Chapter 47: Masterful Skill!

The giantess's enormous eyes were fixed intently on Sikong Xu, who stood at the center of the group. The murderous intent in her gaze made the surrounding air grow cold and oppressive.

"A… a giant… There's really a female giant…" Even though they had all survived the brutal battle to retake the Trost District, facing the tangible killing intent of the giantess left everyone trembling in place.

"Everyone, if you don't want to die, move! This giant is probably after me. I'll distract her—support me from the flanks."

Feeling the giantess's glare upon him, Sikong Xu sensed a deep foreboding; she seemed determined to kill him.

He knew her true identity: Annie Leonhart, a graduate of the 104th Cadet Corps. Though Sikong Xu himself was also a graduate, he couldn't say he knew Annie well. But based on the original story and their sparse interactions, he was sure Annie wasn't the type to kill recklessly. Her personality was similar to Mikasa's—reserved, almost emotionless—but she valued her fellow cadets. This was clear from the fact that she spared Armin in the original tale.

What baffled Sikong Xu was precisely this: he was, after all, her classmate—so why did she bear such animosity toward him?

Locked in the crosshairs of the giantess's murderous intent, Sikong Xu was certain she wanted him dead.

"Damn it! Reality truly is different; you can't equate it to the original story," Sikong Xu cursed inwardly before he spurred his horse and veered away from the group.

The moment her target fled, the giantess paid no heed to Mikasa and the others. She strode forward with great steps, heading straight for Sikong Xu.

"Sikong!" Seeing him being chased, Mikasa panicked. Without a second thought, she launched herself with her maneuver gear.

"Mikasa, don't!" Armin shouted, but she was already airborne before he could stop her.

"Armin, what do we do?" Ymir and Lance remained relatively calm, but all they could do was follow the giantess on horseback.

"This giant feels… odd," Armin voiced his doubt. "She stopped in front of us, clearly observing us!"

"Observing? Probably distinguishing our scent. Giants track humans by their scent," Ymir replied.

"No, it's more than that! If it were a normal giant, it would have attacked already. But the female giant paused to observe us—she was confirming someone specific."

"That's impossible! Giants aren't that smart…" Lance said, voice quavering.

"That's why I suspect she has intelligence," Armin declared.

The air grew even colder at his words.

"No way! Even abnormal types can't be that clever!" Ymir protested.

"But what if she's not an abnormal? What if, like Eren, she's really a human inside… Then her intelligence would make sense…" Cold sweat beaded on Armin's forehead.

The wind howled as Sikong Xu's mount raced at full speed, yet the distance between him and the giantess kept shrinking. He was certain she wasn't even running her fastest—if she tried, she could catch him in the blink of an eye.

"Damn it!" Sikong Xu was powerless against her terrifying speed. All he could do was ride hard toward the Forest of Giant Trees. Out on this open plain, the gap in strength between him and the giantess was simply too great. The only thing that could have evened the odds—the maneuver gear—was useless here. Sikong Xu felt utterly stifled.

Little did he know, it was precisely the formidable strength he gained from the "Infinite Martial Arts Refinement" that made the giantess see him as a threat. Annie, fearing that Sikong Xu's power might ruin her plans, wanted to kill him here on the flatland, where maneuver gear was useless.

Suddenly, as he fled at full speed, Sikong Xu heard a faint sound behind him.

In his field of vision, Mikasa had already propelled herself onto the giantess’s shoulder with her maneuver gear.

"That fool!" Sikong Xu was alarmed. He realized Mikasa attacked to help him escape the giantess’s pursuit. But launching an attack with neither analysis nor plan, especially with environmental limitations, was far too reckless.

Though the maneuver gear's gas propulsion allowed her to reach the giantess’s shoulder in an instant, without any tall structures nearby to anchor her gear, Mikasa had only one opportunity to strike. If she failed to kill the giantess in one blow, she’d never evade the giantess’s counterattack.

This was exactly why soldiers so rarely attacked giants on open ground—if their first strike failed, death was almost certain. The risk was simply too great.

But could Mikasa kill the giantess in a single blow? Impossible. The giantess’s localized crystal armor could drive anyone to despair—if you couldn't even break her defenses, what was the point of attacking?

In a flash, Mikasa leapt onto the giantess’s shoulder. She swung her steel hook, anchoring herself securely, then, with a pull and the propulsion of her gear, she shot toward the giantess’s nape.

But the giantess didn't even spare Mikasa a glance. Her sole target was Sikong Xu.

Suddenly, the giantess accelerated, closing the distance to Sikong Xu and his horse. Murderous intent blazed in her eyes as she brought her massive hand down in a merciless blow.

"Damn it!" Sikong Xu hadn't expected the giantess's bloodlust to be this intense—she ignored Mikasa entirely, focusing only on him.

Fortunately, Sikong Xu's mind stayed sharp. As the giantess closed in, he sharply turned his horse aside, narrowly dodging her attack.

"You'll pay for this!" Enraged by the giantess’s sudden acceleration, Mikasa’s fury burned brighter. She could not tolerate anything that threatened Sikong Xu; the giantess’s actions only fueled her wrath.

The steel hook anchored in the giantess’s shoulder held fast. Mikasa pulled with all her might, aided by the gas propulsion, and shot forward.

In her hand, a sharpened steel blade appeared as if by magic. Two arcs of white light flashed in the air as she brought the blade down in a furious strike.

If Mikasa’s target had been a regular giant or even an abnormal type, that blow would have ended its life. Unfortunately, her opponent was one of the world’s nine intelligent titans—the Female Titan.

A sharp clang rang out, like a twig snapping on an iron rod. The special steel blade in Mikasa’s grip broke cleanly in half!

"What—!" Feeling the weight in her hand suddenly halved, Mikasa was stunned. She didn’t even realize she was falling, powerless, toward the ground.

"Mikasa!" Witnessing this, Sikong Xu was shocked. "You fool!"

At this point, Sikong Xu could no longer care about the giantess’s murderous focus on him. He leapt from his horse and fired his own hook, embedding it in the giantess’s lower leg.

With a burst of gas, Sikong Xu rocketed forward, arriving at the giantess’s side in an instant.

The giantess’s rigid expression flickered with surprise at his sudden approach. Without hesitation, she lifted the leg Sikong Xu’s hook had caught and kicked outward, trying to fling him away.

But things didn’t go as she expected. Sikong Xu, still connected by the hook, was indeed thrown out by the force—but as the giantess’s leg swung, Sikong Xu retracted his hook!

Seizing the momentum, Sikong Xu spun outward like a body in centrifugal motion—directly toward Mikasa, who was plummeting from above.

"Mikasa, I’ve got you!"

With precise calculation, Sikong Xu intercepted Mikasa in free fall. He wrapped her in his arms, and together they tumbled to the ground, rolling several times before landing with only minor injuries.

A feat of breathtaking skill—a feigned attack, borrowing the enemy’s strength, and a perfectly timed rescue of the falling Mikasa. It could only be described as miraculous.

Upon witnessing this, the murderous intent in the giantess’s eyes grew even more intense.