9 — Squishy Cave

A Dark-enemy gauntlet where single-target counters stop being good enough. Camelle debuts in the finale, and Assassin Bear makes his Stories of Legend entrance.

Potentially difficult purely because of how much is new. Dark enemies swarm here in groups, so single-target anti-Dark units (Flower Cat, Cat Gunslinger, Tin Cat) underperform — the wiki points to area attackers like Salon Cat and Weightlifter Cat instead. The flagged stages are Juvenile Killer (Master A.s in bulk) and the closer Chubby B. Goode (Camelle's first appearance).

Three proper debuts: Gory Dark, a fast, well-rounded Dark area-attacker; Owlbrow, a Floating mid-ranger best read as a stronger Mooth; and Camelle, an exceptional-range stall machine who becomes a nightmare behind peon cover. Assassin Bear also makes his first Stories of Legend appearance — absurd speed, range and DPS, but health low enough that the default Cat Cannon usually deletes him.