Chapter 7: Aberrant Horde (1)
"We will now commence the 56th Expedition Beyond the walls! Get ready to move out anytime once the gates are open. Humanity shall take another step forward once again" Erwin's voice thundered across the survey corps.
"Hoo ah! Yeah! " The rally inspiring cry of Erwin was answered by the cries of the survey corps members, who thumped their fists in the air.
"Eren" A familiar worried voice sounded across Eren's ears.
"Mikasa? What is it" Eren replied
"Don't…. Die… Promise me that" Mikasa said, holding Eren's hand.
"You know. There's a really good restaurant here in Trost. Let's go there once this is over, your birthday is coming up right? " Eren patted Mikasa's head gently and said.
Eren could tell Mikasa was really fond of him, but he had never shown any affection towards her aside from wrapping that scarf around her. That was something he always felt regret about, not doing enough.
Ever since he passed out on that day, he decided to be more courageous and nice to her.
He wasn't sure if he was ready yet to take the relationship a step further, but he wanted to just be nice at least to her and try not act like a jerk. His dad told him before that this was one of 'killer' moves he should do when he had money, it would make Mikasa super happy for sure.
"mHm" Mikasa replied, evidently enjoying the gentle pat given to her by Eren. Her hand was still holding on to him while her body was trembling with excitement.
For this first time in her life, Eren was asking him out? Was this a date? She was feeling overjoyed and couldn't wait to come back. Eren had always never taken the initiative to celebrate her birthday, not that she cared. She lost her parents at a young age, and it was Eren who saved her. To have him by her side already meant the world to her.
"Onwards! We move out! Enter into the long-distance scouting formation once we leave the old city area !" Erwin's voice sounded once more followed by the neighing and galloping footsteps of horses. The expedition had begun.
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[20 Minutes Later]
"This... it looks like a 7-meter class titan? Alright then, it's a red flare then" Eren thought to himself as he fired a red signal flare towards the sky.
He had been assigned to the left recon flank, the outermost of the scouting formation.
If anyone was to encounter titans, the recon flank would have the highest possibility of it. Part of the formation also required them to stay in the Line of Sight of at least one member.
He could see a small little dot to his left on the horizon, which was Jill, on his right was the recon squad captain Marie. Mikasa was assigned further back towards the center-right of the formation so they were not able to see each other and very far apart.
"But still so far it's been quite easy? We haven't met any of those so-called aberrants, I heard an aberrant horde wiped out the entire recon flank in the previous expedition. We should be nearing the same spot soon… there's no choice but to go through there as it's near the final outpost we need to establish. " Eren thought to himself, his right hand tightening his grip on his blade.
So far he had already spotted several titans, there were even a few who were hidden in blind spots. But thanks to his Master ODM skill. He was easily able to dodge them and alert the formation with his red flares.
As long as it was an area scouted by Eren, he would always be able to get out, he was literally the perfect recon - one who could stay alive and warn others of danger
"PA" "PA" "PA" "PA"
"What the… ?"
Eren was greeted by the sight of black flares littering the sky , not just once but there were like more than 10 of them.
"This is? Most of the flares came from the same spot, this is bad, Squad Leader Ness taught us before if we saw multiple black flares, this most likely indicates an aberrant horde - one of the worst things to come across in a scouting expedition!" Eren fired multiple black flares into the sky, sweat drops were forming on his forehead.
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[Flashback Start]
"Eren, stay awake. If squad leader Ness catches you sleeping he's gonna punish you by letting his horse Shallot eat some of your hair!" Mikasa gently nudged him.
"Hmm? Yea. It must be the potatoes from lunch earlier , I always have to fight the z monster after it. Maybe I should just give them to Sasha instea…"
"NO!" Mikasa said agitatedly and stood up.
"Mikasa? What's the issue? It's rare to see you so worked up" Ness said as he looked over. Mikasa was a model student. She rarely lost calm of her emotions and was always outstanding in every regard.
"No, it's nothing, sorry for disrupting the class teacher." Mikasa bowed her head in apology and said shyly. Before sitting down.
"Damn Mikasa, what was that? " Eren asked.
But before she could even reply, she was interrupted by the voice of Ness. The class turned their attention to him again.
"Alright, let's continue, this is extremely important," Ness said as he put his hands behind his backs and started to slowly walk to and fro in front of the classroom. His tone became solemn.
"I have taught you so far on the different types of titans, but in a real expedition, there are 3 situations I hope you will never encounter, every single one of them has the potential to wipe out the majority of the members if not handled properly. The first one. An A.b.e.r.r.a.n.t…. Horde ." Ness continued to speak as he gulped down his own saliva, apparently trying to calm himself.
"Aberrant Horde? Sir?" A cadet raised her hand and asked inquisitively.
"Correct. As mentioned earlier. An aberrant titan's behavior is extremely unpredictable. One example of an aberrants are titans that sprint. Normal titans do not do so and will often walk slowly towards a point.
But some variations of them will sprint towards their target. It is rare to encounter one, let alone a horde. But this is exactly what happened during the 3rd Scouting Expedition 50 years ago, when they were venturing outside wall Maria, came across a group of 10 aberrants that were sprinting towards them. Out of the 250 members, only 10 survived. " Ness replied, his voicing slightly trembling.
