Three years pass and the Band of the Hawk grow in power and numbers as they are employed by the Kingdom of Midland for its Hundred Year War against the Tudor Empire, and Griffith rises in the kingdom's hierarchy after a successful battle. When Guts recovers days later, he is forced into joining the Band of the Hawk when Griffith defeats him in a duel and later learns of the Beherit pendant Griffith possesses.

'Master of the Sword (1)' ( 剣の主(1), Tsurugi no Aruji (1)) Corkus attempts to rob Guts before he is saved by the Hawks' female captain Casca, who is in turned saved by their leader Griffith as he grievously wounds Guts. A few years later, an older Guts attracts the attention of a mercenary group, The Band of the Hawk, when he kills the knight Bazuso during a siege. Raised by his adoptive father and mentor Gambino, the young Guts was forced to kill Gambino when the man attempted to murder him in misplaced blame for his wife's death for saving his life when born from his hanged mother. 'The Golden Age (1)' ( 黄金時代(1), Ōgon Jidai (1), beginning of the 'Golden Age Arc').

Guts and Puck arrive to a town run by a pagan-hunting Count that Guts targets. Accepting a ride from an old priest named Adolf, Guts experiences a nightmare and wakes up to an attack by spiritually-possessed skeletons, which kill Adolf and his daughter Colette. Guts later finds and kills the Baron before taking his leave, inspiring Puck to travel with the swordsman. Guts kills all but one of the bandits, telling him to inform his master that the Black Swordsman is coming. 'The Guardians of Desire (1)' ( 欲望の守護天使(1), Yokubō no Shugotenshi (1))Ī lone swordsman named Guts walks into an inn where a group of bandits are tormenting an elf named Puck and a red-haired youth.'The Black Swordsman' ( 黒い剣士, Kuroi Kenshi, beginning of 'The Black Swordsman Arc').

The Japanese volumes were re-released with new cover art starting in 2016, following the rebranding of Hakusensha's Jets Comics imprint as Young Animal Comics. The volumes are released in English by Dark Horse Comics since Octothey are since February 27, 2019, also releasing hardcover editions which each collect multiple volumes. The chapters (called 'episodes') are since November 26, 1990, also collected by Hakusensha in tankōbon volumes 42 have been released as of 2023. The story follows Guts, an orphaned mercenary on his quest for revenge, and consists of five major story arcs: 'The Black Swordsman Arc' (volumes 1–3) 'Golden Age Arc' (volumes 3–14) 'Conviction Arc' (volumes 14–21) 'Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc' (volumes 22–35) and 'Fantasia Arc' (volumes 35–). Since then, the series has been supervised by Miura's friend Kouji Mori and drawn by Studio Gaga, consisting of Miura's assistants and apprentices. Since the late 2000s, the manga has been published irregularly, with frequent hiatuses until Miura's death in 2021. Cover for the 2016 edition of volume 1, featuring Gutsīerserk is a Japanese manga series written and drawn by Kentaro Miura, and has been published by Hakusensha in the magazines Monthly Animal House (1989–1992) and Young Animal (1992–).

List of god hand berserk