Ninja Gaiden II/Chapter 9: Heart of Darkness

Elizébet's trail leads to an ominous realm in South America. This unholy land conceals the final component to resurrecting the Archfiend. Ryu Hayabusa penetrates its dark mangroves that teem with the heavily-armed forces of the Black Spider Ninja Clan on a path to the lair of the Archfiend. Ryu journeys through a jungle far from civilization, a mysterious place where the secrets of the ancients dwell.

Part 1: Jungle Jam
Follow the path ahead until you are attacked by several Cyber Ninjas and a Rocket Soldier. Take them out and head to the open swamp area. Kill the Rocket Soldier across the way with a charged arrow and then carefully enter the water, as there are Squids here. Drop in and take them out with your Gatling Spear Gun. They will respawn for a while, so feel free to farm them for some extra Yellow Essence to use at the Muramasa statue next to the hut nearby. Continue along the swamp, killing or avoiding Squids until you reach another hut with a Rocket Soldier or two (depending on whether they blow themselves up). Kill him off and use the Dragon Statue here to save/heal.

Head through the hut here and search the corpse to your left for some arrows. What follows is pretty difficult. When you approach the water, several Rocket Soldiers will start shelling you from four locations on the opposite shore. There is some cover on this platform, to your right, beside the hut. This will give you defense from the two leftmost locations, but it will leave you open to the positions on the right. Take them out with arrows. If you get low on health, water run to the far right position, under the searchlight tower. There is a chest behind the tower containing an Herb of Spiritual Life and a Crystal Skull (#22). There is also cover from the other positions. When you kill off all of the Rocket Soldiers, you will be attacked by Rocket Mechs. There are quite a few of these. Take cover the area beside the entry hut and shell them with rockets. Basically just peek around the corner and stay charged, waiting for one to cross your reticle dot. One shot kills them. After they are dead,take note of the location in the cutscene and then search the area. The center platform to the left of the searchlight tower has chests containing Blue Essences, arrows, and a Devil Way Mushroom. Head up the stairs here for a chest containing a Life of the Gods. Head down the stairs and right, up to a platform with a chest containing Red Ki Essence. Wall run across the left wall to reach a platform. On your left is a chest containing an Herb of Spiritual Life and to the right is a corpse holding another Herb of Spiritual Life. Drop down and open the gate behind the second searchlight to find a chest containing a Jade Mask. Head back toward the open water area and kill off the second wave of Rocket Mechs with arrows. If you run out, these enemies are highly allergic to the Art of Inferno. Head into the water and right.

In the area shown in the cutscene, use the Jade Mask on the indentation to open an underwater cavern. Swim through. When you reach land, look left for a chest containing an Herb of Spiritual Life. Kill the Squids here with arrows and use the branches above to swing across to an upper platform. Follow the path ahead and kill the Cyber Ninjas here. As soon as you touch the rope above to cross to the next platform, Rocket Soldiers will appear. Take them out with arrows and cross the chasm until you reach the tree in the middle of the area. Turn to face right and you will see a Crystal Skull (#23) in the distance. Jump off the rope to cross the branches and reach the platform there. Collect the skull and use the Muramasa statue here if you need to. Head back to the rope and right, onto the path. Take out another group of Cyber Ninjas here to progress.

Continue up the path and to the far left of the Dragon Statue to find a chest hidden in the weeds containing an Herb of Spiritual Life. Fight off any remaining Cyber Ninjas and use the Dragon Statue at the cave entrance to save/heal. You will be attacked by wave upon wave of Spiked Insects. The Kusari Gama works wonders here against these guys. When they are finished, break the cracked rock with a charged Y attack and drop down the hole. There are a LOT of bugs in here. Keep spamming Y attacks and Ultimate Techniques and progressing down the hall. Check the side rooms here for eggs containing Yellow and Blue Essences. Eventually you will hear a distant rumbling. Duck into one of the side rooms and wait for a miniboss fight to begin.

Miniboss: Giant Worm
This boss can be pretty easy if you have good timing. Stand in the doorway of one of the side rooms while charging your Ultimate Technique. When you hear him get close, unleash your attack. He should pause. Start slashing like mad and then duck back into the room. Repeat this process until he falls. Another possibilty is to simply wait inside one of the rooms, and to quickly shoot a fully charged arrow at him every time he passes by. This way you can actually beat the worm without getting a single bit of damage.

Part 2: Swamps
After the boss death cutscene, continue forward and drop down the hole ahead. Outside the cave use the Dragon Statue to save/heal. Head toward the swamp ahead. Once you touch the water here, a large amount of Baby Worms will attack you from beneath. Art of Inferno will make short work of them as they are very resistant to physical attacks and dangerous up close. When they are killed off, look to the right to see a Crystal Skull (#24). Continue up the next leg of the path.

Along the way you will find a body containing your old friend Vigoorian Flail, the last of the collectible melee weapons. Continue down to the edge of the water. Here there are large red Water Worms. They look intimidating, but they are easily dispatched. Hop into the water here and lay on your Gatling Spear Gun until they are dead. If you haven't unlocked Feat of a Thousand Slashes yet, it is pretty to rack up a combo of over 200 here. To the right, in a fallen pillar, there is a chest containing a Grains of Spiritual Life. A platform on the left has a corpse containing a Devil Way Mushroom. In the pillar behind the corpse is a chest containing Jewel of the Demon Seal. Head toward the land.

Use the Muramasa Statue here to power up your Vigoorian Flails to full, then use the Dragon Statue to save/heal. Enter the seventh Test of Valor portal to begin the next test.

Test of Valor Seven
Skeletal Scorpions and Spiked Insects. Stand on the center island and lay waste with your Vigoorian flail. That is all. When the battle ends you will receive two chests. The right one contains Ghost Fish and the left one contains a Talisman of Rebirth. Head out through the portal.

Part 3: Jungle Temple
Examine the relief on the door next to the Muramasa shop to activate a battle. Kill the Chainsaw Fiends in this area and then return to the lake area and take out the Water Worms. When they are all finished off, head back to the relief and open the door. Before dropping into the hole, there is a chest on the left containing a large quantity of Yellow Essence. If you haven't upgraded all of your weapons (don't bother with the Dragon's Claw and Tiger's Fang, you get that for free later) this may be the time. Drop into the water and swim through the tunnel. On the other side, follow the path until you see a cutscene. Drop into the water and swim down to collect a Crystal Skull (#25) beside a corpse. Swim back up and take out the Chainsaw Fiends. Follow the path to the left, killing more Chainsaw Fiends as you go. Step into the large open area for a boss cutscene.

Boss: Gold Dragons
This pair is especially difficult. Try to get as many charged arrow shots in on them as you can before they summon a fleet of Flying Fiends to assist them. Use Art of Inferno to take care of them. Concentrate your charged arrows on one Dragon at a time, avoiding their devastating distance attacks as well as their close laser attacks and fireballs. If you don't take out one at a time this battle will become taxing. When the first Dragon falls, drop the second with charged arrows. Watch the cutscene to end the chapter.