Rip and Hiss led the advancing army through the first floor. There were poisonous mushrooms that released spores there, but only at the command of the first floor guardians. Which were the two murder muffins.

They moved unmolested through the cavern and saw the stairs leading to the second floor. Spikes doted the walls and some steps were missing. But then again, Gor didn’t care if the corpses tumbled down.

The two murder muffins jumped up when there wasn’t a step and made it to the top without touching the walls once. The ants, used to climbing even trees, had no problem either.

Then, the quiet hit them like a sledgehammer. Usually, the second floor was guarded by corpses, the third by golems, the fourth by slimes and the last, the fifth floor, by Ivar.

So, where were the guards. The two murder muffins looked around. Typically, pained moans were heard at all times of the day from this particular floor. Hiss made a step forward and her paw sunk in something mushy.

She raised her paw and saw that she couldn’t lift it much. There was something mushy that clanged to it like glue, and she looked down. It was the corpses! They had laid on the floor and had let their sticky flesh become a trap for the would be invaders.

For once, there was intelligence behind their dark eyes. A corpse gripped Hiss’ paw and attempted to bite it, but Rip bit into its head and took off its upper jaw. Gor must have evolved them, somehow, for they were not like this before.

“Retreat!” Screamed Rip after he ate the mushy, disgusting flesh around Hiss’ paw. They turned around, but the ants pushed them to the side and marched forward. The first ant to make it up the stairs bend down and began eating the corpse that Rip had savaged. More gathered and did the same.

Moans carried around the cavern. The corpses tried to get up, but their flesh was sticking them to the stone floor. Gor had doomed them in her attempt to lay a trap, and now they could only snap helplessly as the ants ate them.

Once half of the cavern was cleared, Tod and Meredith the goat made it up the stairs. The nimble goat was a veteran of many a forest trail and steep cliff, and so it wasn’t hard for her to skip the missing stairs.

“Ants, line up,” commanded Tod, and the ants filled up the space before the Tedsby.

“We can use the dungeon core’s trap against her. Rip, Hiss, pretend to be hurt and meow for help,” Tod turned to the nearest ant next. “And all of you must be ready to get what comes down here without eating the sticky corpses.”

Rip and Hiss began to meow and soon, a golem made it down. It was made from rocks and iron ore. But it stuck into the corpses all the same.

“Ants, you are veterans of many a building site!” Encouraged the ants, Tod. “It is time to prove your mettle!”

The ants charged towards the golem, not sticking in the corpses thanks to the fine hairs on their legs, and began dismantling it. One tore a leg, another a head, a third took off an arm and the last went back to Tod with a torso.

They all waited with the still squirming body parts. What was left of the golem sunk even deeper into the corpses. Tod took a minute to think, then he spoke.

“Use the golem to block the entrance. Rip, Hiss, keep meowing!” Was the Tedsby’s command. The ants looked at him confused. Block the entrance? Then, how were they going to advance? But they still did as they were told.

Thundering steps echoed up the stairs and golems began to ram into their fallen brethren. When they managed to topple it down, they all fell into the corpse mush on the floor. All three of them.

“Rip, are there any more golems?” Tod looked with great satisfaction at the fallen golems.

“All four are accounted for, general Tod,” said Rip, whose throat was dry from all the meowing.

“Perfect. Slimes are easy to defeat. So, why are they guarding the second to last floor?” That had puzzled Tod ever since the two murder muffins had told him of them.

“They release poisonous gasses. If even one breaks, the entire cave will be filled with unbreathable fumes,” Hiss looked at the far wall and pointed at it with her tail after she said that. “But we have the worker ants. We can bypass the third floor entirely.”

“Ants, make a tunnel to the boss room!” Yelled Tod, and the ants cleared a way to the wall first, and then they began eating away a tunnel. But something stopped them halfway. A bright barrier was placed between the third and the fourth floor.

Tod surveyed it. He was not a barrier barker, but the barrier looked like it was powered by an external source. If they found it and broke it, they could advance.

Ants made tunnels left and right, following the barrier. They looked for a shiny mana crystal stuck into the rock formation somewhere, but found nothing. Then, they saw it.

A pedestal with a mana crystal that was as big as an egg on the wrong side of the barrier. The ants played rock-paper-scissors and the unfortunate loser of three out of three went to report to Tod. 

“There is a mana crystal, but on the wrong side of the barrier, general Tod. What do we do?” The ant bulked under the gaze of the Tedsby. But the small fluff ball was not giving up. 

“We will wait for the ant Queen and the rest to come here. For now, keep the caverns clear of mobs. We will tear down this cave stone by stone!” A chorus of agreement spread around the tunnels. And so, the siege of the Bone Crusher dungeon began.