Follow Carl, Princess Donut, and Mongo as they fight their way to the next level in the A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps. It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked. Here''s the thing. It''s never easy. Carl and his team can''t go it alone. Not this time. They must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can''t-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted?

Autorentext

Matt Dinniman is a writer, artist, and musician (well, he's a bass player) from Gig Harbor, WA. He is the author of several books, including the bestselling Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

Klappentext

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Follow Carl, Princess Donut, and Mongo as they fight their way to the next level in the fourth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition!

New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.
You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that’s talent.

Surviving in a multilevel dungeon that also happens to be the set of the galaxy’s most watched game show has taught Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, that there’s only one thing they can count on apart from each other: they never know what’s coming next. And this floor is no exception.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps.

It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked. Here's the thing. It's never easy. Going it alone is not an option this time, so Carl and his team must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can't-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted?

Welcome, Crawlers. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.

Leseprobe
1

Stage 1 of 4. The Gnomes.

Time to Level Collapse: 15 days.

Views: 1.43 Quintillion

Followers: 7 Quadrillion

Favorites: 2.4 Quadrillion

Leaderboard rank: 3

Bounty: 800,000 gold

Welcome, Crawler, to the fifth floor. "The Bubbles."

Sponsorship bidding initiated on Crawler #4,122. Bidding ends in 45 hours.

Remaining Crawlers: 178,887

Entering Bubble #543 out of 1,172. Air Quadrant.

New Achievement! The Quarry Sees Another Spring.

You managed to enter a stairwell while listed in the current top ten. You're a survivor. A scrapper. And just as the buck's antlers grow another point as they mature, you, too, have grown as both a crawler and as a prize.

Reward: You have received a Gold Venison Box! Don't get too excited. It's just money. In addition, all bounties against you now and in the future will have a (× 2) modifier attached.

Hey, at least the prize for surviving the floor goes up, too.

"What the shit?" I said, seeing the notification. Nobody had warned me our bounties would double. Mordecai hadn't mentioned it, nor had I seen it listed in the cookbook. I wondered if that was a new thing. Those fuckers.

I coughed, regretting I'd said anything out loud. I spit the sand from my mouth.

Tens of thousands of crawlers hadn't made it past the last few hours of the fourth floor. I felt my fist clench and unclench as we trudged forward, leaning into the wind.

Donut mewled with irritation from my shoulder. Hot wind blasted against us, and every time I breathed, my mouth and nose started to fill with sand. We needed masks. We could only talk using chat.

We'd stepped from the warehouse onto the fifth floor just a few minutes after the fourth level collapsed. I felt the standard rumble in the ground while we were still in the warehouse, but it was much more distant than usual.

Donut: I NEED TO PICK A NEW CLASS! I REALLY WISH THEY GAVE ME MORE TIME. THE CHOICES ARE ALL DIFFERENT.

Carl: Mordecai. Help Donut choose. We're in an air zone.

Mordecai: There you are. By the gods, did Odette make you clean her house first before she let you go? I'm already here and have been gathering intel. Come to the town that's hunched up against the northwest curve. The walls block the sandstorms. Locals say the storms only last an hour or two each day. Apparently there's only two towns in the area. Donut, read me your choices.

Donut quickly read off some of the class choices. None of them had a flying ability. Many sounded more interesting and exotic than usual, like Nine Tails and Demigod Attendant, though there were a few in there that had to be a joke. Like Vape Shop Counter Jockey. Mordecai asked rapid-fire questions. He zoomed in on two choices.

Mordecai: The class choices keep getting better. We still need to keep your constitution up. You just lost ten points from losing your Football Hooligan. There's one that'll replace it and more. Glass Cannon normally forbids you from adding to your constitution upon level up, but it comes with a plus-fifteen constitution base, and it'll also greatly increase your training speed on all spells. It does not increase your intelligence, but it lowers the cost of all spells, which is almost the same thing. Your Magic Missile will be much stronger, and it's already pretty strong. You can't train constitution anyway, so it's a good choice, especially if we grind on your magic. But if you don't actually obtain some of those benefits, it could be a waste of a class.

Donut's Character Actor benefit went up in power each time she descended a floor, but it still came with a risk. She didn't always obtain all of the chosen class's benefits, and once she picked, it was set for the floor.

Donut: I CHOSE IT!

Mordecai: Well? What did you get?

Donut: I . . . WELL, I GOT EVERYTHING. EXCEPT THE PLUS 15 TO CONSTITUTION.

"Goddamnit," I muttered, and immediately regretted it. I had to spit out more sand.

Mordecai: Okay. We need to really focus on keeping Donut out of harm's way until we get her better armor. No more riding Mongo into battle.

Class choice out of the way, we started to move. Dust and sand swirled around us. The ground felt solid, though my feet sank to the ankles with each step. With the dust storm, I could barely see more than twenty feet in each direction. I looked up, and I saw nothing but brown. I turned, and the door we'd just left was gone, replaced by a curved, rocky but uniform wall. It seemed to rise high and away, like we were standing inside of a crudely sculpted bowl.

Katia: Okay. I see the edge of town. It's close, about three hundred meters ahead and to the left. My Pathfinder skill is acting a little odd. I can't see anything behind us except the mountain wall.

Donut: THERE ARE NO TUNNELS AT LEAST. I HATE TUNNELS.

I wasn't so sure about that. My chat was filled with people checking in with their surroundings. I minimized it until we were someplace safe, but I saw a few people mentioning tight, claustrophobic tunnels. Bautista was in one such passageway. Elle and Imani said they were on a round, floating island that was really a bunch of boats lashed together. They were being pelted with a hailstorm and had taken shelter in the hold of a cargo ship that was filled with level 29 fish monsters.

Carl: I can't see shit. Watch out for mobs.

Donut: THIS IS RUINING MY FUR. AND IT'S HOT. I DON'T LIKE THIS, CARL. MONGO IS MISERABLE.

Carl: Mongo is still in his container. You don't know if he's miserable or not.

It was hot. It felt like a hair dryer blasting on us. I remembered how cold it was when we'd first entered the dungeon. My eyes caught a countdown ti…