Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1)

by Matt Dinniman

away from experience that this vessel was large, but not huge. Maybe 100 feet.

Navy?

Donut was asking these questions as if she’d been doing this her whole life.

the Mu… The Borant Corporation.

I suddenly had a feeling of dread. That look. That hunger. That was dangerous. She’d had but a single taste, but I could already tell. She was addicted to this. To the crowd. To the cheers. It was going to be a problem. “Goddamnit, Donut,” I muttered.

“Oh, you will,” she said. “That entire getup was my armor when I was like you. It was what I was wearing when I reached the stairwell for the thirteenth floor. It’s how people know me.”

“I never went down the stairs. I’d struck a deal.

I’d like for you to tell him to seek me out when this is all over.”

Listen for his clues. He knows what he’s doing.

“Never trust someone unless you know what they’re getting out of it. Never trust someone if their motivations aren’t clear.

Mordecai, for example. He won’t tell you this, but the season doesn’t count against his indentureship unless one of his crawlers makes it to the fourth floor.” “So if we don’t make it,

But I still had a terrible, ominous feeling that all this attention was a mistake.

Bugs with similar black and brown coloring to Donut.

I thought she was white?

“Wait,” Chris said. Brandon’s older brother had a deeper voice, and it surprised me when he spoke. This was only the second time I’d heard him speak. “There’s more to it. She was edited out of the scene. She was next to me under the speedbump, but she wasn’t there when they showed

Bea was giving you up, Donut. She was giving you up, trading you in for a younger model.

“No,” Zev said. “I’ll ping you when it’s time. It’ll be at minus six plus one full.” “Minus what?” I said. I felt a sudden, unexpected wave of rage at the fish woman. It came out of nowhere, and I didn’t know what set it off. She’s just a goddamned pawn like everyone else. It’s not her fault.

Once he saw I wasn’t wearing a party badge, he relaxed.

When I’m done here, I go back down to the production headquarters, and I will have to face my boss who is a member of the party. If I do or say the wrong thing, my entire family will be wiped from the universe. You’re going to go out there and face mobs who know people like you are prowling the halls, trying to find and kill them. They, the sapient ones? They live in constant fear of you guys. We are all parts of the same, inexorable machine. All of us are afraid. Yes, your place in this really sucks. It’s not fair. You know it. I know it. The cat knows it. But believe it or not, I am on your side. The better you do, the longer you survive, the better I do. So when I tell you that you should do something, you best listen because I know what I’m talking about.”

“It’s a political party. They’re called the Bloom. Now everyone just calls it the Party. Ultra-nationalism. The closest thing you have in your history is maybe Axis Japan with a good splash of Nazi Germany thrown in, but even that’s not quite right,” he said. “When I signed my indentureship contract, the Bloom represented less than 15% of the votes. Now they control the whole kua-tin system government. They’ve run it into the ground. The whole system is bankrupt. They’ve recently started requiring all kua-tin to wear a badge indicating if they’re members or not.”

“Listen carefully,” Mordecai said, looking nervously down at Zev. “We don’t have time to get into the details, but Borant is being forced by their own government to end the game as quickly as possible. You need to be especially careful not to upset them.”

The committee has already issued a warning, putting Borant on notice over the ‘bugs’ that keep occurring, like the issue with the bathrooms and the overpowered mobs. One too many violations, and Borant could lose everything. There are protections in place, plus there is push-back within the company itself. But the kua-tin government is working extra hard to get you killed.”

“We will talk more later,” Donut said to Zev. “Or, we can talk over chat!” Zev said. The fish’s demeanor had completely changed. “Tell me you’ve watched Riverdale.” Donut gasped. “Nope,” I said, reaching down to scoop the cat up. “You two will talk all night.”

At least these bastards are all the level-two grubs.” Even Donut cringed the moment I said that out loud.

This whole thing was her idea, though Brandon designed it.

Isn't Brandon speaking?

Rage Elemental – Level 93 The first recorded summoning of a Rage Elemental, blah, blah, blah. If you are reading this, you likely don’t give a shit about the monster’s (rather interesting and tragic) history. You’re probably running. It’s not going to matter. The almost-indestructible Rage Elemental is said to only dissipate after it has claimed 666 souls. In other words, you are fucked. Absolutely, bite-the-pillow, fucked.

A wave of grubs descended upon us. I didn’t know what was going to happen once they reached the hall with the rage elemental.

I grasped her hand. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.” I remembered my mom saying the same thing to me the day she had left. It had been a lie then, and it was a lie now.

These humans in the second row were all male, and they were all about twelve or thirteen years old.

I didn’t need to be stronger than him. Donut and I were something better. We were expensive.

“Glurp on that, motherfucker,” I said.

She choked her own daughter until she died.

A llama hadn’t given those horrible injuries to the teenaged

It was a brand-new pair of Bates zip-up tactical boots. They were identical to the service boots I wore on active duty.

I mean Mordecai. When he told you that you should leave me when we get to that floor. I heard him.”

“Maybe,” I said. I was suspicious about how easy it was to do damage to the elemental, considering its high level. Either my bombs were overpowered, or the monster was especially weak for its level.

Anyone who mistook fear for respect was a fool.

Besides, there’s not much the other governments can do to you. Not until the sixth floor.

THIS IS A BETRAYAL MOST FOUL. Carl: You know the viewers can’t see this chat. Don’t be such a drama queen.

If we hadn’t turned the dingoes on our side, this would’ve been a much more difficult battle. That had been the “trick” of this particular boss room. I silently thanked Mordecai for his advice. As unfair as this world was, it was still a game. There were puzzles and hidden paths to survival, and we needed to continue to keep our eyes open. “Well, that was quite easy,” Donut said.

Time to pay the Daddy tax.

Trans Tunnel 7C Orator Relay by Valtay Corp. – Inter-Tunnel Communications Device. Valtay Perso-Shield Platinum Edition. – Tech-based Personal Shield. Mag 3040 Valtay Corp Pulse Pistol. – Tech-based Weapon.

The Valtay Corporation.

Agatha had been the one to set their old folk’s home on fire, bringing everyone outside. The act had, temporarily, saved the lives of hundreds of people.

And why the hell hadn’t she shown up on the recap episode?

Agatha paused. She gave me a sharp look. Through her rheumy eyes, I saw a warning there. No, those eyes said, stop now.

“I can fix the wheel,” I quickly added. “It’s squeaking. They can hear you coming.” She blinked, and the look went away so quickly I wondered if I had imagined it.

Okay, false alarm. I see you now. There was a brief outage there in the feed. It happens sometimes.

Them critters already know I’m here. They just don’t know what to do about it.

“But the short answer is I pushed him too hard, and he paid dearly for it.

“Be careful. If they are somehow contacting you or trying to get to you, be very cautious. They’re a corporate system government, and they’re the ones who currently have an entire fleet parked outside of the Borant system, ready to collect on the debt. They were hours away from initiating a full-scale collection action when the kua-tin stopped them in their tracks by starting the season early. They’re one of the most powerful entities in the universe. The next season is going to be run by them.”

“No,” she said. “Not usually. They’re a parasitic lifeform. They do utilize human bodies,