The class was deadly silent.
"Wait but this doesn't make sense? Do you mean to tell me 250 people couldn't defeat a group of 10 aberrants? We even have elites in the survey corps who are able to take on titans alone and win, this doesn't make any sense" Another cadet raised his hand and asked.
"Cadet Deithard, do not forget that these aberrants in question are often a threat to the expedition because they are sprinting and moving at high speed. When engaging a normal titan, they are often moving slowly and it is easier to outmaneuver them. But aberrants are different.
On top of that, they are extremely unpredictable, some like to jump around at random intervals and make sudden movements. Imagine if your hook is grappled onto the body of the titan at that instant, you would be pulled along and lose all control.
Furthermore, studies over the years have noted that aberrants, in general, tend to exhibit enhanced movements. That means the speed of grabbing, punching, jumping are all about 3 times faster than the average titan. If you lose awareness or focus for even an instant, you could lose your life.
Do not forget also that in expeditions we tend to be in open areas which is a huge disadvantage already to our 3D ODM gear. Unless you are a master at it like Captain Levi and Officer Miche, you are going to be severely affected. Also, even among aberrants, there are different danger levels.
There are those that even when their ankles are damaged, will still use their hands to drag their body around and stop at nothing to eat us.
Don't forget the frenzied kind too , during the 23rd expedition across the walls led by commander Keith Shadis, they encountered one … it killed over 40 members by itself . If Levi didn't stop it's rampage then who knows how many more would have died? But anyways ,if you ever encounter an aberrant horde and it make it back alive … You're one blessed fella ."
[Flashback End]
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"Thump Thump Thump Thump"
Eren could now hear huge footsteps getting closer and closer. As he looked to the left horizon, he was greeted by a horrifying sight, there were about 8 titans running right towards the center of the formation, if they were not stopped before they reached there, the carts carrying the materials would be destroyed, and this expedition would become meaningless.
"What happened to the left flank? There should be at least 5 squads there.. Don't tell me, they were all wiped out already? That's over 35 members!" Eren thought to himself , evidently still mentally albeit taken aback at the destruction the titans had left in their wake.
"Eren, we have to go stop them. The center-left formation is already preparing to engage, we cannot let them penetrate the middle of the formation " A voice sounded next to him , Eren turned and looked , it was Marie, the recon squad leader.
Eren could also hear the galloping of horses, over 30 survey corps members from the center left formation had arrived and were already charging towards the aberrants. If they couldn't stop them here, all that stood between these titans and the carts were the escort team. All the available manpower to deal with it without compromising the formation had already been spared. There was nothing left.
"We'll take out the 8-metre class aberrant, that weird looking dude that's sprinting with its hands raised up, it's the closest to us, you aim for the ankles and I`ll go for the nape ."
"Yes Marie!, let's do it!" Eren replied, his voice was shaking as he rode his horse towards their target.
Eren was feeling very nervous, it was his first battle and he had to fight aberrants. When he thought about the skills he had from the system though, he felt a little calmer. At least he had some advantages going for him. He was going to come out of this alive, he still had to treat Mikasa to a birthday meal and avenge his parents.
"Draw your blades, get ready to engage. Eren! We're close" Marie's voice sounded again.
"SHINNNG"
Eren drew his blades, staring intently and visualizing instantly the grapple points he would need to hit in order for his gear to bring him to the titan's ankles. This was an effect of the Master ODM skill he had. Normal soldiers would be unable to determine the grapple points for the hook and visualize the path to take in such a short time, especially when dealing with an aberrant that is sprinting.
Moreover, would they trust their own judgment? What if they made a mistake in judging the path they should take? What if the grappling hooks they fired missed? However, Eren was different. He had the skills from the system to assist him.
CLICK
Eren pressed the trigger on his blades as the ODM gear took him off from his horse. His eyes were keenly focused on the ankles of the titan, but at the same time also observing the surroundings around him.
CLICK
"NOW!" Eren screamed as he glided past the ankles of the titan, slashing both of them with all his might.
"EREN, watch out"
The titan which had been temporarily immobilized by the Eren, suddenly reached out his hand to grab him, but Eren was aware of that and managed to dodge the attack.
"SPLAT" , a large chunk of flesh being cut could then be heard, the aberrant titan who was so focused on the human who had cut his ankles and was trying to grab him , forgotten about the existence of Marie , who used the diversion to deal a killing blow to the titan.
The deviants are really scary to deal with. He reacted right away to grab me after I slashed his ankles , when he was falling. It's reaction speed is fast ! Eren mused to himself.
"Well done, Eren , phew, there aren't many in the survey corps who could pull off what you did in such a situation, your movements with the 3D ODM gear were really superb, considering it is an open area. We go for the 10 - meter class titan next, it's the closest to us, but it's quite near to a few 3-4 meter classes as well, stay flexible " Marie complimented.
"Yes, Squad Leader!" Eren turned his eyes towards where the fighting was taking place. This situation was getting worse, over half of the 30 man team that engaged the aberrants had already been wiped out.
And they did not manage to even kill a single one.
Aberrant Horde Titans Remaining: 7 .
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone