Pain!
Excruciating pain!
It was as though every bone, every nerve, every cell in his body was crying out in agony.
Guts felt as if he had endured a long, horrifying nightmare, battling some unknown monster for three hundred rounds before barely surviving after exhausting every last ounce of strength.
The helplessness and weakness even made him feel as though he had died once.
But no matter what, a few seconds after regaining consciousness, he still forced open the only eye he had left intact.
Yes, this formidable swordsman in black, who had slain countless Apostles, had not only lost an arm during the sacrifice of that ascension ritual, but also an eye. He was, without question, disabled.
The moment he opened his eye, the first thing he saw was the Man-Eating Flower Apostle right beside him.
More precisely, it was the Apostle's human form: a shriveled, skinny old man.
His instinctive first reaction was to reach for Dragon Slayer and kill it immediately, but his hand grasped nothing.
Then he tried to use the weapon installed in his prosthetic arm, only to discover that the prosthesis had somehow been removed.
Just as his mind was clouded and he could not make sense of the situation, a familiar voice suddenly came from nearby.
"Yo, you finally woke up. I thought I might have to dig a hole and bury you this time tomorrow."
Following the sound, Guts saw the woman who had made him drink the potion before he lost consciousness, along with the rest of her team.
At the same time, Guts realized that he was inside a carriage that was traveling at a tremendous speed, though for some reason it was not particularly bumpy.
After a long silence, he finally opened his mouth and asked in an incredibly