Guts' world was still swimming when the finishing blow that should have crushed him never came. He doesn't quite process what happened at first, vaguely hearing the whinny of Lashan's horse through the ambient noise. The boy recognizes her voice through the chaos as he shakily stands to his feet.

His arms felt cold with the drops of rain. Looking up, he sees a knife in the bear's eye socket and the futile thrashing of its thick and deadly arms.

Despite his body's complaints, he raises the blade again, eyes fluttering open beneath the rim of his helmet. Teeth clenched, he sees the line of the creature's sternum on its chest between its powerful chest muscles, and angles the sword. As terrifying as the mutant was, it was still mortal. Still a creature of flesh and blood, with a ribcage full of soft and vital organs beneath.

Head throbbing, limbs aching, he thrusts the sword upwards as the bear's great bulk falls on him, impaling the full length of steel entirely into its chest. His legs crumple beneath the weight, disappearing beneath the monster with a shout (of pain? of surprise? a bit of both). His fate was impossible to discern, but the massive creature would soon be in the throes of its own death as blood begins to spill liberally from the wound and pool widely into the damp earth.