Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1
Dungeon Crawler Carl
by Matt Dinniman
Contents
Chapter 40
Overview
Carl turns the safe-room rules and the stairwell’s lethal restrictions into an exploit to destroy the level 93 Rage Elemental. After building the MOAB bomb launcher with Brandon and Donut, Carl leads the monster on a desperate chase through grub-infested halls, slowing it with bombs, fire, chains, and ruptured pupae.
The plan succeeds when Carl and Donut teleport away just as the elemental slides into the stairwell and is dissolved by dungeon rules. They gain no experience because they did not technically kill it, but the immediate threat is gone and Carl can move Brandon’s group toward escape.
Summary
Carl and the survivors spend about five hours building a bomb-launching trailer, which Carl labels “Mother of All Bombs.” Brandon objects to the name and helps refine the design, while Carl discovers that dynamite remains inert inside the safe room even though its status timer continues to tick down.
Before the launcher is finished, Imani proposes opening the safe-room door because mobs should be ejected from safe rooms. Carl tests the idea, and the Rage Elemental swipes at him but is teleported away. Repeated tests show that the monster returns in roughly 75 to 120 seconds, remembers their location, and remains too single-minded to adapt.
When the MOAB is ready, Imani opens the door again, the elemental teleports away, and Carl pedals the goblin chopper into the burned hallway with Donut seated behind the launcher. They lure the elemental down a different corridor, then flee while Donut launches rolling bombs behind them to slow it. The first heavy bomb injures and propels the monster forward, while Imani’s weighted chain briefly tangles its legs.
Carl and Donut continue down grub-filled halls, using boom bombs, fire, and shrapnel bombs to create obstacles. The elemental casts Reverse Gravity from too far away to stop them, but the blast rocks the trailer and burns them slightly. Carl uses shredder bombs to rupture pupae, hoping the emerging hornet-like creatures will distract the elemental long enough for the next phase.
The chopper overheats as Carl reaches the stairwell chamber. Instead of entering another safe room, Carl orders Donut to release an oil slick and jump from the moving vehicle, sending the chopper into the stairwell hole. Donut prepares Puddle Jumper while Carl places a final “oh shit” bomb near the edge; when the elemental charges across the oil, Carl and Donut teleport away, and the monster slides into the stairwell and is destroyed by the dungeon’s own rules.
Carl realizes they receive no experience because the stairwell, not the crawlers, killed the Rage Elemental. Although the exploit costs them the kill reward, Carl and Donut survive, the path is temporarily safe, and Carl immediately tells Brandon to bring the Meadow Lark group to the stairs before the danger returns.
Who Appears
- CarlDesigns the MOAB plan, leads the chase, and exploits stairwell rules to destroy the elemental.
- DonutLaunches bombs from the trailer, casts magic, and teleports herself and Carl to safety.
- BrandonHelps engineer the bomb launcher and questions Carl’s incomplete, secretive plan.
- ImaniSuggests opening the safe-room door and helps trigger the escape sequence.
- Rage ElementalLevel 93 punitive monster that pursues Carl and Donut until tricked into the stairwell.
- ChrisContributes mechanical know-how to the launcher’s construction with Brandon.