annie merely glanced at the three of them indifferently, her gaze fixed on Ren.
"Where did Reiner and Bertholdt go?"
She was, of course, referring to the Armored Titan and the Colossal Titan. Annie had witnessed everything that had just happened…
"They're dead."
Ren's calm tone and his condescending, golden star-like eyes made Annie's pupils constrict. Her right hand instinctively wanted to clench, to reach for the ring.
"My hand?"
Annie suddenly looked at her right hand, only to find it uncontrollably opening and lifting upwards against her will.
Moreover, her left hand also started moving uncontrollably.
On the index finger of her raised right hand was a silver-white metal ring, with a sharp, hidden barb on the side of the ring closer to her palm.
"Trying to stab yourself to turn into a Titan?"
Ren sneered. "Didn't you see how those two Titans just died?"
As he spoke, under Annie's violently trembling gaze, her uncontrollable left hand took off the barbed ring from her right hand and threw it far away into the woods.
"What did you do?! Why can't I control my hands?!" Annie demanded loudly, her voice laced with panic.
"Ren, what's wrong with her?" Mikasa asked, puzzled.
"She's a Titan. And she's with those two Titans from earlier."
The answer was simple and easy to understand. But it shocked the listeners.
"Annie... is a Titan?!" Ymir and Krista exclaimed in unison.
Isn't Annie a member of the Survey Corps? How did she suddenly become a Titan?
"Let her tell you herself."
At his signal, Annie's mouth also uncontrollably spilled everything, even as her eyes widened in horror at her own betrayal.
"My name is Annie Leonhart."
"Born in Marley... an Eldian warrior, and the holder of the Female Titan's power. I infiltrated Paradis Island with the goal of seizing the Founding Titan's power."
Marley... Founding Titan…
One after another, these terms confused Mikasa. "What is Marley?"
This term, however, made Ymir's body go tense.
Ymir was originally a beggar in Marley, who didn't even know her own name. Later, she was given the name "Ymir" by some people with ulterior motives and worshipped as a spiritual pillar by some Eldians within Marley. This group was arrested by Marley, and to protect everyone, she stepped forward and declared herself to be Ymir. Afterward, she was injected with Titan transformation serum by Marley and exiled to Paradis Island, wandering outside the walls for sixty years. By chance, she ate Marcel Galliard, the Jaw Titan holder, inherited the Jaw Titan's power, regained her intelligence, then transformed back into human form, and entered the walls.
"Marley is a country outside the walls," Annie's voice continued, dead and monotone, against her will.
Mikasa became even more confused. "There are... people outside the walls?"
Annie: "Yes."
Ymir felt it was best not to continue this topic, so she changed the question. "What was your purpose in following us?"
Annie's eyes resisted fiercely, tears of rage and fear welling up, but she couldn't stop her mouth from continuing.
"Not long ago, Reiner decided to look for Eren Yeager in the Survey Corps, but we didn't find anyone with that name in the Survey Corps."
"So, Reiner temporarily decided to kill you all. The news of Titans appearing within the walls was also spread by us, with the aim of dispersing the Survey Corps."
"Why kill us?" Krista didn't understand; such a grand scheme just to kill the three of them?
Annie shook her head, her voice still flat. "I'm not sure. Reiner just said... to kill you."
[Inorin Note:
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