Soldiers Dance

"We must hunt down every last one of them. Every enemy hiding inside our Walls."

- Erwin Smith states his intentions

Soldiers Dance (戦士は踊る) is the 4th and final chapter of the 8th volume and the 34th chapter overall of the Attack on Titan manga, written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama.

Overview
Eren is pulled from his Titan body by Armin while Mikasa clings to the Wall, staring at a Titan within. Hange looks at it in astonishment and then notices Minister Nick as he states to not let the sun hit the Titan. Elsewhere, Marlowe and Hitch question the higher ups and they give them no answers. After covering the Wall Titan, Nick does not give answers and Hange holds him over the edge. He tells her to let him fall and Hange, after a lengthy speech, throws him back onto the Wall. Later, Jean, Armin, and Mikasa are with Eren while he rests. Armin theorizes that the Walls were made using the Titans hardening ability, Armin and Jean then leave for a meeting. Erwin is questioned by higher ups and states that he wants to find all the Titan spies living within the Walls. Thomas, a Survey Corps soldier, then barges in and informs them of dire news involving Wall Rose. Earlier, Connie, Sasha, Bertolt, Reiner, Krista, and her friend were left without equipment and stationed in the southern part of Wall Rose. Mike Zacharias smells Titans invading and orders Thomas to report this to the Commanders.

Summary
Armin recovers Eren from his Titan body and Eren wonders what had become of Annie. Keiji tries to break open Annie's crystal covering, when Hange orders him to stop the attempts. She asks them to tie up the crystal and move it to some place underground where it will be easier to restrain Annie. While the soldiers were preoccupied with tying Annie up, Hange notices Mikasa clinging to the Wall and staring into the breach on the Wall. The Titan, inside the Wall, moved its eyelid, turning its gaze to Mikasa. Hange wonders whether the inside of the Walls were packed full of Titans, when Minister Nick appears and urges the soldiers to cover the Titan before any daylight can shine upon it. Marlowe and his group wonder about the two Titans and are dismissed by a superior officer for being just recruits. As they leave, Hitch wonders where Annie has gone off to. After covering the hole, Hange questions the Minister about the Wall Titan and he apathetically denies giving answers. Pushed to her breaking point, Hange grabs Nick by the collar and holds him over the edge of the Wall. She questions him about the church's shady requests in the past, suggesting that they know more of the Walls than one would expect. She reminds Nick of the purpose of the Survey Corps and all they sacrificed to get answers that the Church of the Walls must have known about all this time, but could afford to keep quiet. Nick challenges her to let him fall, saying that no matter the threat his church will not talk. After a moment, she throws Nick back onto the floor of the Wall, lightly commenting that she was only joking. As her assistant comes to her side, she muses on how she has not felt such terror since her first time outside the Walls.

Later, Jean, Armin and Mikasa are in a room where Eren is resting. They discuss about Annie's Titan ability, the Wall Titan and how the Wall was built in the first place, until a soldier requests for Armin's presence in a meeting above. In the meeting, Commander Erwin states that currently they could not get any information out of Annie and apologizes for the loss faced by Stohess District. He requests the higher authorities to allow them to track the other spies down, stating that it is now their mission to find each and every enemy inside their Walls. Suddenly, Thomas barges in bringing dire news about Wall Rose.

Twelve hours earlier, Connie, Sasha, Bertolt, Reiner, Krista, her friend, and other recruits were stripped of their equipment and stationed in a location in the southern part of Wall Rose, close to Connie and Sasha's villages. Connie and Sasha consider sneaking out to go see their towns while Reiner wonders worriedly at their situation, offering to help Connie and Sasha if it comes to it. They discuss about what could be happening when Sasha hears rumbles that sound like heavy footsteps. Mike Zacharias senses a vast number of Titans that were invading from the south and orders Thomas to report to the Commanders currently within Wall Sheena that Wall Rose has been breached. Not far away, many Titans walk the countryside, led by a bestial figure in the distance.

Trivia

 * In later chapters, the Japanese word "senshi" (戦士) is used in reference to the Eldian soldiers in service to Marley. This word translates as "warrior", though in the title of this chapter the word is instead translated as "soldier" as it was in Chapter 31. This was likely due to the fact that the significance of the "warrior" title was not known at the time of Volume 8's publication, with the first distinction between "soldiers" and "warriors" not being made until Chapter 39 in Volume 10. A more accurate title for the chapter would therefore be Warriors Dance (戦士は踊る).

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Chapitre 34