Salvation

Guts empties another round from his crossbow into the mass of trolls, but the bolts barely dent their numbers, so he unsheathes the Dragon Slayer and dares them to come at him. Freed from any duty to guard others, he relishes swinging with his full strength, felling several beasts per stroke. Nearer the exit, Isidro obeys his orders and covers the rear, setting off charges with his salamander dagger to drop any trolls that draw close. Schierke pauses to marvel at how earnest and focused the boy has become, a side of him she rarely sees.

Among the fleeing women, Casca stumbles on a jutting rock as a spider-like thing lunges from a side passage; Farnese darts in and stabs its eye, noting the irony that she once sought Casca's execution and now leans on her for strength. Schierke halts the group when she senses trolls closing from both directions, but before either wave arrives, an overwhelming presence tears down the corridor, cutting apart every troll in its path and vaulting the villagers untouched. Too fast for anyone to identify, it races toward Guts. Having cleared most of the trolls around him and taken only minor wounds, Guts pries a splinter of club from his arm just as his Brand of Sacrifice throbs and something begins to coalesce in the puddle at his feet.

Part of the Millennium Falcon Arc, this twenty-two-page chapter debuted in Young Animal issue seven on March 28, 2003. The unseen figure racing through the cave is the Skull Knight, while the presence forming in the water foreshadows the arrival of Slan of the God Hand.