"Pursuers" is episode 107 of the Berserk manga series.
Synopsis[]
Back in Jill's village, the villagers have begun the somber process of burying their incinerated children, whose bodies have been contorted by the fire into clutching themselves. The villagers cannot identify the burnt bodies and are using one mass grave to bury all the children. A priest of the Holy See is in attendance.
Zepek watches the scene from a distance and drinks his alcohol from a flask. His attention moves to the forest behind him, where the birds in the trees have been disturbed. All the villagers notice, through the trees, the silhouettes of armed soldiers wandering closer. They begin to panic and run to take cover in the forest, but the priest, Father Hobbes, pacifies them and assures them that the soldiers mean no harm.
Coming into clear view, the force of soldiers is revealed to be the Holy Iron Chain Knights. Their female leader, Farnese, searches for and greets Father Hobbes. She claims that the Holy Iron Chain Knights have been sent on a miracle recognition mission. Hobbes invites her into his church, and she accepts, ordering Azan and Serpico to accompany her while the other Iron Chain Knights get to work helping the villagers bury their dead.
In the church, Hobbes tells Farnese, Azan and Serpico of a passing Black Swordsman and the elf who accompanied him. While Farnese finds the story hard to believe, she explains that she has been sent by the Holy See specifically to follow the Black Swordsman. Apparently, stories have been cropping up in all the land, each of them involving spirits and demons attacking small villages. In those stories, single common link stands out: the presence of a Black Swordsman.
Farnese wonders what role this Black Swordsman plays in life, whether he is a simple criminal or something much greater. Hobbes tells her that the Black Swordsman had been heading to the Misty Valley, but due to the dangers associated with the place, he cannot provide a guide for the Holy Iron Chain Knights. Just then, Zepek, who had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation, enters the church and volunteers for the job. Zepek returns home in high spirits and begins the search for his long-unused armor.
Guts kills both bug-men in one move.
After being thrown in the air by the beetle-man, Guts executes a backflip in midair and lands on his feet. The two remaining bug-men are much tougher than the rest were, and they explain this by telling Guts that they were knights before being made into monsters. They charge together. Guts dodges the beetle-man's charge, but the mantis-man appears behind him. Guts spins around and blocks the mantis' strikes with his sword and metal arm. Now that Guts is occupied, the beetle-man takes the opportunity to charge at him, sending Guts rolling along the ground and wounding him severely.
They charge again, flanking him. Guts blocks the first two quick strikes from the mantis before spinning around and swinging the Dragon Slayer down on the beetle's horn. The sword has only managed to cut partway through, however, and did not kill the bug-man. They each assume position at Guts' front and back, intending to charge at the same moment.
In desperation, Guts formulates a plan to take out both bugs at once. As they charge, he fires his arm cannon at the beetle-man and swings his Dragon Slayer around at the mantis-man, killing them both in the same instant.