Shinobi From Hell

Chapter 23 - Trial Of Control

*Slash*

Klautz slashed the Gnoll that came in his way.

Klautz walked out of the safe point this time all alone.

In front of him laid a dense wilderness. It was hard to figure out which of these trees are the real deal and which are trents inactive in its slumber. Lush greenery was found everywhere and amongst it were the beasts lying in wait to snap at their prey.

Klautz's eyes fell on his waist.

"This weapon is rather useless, let's try something else"

"Summon Tosas's Demonic Spirit!"

Klautz shadow wriggled under the light that seeped through the trents as it began to rise. Little by little what seemed to be a small shadow wriggled like octopus tentacles.

From within it rose a black sphere. And it rose in front of Klautz face floating in front of him.

"How does this thing work?"

Klautz thought.

"Maybe…"

Klautz visualized a ninja sword as he reached out his hands trying to grab it. How he would grab a sphere of light larger than his head? He wasn't sure. It was just that he had a hunch that it would work.

And as he expected! The demonic spirit wriggled to take the form of a ninja sword!

There was no scabbard. The sword a bit curved at the tip and his hilt with grooves for friction and grip, as Klautz had imagined.

"Whoah! Sweet."

The perfect ninja sword!

Sharpness never gets bleak, unbreakable and shapeshifting. What more could a ninja ask?

"Roar.."

One… no two monsters came flying towards him.

They had the form of large birds with brown wings and sharp talons. They somewhat resembled large sized vultures.

"Spearows."

They were named so cause their beaks were as sharp as spears.

Klautz jumped high in the sky as he made his way through the branches.

*Slash*

With a swift slash of his sword, he cut off one of their wings.

"Screech!" the beast cried. He went down as he crashed on a nearby tree.

Losing his friend the other beast was caught with fright. It tried to escape.

At that moment, as if by impulse from his previous training, Klautz threw his sword at the beast while imagining a shuriken to manifest.

The sharp sword turned into rotating shuriken mid-air as it stabbed the beast's heart spurting blood in the process.

The beast went crashing down as it saw a glimpse of the last moments of its life.

*crash*

Klautz came down just to pluck the beast's feathers.

"These will be helpful later."

He stored the feathers in his inventory for future needs.

***

Exploring a bit through the forest he finally reached where he intended to...

[You have entered the trial of control!]

[There are participants already present at the trial]

[Would you like to join them? Yes/No]

"It seems there are already participants who are walking towards river Styx."

Sometimes situations like this also arise, when someone finds a trial ground even when someone is already going through a trial. Normally, it would be a matter of worry. As both, the participants won't want the other to win and they will try to come in each other's ways. But this time…

"There won't be any problems. There was never anyone who will be clearing this trial until next year."

Klautz who comes from the future knows this better than anyone. The first and last time when this trial was cleared was by the lunatic puppeteer. Before that, there had been no instances of it being cleared pointing to only one thing.

"Those who had discovered it before had all died in this trial."

Klautz looked at the system messages.

"No."

[User has choosen to wait until other participants are done.]

"I will wait."

The system message disappeared and another screen popped up in front of Klautz. The screen played a group of people as they fought tooth and nail with a beast.

A black serpent of enormous size. Judging from its image alone Klautz concluded that it was around a half-ton monstrosity being several metres long. Its teeth were so strong that it crushed the earth every time it attacked the poor humans.

"Hiss" The beasts tongue played in and out.

One of the humans died as the serpent swallowed it alive. Its long neck bludged as the human was absorbed in its belly. Little by little, it convulsed as the human was pushed more and more inside it. Saying it was human would be a wrong word as at this point it was nothing but its food. It had long died due to poisonous secretions it produced.

"Looks tough," Klautz said to himself. "I underestimated this trial."

Klautz pondered in thought as his forehead wrinkled.

He wasn't thinking about the humans that were fighting life and death instead he was thinking of a better way to clear the trial rather than risking his life.

It was then… as if by making a resolve his eyes sparkled.

"Take me inside the trial." He shouts out at the top of his voice.

[Do you want to enter the trial? (yes/no)?]

"Yes"

A blinding light wrapped him as he disappeared from the wilderness.

***

Klautz shot opened his eyes that were forced shut by the blinding light. In front of him, they were having a life and death struggle. Even the snake had sustained a lot of injuries. Both sides were exhausted and neither of them was able to deliver the finishing blow.

Klautz didn't take a second to sneak in behind the snake as he readied his weapon to take the form of a sword.

*stab*

Klautz used his body as he swung in the air and stabbed at the snake's eye. The sword penetrated deep inside as the snake made a dying cry. With the thud, it collapsed on the floor.

The people who were fighting the snake until then were elated at Klautz's sudden appearance. To them, he was a lifesaver.

The one who seemed to be the leader of the group walked over to Klautz. His equipment was in tatters. He held his head with a cloth from where the blood seemed to be gushing out. During the battle, while trying to approach the snake from behind he was swept by its tail like a broom sending him flying. He collided with the rock-solid wall of the room.

Even Klautz found it usual for this trial ground to be of such a theme. Everyone had to fight a boss-type monster within a room completely sealed off from the surroundings. The walls were pitch black with no noticeable decorations and inscriptions. The floor and ceiling were supposed to be the same. But now after the battle, it was in ruins.

"Thank you for saving us. Without you, we were in a pinch." The man named Dant said with a slight smile.

[Stage 1 cleared! Do you wish to go to the next stage? (yes/no)]

***

Guys cheer me in the comments section. I will be posting more chapter this week if the readers want it.