Boom!
"Keep concentrating fire, don't leave anyone alive!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Erwin was also on the front line, landing at the port together with the marines.
Once the small boats approached the shore, everyone used the advanced and most modern Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear to move toward the coastal buildings.
The old Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear had been designed with Titans as the hypothetical target, but instead, the new model of warfare chose humans as the hypothetical enemy.
The operating principle and overall structure had not changed much, but a matching bulletproof vest had been added, and the previous blades had been replaced with a waist-mounted ammunition pouch.
The soldiers were equipped with six-shot revolvers on their arms for emergency use, allowing them to fire while moving through the air.
If they managed to land on flat ground, they could draw their assault rifles from their waists and engage in conventional combat.
In terms of weaponry, the firepower of the AK-47 even surpassed that of commonly used rifles.
Moreover, humans living outside the walls, unlike those on Paradis Island, did not face the situation of being surrounded by large numbers of Pure Titans.
Gale's advantage was that the outside world had no elite soldiers who used Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear.
For them, they had never seen the Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear, nor would they allocate resources to develop such highly mobile technology due to the Titan crisis.
The only military force in the world capable of using Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear in combat existed on Paradis Island.
The regular soldiers of this marine infantry unit had undergone brutal and rigorous training and had participated in real combat against Titans.
They were truly battle-tested individuals.
It could be said that this force of approximately two hundred people was currently the number one special forces unit in the world.
Their opponents were nothing more than a few scattered survivors who posed no real threat.
"A decisive victory!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
This unmatched mobile special forces unit quickly took the port, and no one was able to escape.
Even those who attempted to flee were caught by the high-speed Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear.
All prisoners were taken to the center of the port, but it was difficult to communicate with them since they did not speak the same language.
Fortunately, they found a translator among the prisoners—a translator who spoke the language of Marley.
Although the written languages of Marley and Paradis are different, their pronunciation and speech are the same.
Therefore, this person who could speak "Marley" was able to understand Ymir's words and communicate with her.
After confirming that the surrounding area was under control, Levi's squad returned to regroup with Hannes.
They sailed in a small boat toward the area near the blazing inferno and fired a signal flare toward the Colossal Titan.
Hannes managed to emerge from the nape of the Titan, used his Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear to latch onto a piece of an armored warship, moved away from the center of the flames, then swam to the small boat and climbed aboard.
He had several burns from contact with the flames while swimming, but these injuries were not serious for him.
The power of the Titan flowing through his body allowed him to regenerate.
Unless a bullet struck his brain directly, he could recover even if he lost an arm or his heart was destroyed.
However, he could not transform into a Titan while treating his wounds.
Still, the power of a Titan is not synonymous with immortality.
There is a limit to the speed of regeneration. If vital organs such as the heart and lungs are destroyed simultaneously, regeneration cannot keep up with death, which will also result in death.
These common burns, naturally, could not affect his vitality.
Steam continuously rose from his wounds; that power was already repairing his body.
"Major Hannes, do your wounds hurt?" Petra asked, who was part of the rescue squad.
"It hurts like any real wound." Hannes nodded. His powers were not synonymous with the absence of pain; he felt each of his injuries like any other human. "But Gale taught me a method, and that is to cut the nerves to block the pain, although then I won't be able to control parts of my body."
"The power of a Titan… is really convenient…" Petra said with a nervous smile. "Right, Captain?"
"What's convenient is effective…" Levi turned around and looked back.
He did not continue speaking, but everyone on the small boat understood what he meant.
The flames burned furiously behind them, the air was filled with the smell of burned corpses, and suffocating smoke rose into the sky.
A thick black smoke, mixed with bright red blood and oil as dark as night, floated on the surface of the sea, so dense it seemed to solidify.
The small boat sailed at the foot of a mountain of flames and death.
Even Levi, accustomed to seeing battlefields, could not help but feel a chill.
The atmosphere on the small boat suddenly turned cold. They sailed back to the Navy One in silence, were lifted aboard by a crane, and reported their findings.
After receiving the signal, the Navy One prepared to dock.
In the captain's cabin, Gale and Hange controlled the Titans in the engine room, spinning the propeller.
The Navy One crossed the sea of fire and anchored at the port.
Dina sat in her room with the windows closed, refusing to look outside.
She was curled up on the bed, hugging her legs, holding the framed photograph in her hand.
It was the only picture of her with her lover and her son. She stared at the photo, caressed the faces of her son Zeke and her lover Grisha, and covered her ears so as not to hear the explosions outside.
After the docking of the Navy One, the Armored Titan lowered the gangway it had taken from storage and returned to human form.
Gale, Hange, and Eren disembarked and arrived at the square where the prisoners were being held.
Gale looked around. There was only one port in the area. Apart from the port, the rest of the region consisted of mountains and natural canyons, giving it a very remote appearance.
"These men are soldiers from Isfar, the closest fallen nation to Hizuru." Erwin said, recognizing the place they were in thanks to the conversation between Ymir and the soldier who spoke the Marley language.
"Their country was destroyed by Marley three years ago. These marines who survived fled to this remote port to hide. Now they are pirates and make a living by looting merchant ships."
"That's for the best; our risk of exposure will be very low." Gale understood much better.
He and Eren exchanged a glance.
Eren had seen that place in fragments of his memory. Gale had followed some of Eren's advice while directing the journey, which was why they had arrived at that port.
This was a very suitable place to establish a stronghold. The fact that this group of soldiers from a fallen nation had hidden here for three years proved that this place was very safe and that the people of Marley would not try to reach them.
After a brief discussion, they decided to begin their exploration of the outside world from there.
That night, they forced those soldiers of the fallen nation to hand over the intelligence they possessed.
Some materials from the war between Isfar and Marley had been preserved, including accurate data on world maps, the distribution of countries, and the current situation, obtained from those who had participated in the war.
At the port, several armored warships that had not yet set sail were seized, and these ships naturally became the property of Gale and his men.
However, operating these armored warships was not as simple as operating the Navy One. Their power came from steam engines, and for these soldiers of a fallen nation who had lost their national supplies, fuel alone represented an enormous expense.
The day after landing, they cleared out the stronghold of these defeated soldiers and prepared a clean office.
The report of the landing operation was delivered in the morning. A total of 149 prisoners were captured, including 3 high-ranking officers of Isfar, and the remaining 146 were former Isfar marines.
They also captured two 23-meter armored warships, along with various quantities of ammunition, firearms, oil, and food.