Utgard Castle

Ragako lies in ruins, and Connie stands weeping before what used to be his home, crushed beneath an immobile Titan sprawled across it. The scene refuses to add up: no blood, no bodies, and the horses still standing in their stable, details Gelgar quietly files away while Lynne assures the recruits the villagers must have escaped. As the squad rides out, the Titan on the house croaks a broken phrase at Connie, welcoming him home. Reiner hurries him along before he can dwell on it.

Along Wall Rose, the military's response unfolds hour by hour. Kitz Weilman's cannons and Rico Brzenska's blades hold the eastern line, Hannes leads Garrison riders scanning the Wall's base, and after eleven fruitless hours Nanaba and Gelgar's search teams concede that no breach exists to explain the Titans inside the territory. The exhausted group beds down for the night at nearby Utgard Castle, puzzling briefly over signs that someone recently used the ruin as a hideout.

Sleep comes uneasily. Krista wonders aloud where the Titans could have come from if the Wall truly holds, and Connie voices his suspicion that the paralyzed Titan resembled his mother, a thought Reiner brushes off and Ymir buries under mockery about his height. Later, Reiner catches Ymir rummaging for food and thanks her for derailing Connie's theory; she hands him a can of herring, and he wonders aloud how she can read lettering that no one inside the Walls should recognize. Before she can respond, Lynne's shout sends everyone to the roof. Titans surround the castle under a clearing night sky, something that should be impossible in darkness, while a towering, fur-covered Titan strides past toward the Wall and begins to climb it. Only Nanaba, Gelgar, Henning, and Lynne still carry their maneuvering gear, and the four veterans leap into a hopeless defense. Seventeen hours after the first sighting, Hange's squad rides for Utgard, unaware of the battle raging there.

Connie discovers his home village destroyed with no casualties or blood, and the immobile Titan atop his house speaks to him.

Search teams confirm that Wall Rose has no breach, deepening the mystery of the Titans' appearance inside the territory.

The soldiers shelter at Utgard Castle, where Reiner catches Ymir reading a script unknown inside the Walls.

Titans assault the castle at night, and the only four with maneuvering gear, Nanaba, Gelgar, Henning, and Lynne, fight them alone.

The Beast Titan appears for the first time in the field, climbing Wall Rose to observe the battle.

This chapter closes volume 9 as its fourth entry, number 38 overall, published in Japan on October 9, 2012 and in English on November 26, 2013. It sits within the Clash of the Titans arc, and the anime spread its events across the episodes Southwestward and Soldier.

A trivia point decodes the herring can Ymir reads: the label is the katakana for "herring," roughly drawn, altered, inverted, and meant to be scanned from right to left, an early clue to the world beyond the Walls. The talking Titan on Connie's house and the horses left in the stable quietly foreshadow the truth about Ragako's villagers.