Mist Caves

Under the mountains: a dark cavern with stalactites overhead, crystals glowing teal and violet, glowing mushrooms and drifting spores. You arrive after the Samurai Lord, at around 4,000 metres.

On a run: 4,000 to 4,500 m, the last world
New here: Bat swarms and mine carts
Best ink: Pen or steel walls
Boss: The Cave Spider at 4,500 m
In Fight: Waves 36 to 40
Look and sound: Stalactites, glowing crystals and mushrooms, drifting spores

The Mist Caves are the last world of a lap, and the darkest. Both new dangers come at you along the path, one flying and one rolling, and one of them pays out in gold.

The dangers of Mist Caves

Bat swarms

A swarm of seven bats flutters in at head height on a wavy path, with a screech as it starts. Swarms fly faster the further you run.

Beat it: Draw a line in their path, a tall wall is safest because of the wave, and they scatter up and away.

Mine carts

A runaway cart, heaped with gold, rattles down the path at the ninja, half again as fast as a boulder.

Beat it: Wall it off: it crashes and spills its ore onto the path as coins for him to collect.

Which ink works here

Ink	What it does here
Pen	A wall scatters bats and stops a cart.
Rubber	Works as a wall; a bounce can also carry him over a cart.
Steel	The strongest wall for a heavy cart.
Fire	Not solid, so it stops neither.
Ice	An ice ramp can leap a cart, though you miss its coins.

Tips for Mist Caves

Make bat walls tall: the swarm bobs up and down as it flies.
Stop carts rather than leaping them: the spilled ore is free coins.
Your eyes adjust slowly in the dark; the red warnings are always the thing to watch.
After the Cave Spider, the lap starts again in Bamboo Valley, and every boss is tougher.

Common mistakes

A short wall that the swarm flies over on its way up.
Leaping every cart and leaving its coins behind.
Drawing the cart wall too close, so it hits before he is past.

Mist Caves in Fight and Duel

Fight moves to a new world every five waves, in the same order as the run. Waves 36 to 40 take place in Mist Caves, and the last of them ends with the War Chief again, tougher than the first time. After the Mist Caves the order starts again from Bamboo Valley at wave 41. In a Duel, every match is set in a world picked at random, so you may meet your opponent here too. See Fight: surviving the first twenty waves for each warlord.

The boss

At 4,500 metres, the Cave Spider, who drops from the roof to bite. Beat her and the run carries on from Bamboo Valley, with every boss one step harder.