Carl erupts in fury when the altered final-heat matchups destroy the careful plans he and his allies had made to protect one another. In the party chat, Louis asks what to do, Jurgen tells Louis that if he faces Lucia he cannot let her die, Chris says he should have taken a deal, and Imani angrily refuses to let Chris give up. Elle adds that the Tracksuit Troika had claimed they were taking a deal, but the group now realizes that was a lie. Donut panics and begs Carl to come up with another solution.

With three minutes left before the race, time freezes and the AI interrupts with a furious broadcast announcing that Scolopendra has released the first of nine attacks. The AI curses several powerful figures, including Carl, and insists that everyone is still trapped inside its rules. It then explains the new Nine-Tier Attack quest: the assaults will affect crawler-occupied levels, the early attacks will be temporary and survivable, and later attacks may come faster if Scolopendra is directly confronted or further provoked.

Carl immediately tries to respond. He orders Donut to prepare healing scrolls and all available shields, and he tells Rosetta to move everyone from the garage into the safe room, but Rosetta says the safe room will not open until the heat begins, meaning the attack will happen first. Carl cannot move or cast, but he can still manage his inventory. A large wheel appears and selects the ox symbol, then personal wheels appear in front of Carl, Donut, Jamal, and, unexpectedly, Samantha. Carl realizes the green-and-red wheel will decide who is struck.

Donut, Jamal, and Samantha all land on green, but Carl lands on red. The system reveals that the first attack is the Beast of Burden Sin: Transformation, and because it is an early attack, its effects will be temporary until Carl reaches a stairwell. Carl is hit by a level 20 transformation spell and blacks out briefly. When Carl wakes, he has become a quadruped with altered stats, unequipped items, a new action menu, and heightened senses, especially smell.

As the countdown drops to two minutes before the race, Carl struggles to understand his new body. Donut, suddenly towering from Carl's lowered perspective, recoils in alarm and nearly attacks him. Samantha, amused rather than frightened, comments that she likes this form even more than Carl's earlier kangaroo transformation and asks whether she can pet him. Carl can only bark back, showing how badly the attack has compromised him at the worst possible moment.