Ambush

The beast barrels toward Guts rather than Casca this time. His repeated crossbow shots all miss as the creature's agility carries it forward undeterred, and it closes in while he reloads, forcing him to dodge aside only when its horns are inches from his face. It keeps springing off the floor, walls and ceiling to evade every bolt, so Guts turns to a new tool from Rickert: a small studded ball trailing a short fuse. He lights it with his prosthetic and hurls it, timing the throw so it bursts against the monster's face just as it lunges, ripping holes through its hide. As the creature drops to its knees, Guts takes the opening and beheads it with a single stroke of the Dragon Slayer.

The mysterious being looks on while Guts weighs the value of his new weapons before following Isidro out. The separate clash between the knights and the possessed heretics has also wound down, and Farnese searches in vain for Serpico, who has vanished from the fray.

Outside, Guts finds that the escape route is a slim ledge jutting from a sheer drop, where a single wrong step means death. Ahead of him stands Serpico. Guts looses a few bolts, but the young knight ducks behind a bend in the cliff, so Guts lobs an explosive to land at his feet. Approaching cautiously afterward, he finds no one there, until a glint on his left reveals a sword point rising over the ledge. Serpico had dangled from the edge to survive the blast.

Once Serpico regains the path, the fight turns dire for Guts. The knight pins the crossbow with a thrust near its crank and blocks any attempt to draw the Dragon Slayer. The narrow ledge and the rock scraping his shoulder leave the far larger Guts unable to swing his blade, his good hand trapped against the wall and the sun glaring into his eyes from behind Serpico. The rapier, built for thrusting, is perfectly suited to these cramped quarters.

Serpico admits that on open ground Guts would crush him even against long odds, but on this cliff face every advantage belongs to the smaller fighter. He opens a cut on Guts' cheek, and the swordsman grasps just how cunning and capable his opponent truly is. Further along the trail, Isidro reaches a dead end and spots a metal ring bolted to the rock with a rope running down into the chasm. After lowering Nina to the bottom, he ties the line around Casca's waist to send her down as well, unaware that the hidden mysterious being is watching his every move.