Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1
Dungeon Crawler Carl
by Matt Dinniman
Contents
Chapter 10
Overview
Carl and Donut use the safe room to recover, then return to hunting Scatterers and grow stronger, both reaching level 5. Their teamwork improves as they learn effective tactics, but the dungeon’s dangers escalate with tougher monsters and ominous unexplored rooms.
The chapter also introduces a personal blow for Carl when Donut’s casual comment suggests Bea may have been cheating on Carl. That emotional shock pushes Carl into a reckless decision: throwing volatile goblin dynamite into a dark room full of enemies.
Summary
With just over four days before the level collapse, Carl wakes after ten unusually restful hours in the safe-room hotel. Donut, sleeping on Carl as usual, wants to stay in bed until Carl reminds Donut that Tally is preparing food. Carl showers, shaves, eats a large breakfast, and reflects on the people who survived outside the dungeon without shelter, electricity, or much food.
Carl checks the crawler count and sees it has fallen to 4,148,111, reminding Carl how quickly people are dying. Carl asks Tally about personal spaces, and Tally confirms that a purchased space transfers between levels and safe rooms; Tally also advises buying accessories early because some improve only when descending to deeper levels.
Carl and Donut leave the safe room to hunt Scatterers. A group of cockroach monsters appears, including a level 4 Scatterer Brood Guardian. Donut weakens the guardian with magic missiles, but Carl discovers the dungeon weapons are ineffective and that kicks and stomps do more damage, eventually making the creature explode in gore.
Carl and Donut continue fighting level 4 Scatterers on the way toward a larger room. They develop a reliable tactic: Donut stuns the roaches with magic missiles, then Carl punches and stomps them, often scoring critical hits. They collect Scatterer Hemolymph as an alchemy material, notice Donut’s magic sometimes inflicts Sepsis, and both reach level 5. Carl cannot yet spend his stat points, but several combat skills rise, while Donut’s leveling increases her strength significantly.
At an old door marked in Spanish with a warning not to enter, Carl and Donut cautiously look inside a large, dark room. Donut sees many low-level cockroaches and strange piles that smell like Carl’s gym bag, then inadvertently reveals that another man visited the apartment while Carl was at the gym. Stung by the implication about Bea, Carl becomes reckless and decides to use his goblin dynamite.
The dungeon AI describes the dynamite as extremely volatile, then cruelly shouts “BOOM!” in Carl’s head, frightening him. Carl tells Donut to run, lights the wick, throws the dynamite into the dark room, and flees while hoping it does not explode on impact.
Who Appears
- CarlRested crawler who farms Scatterers, levels combat skills, and recklessly uses dynamite after Bea revelation.
- Princess DonutTalking cat party leader; eats, scouts enemies, casts magic missiles, levels up, and accidentally reveals suspicious information.
- TallySafe-room employee who serves food and explains personal space transfer and accessory upgrades.
- Dungeon AISystem voice that describes goblin dynamite and deliberately scares Carl with a fake explosion cue.
- Scatterer Brood GuardianLevel 4 cockroach monster that forces Carl and Donut to adapt their combat tactics.