The Milk Drinker Ninja (Naruto/Skyrim Crossover)

Chapter 6: Trial of Strength

After walking to the end of the catwalk and opening yet another door that revealed a flight of stairs as soon as it was opened, Nia walked down them seeing as she had no other direction to go. And after leaving them and turning to follow the small hallway, Nia soon found herself on the bottom floor of the room that she'd been in before where there was a pile of charred bodies in the center where she'd dropped the jar on the zombies. Though seeing as the only way to continue through whichever dark and haunted dungeon that she found herself in was past them, she tiptoed to the side of the bodies, being careful to make as little noise as possible as she didn't want to wake them up again before she cringed as the next door opened just as loudly as the others had. But thankfully the noise hadn't brought out any more zombies and she was able to continue on to the next chamber which seemed suspicious to say the least seeing as it a thin yet long stone bridge that stretched from one end of the chamber to the other. And while the room that she'd just left had a catwalk as well, the space beneath this one was completely filled with water until it was level with the bottom of the bridge, making Nia think that there would possibly be some kind of giant fish or something that would try to eat her. Though seeing as she didn't have any other path to travel, she continued moving forward despite her bad feeling.

Sure enough, as soon as she made it halfway across the bridge, the stone started shaking beneath her feet. However, rather than being attacked by a giant fish like she thought would happen, she watched in nervous silence as several evenly-distanced spots of the water began to turn white with bubbles. And as she continued to watch, she eventually discovered why as eight gigantic statues slowly rose out of the water with each of them being covered by some type of brown algae. Though instead of being birds this time, they all looked similar to the altar that she'd woken up underneath, though the crosspiece of the sword almost looked like the head of an axe now that she thought about it.

When the statues finally stopped moving, surprisingly, nothing happened and Nia continued at a slow pace until she almost reached the other side of the room and the next door opened before she even got close to it. And after walking through through the door, she was greeted by a massive circular chamber which was larger than any indoor room that she'd ever seen before that was illuminated by what looked like hundreds of torches that lined the walls. And while the two support columns at the sides of the room were intimidating seeing as they were shaped light ancient swordsmen who stood eternally to make sure that the ceiling didn't collapse, what Nia noticed more was the fact that the walls were lined with hundreds, no, possibly thousands of small indents where more of the same zombies from before were laying.

As soon as she entered the room, the sound of breaking stone once again filled her ears, and Nia started to panic as the sarcophagus around her began erupting and more of the same zombies from before began to awaken. What was worse, she'd walked far enough into the new room that they were behind her now, so her escape route was cut off. Though instead of all attacking her at once like she thought was going to happen, the zombies instead all stood where they were while two of them blocked the doorway. And after they all turned to face her, they let their weapons rest on the floor while performing what she thought was some kind of strange salute before a zombie larger than the others began to walk towards her from the direction she'd been heading.

Dressed in armor that had the same color as their weapons while also having a spiked helmet, this zombie seemed somehow different compared to the rest as it continued to walk forward into the circle that the others made and closer to Nia before it finally stopped and drew a gigantic two-handed sword from its back. And while it had walked up to her at first, it strangely seemed to wait before she finally realized what was happening. This zombie was requesting a duel... right?

Not knowing what would happen if she just tried to leave, Nia took a deep breath before slowly drawing her kunai again and wondering just how she was supposed to defeat the armored zombie in front of her. Though as soon as she was ready, the action apparently started their duel as the armored zombie rushed forward and swung at her, making Nia do a backflip in order to avoid its sideways slash before it pressed forward and she now had to side-step in order to avoid the downward swing which most likely would have cut her in half but instead simply hit the floor and shattered some of the rock underneath it.

Aiming for the legs, Nia used her small size to her advantage and she ran between the zombie's legs while cutting the exposed grey skin that the creature's armor didn't cover. However, while the strike would have killed or at least crippled a normal person, the zombie only seemed to wobble slightly on its feet before it spun around and attempted to kill her again while using its legs to their full functionalities. Though after she ducked underneath of this swing, she ran forward and stabbed both of her kunai into the zombie's chest while hoping that she could get through its armor. And while her kunai thankfully did make it past the metal, her attack still didn't seem to faze the zombie at all as it reached one of its legs up and attempted to kick her away. Though it missed because, even though this zombie was different than the others, it was still extremely slow compared to the academy students that Nia was used to sparring against.

"Fos!" The zombie suddenly yelled in a hoarse voice, and while she didn't know what was happening at first, Nia let out a small shout of both surprise and pain as she was suddenly blasted off of her feet by what she could only describe as a blast of wind. And after hitting the floor and rolling across it while being carried by her momentum, she was suddenly stopped by one of the zombies as it caught her before it set her upright so that she could stand again. However, rather than feeling thankful to it, she shivered slightly as she was grossed out that a zombie had touched her. Though the experience also made her nervous seeing as the creature hadn't even budged in catching her while showing a kind of strength that dwarfed hers completely.

 While she'd been in a small daze from the blast of wind, Nia was forced to focus as she saw the armored zombie run towards her out of the corner of her eye.  And as it got close, she once again dodged the swing of its sword which flew through the air above her head while cutting the zombie that had caught her in half before she moved around it and pulled out another two kunai seeing as she'd dropped the ones she'd been carrying before due to the blast. Though now that she was armed again, she jumped and stabbed the zombie in the lower back in the gap between its breastplate and greaves.  And seeing as she was now using her kunai as anchors as she stayed attached to the zombie's back while it continuously turned in an attempt to find her, she stayed there for a few moments as it attempted but failed to reach her with its arms as she avoided the creature's efforts. But after she grew used to the pattern that it was using in an attempt to dislodge her, she quickly jumped up, this time raising her kunai even higher as she stabbed the creature in the neck where she continued to hold onto it despite its struggling. And when she finally lifted herself so she could hang onto its shoulder, she performed one last strike aimed at the zombie's spinal cord which thankfully wasn't covered by the armor before the zombie let out a choked cry and collapsed forward with her still on its back.

Not daring to move for fear of the zombie still being alive, Nia only now realized that she was breathing heavily while her limbs shook. And even with the fight over, both the adrenaline and fear were making her restless she spun around to look at those that had been watching her. Though with one battle ended, she sincerely hoped that it would be enough as the rest of the zombies all looked at her with their blue eyes that glowed like tiny blue flames inside of empty eye sockets. And while she'd been worrying, she eventually breathed a sigh of relief as the first zombie turned around and walked back to its sarcophagus before the others joined it one by one. And once the last zombie was back in its resting place, the armored zombie beneath her started to shine in a pale light before it disintegrated beneath her and she fell on her knees on the cold stone floor. However, as the small specks of light that were all that remained of the armored zombie rose into the air, Nia watched them as they all gathered into a shining orb that was similar to the one that had brought her to this place.

"Well done. You have passed the Trial of Courage by reaching this point and the Trial of Strength by defeating your enemy." A deep voice suddenly spoke to her as the light flared slightly with each word.

"Trials? Wait, nevermind that! Who are you and why did you bring me here?!" Nia asked desperately, wanting nothing else other than to know who her kidnapper was and why he'd brought her to such a hellish place.

"Two more trials await you, one in the tomb and one beyond." The man continued as if he hadn't heard her. "Once you pass them both, only then will you have proven your worth."

"My worth for what?!" Nia asked again, though the orb didn't answer her and instead started floating away towards a passageway that had been hidden by the lid to the sarcophagus that the armored zombie had been in. "Wait! Please! Just tell me why I'm here!"