Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1
Dungeon Crawler Carl
by Matt Dinniman
Contents
Chapter 34
Overview
Trapped with the Krakaren Clone, Carl improvises a grotesque immunity smoothie from moonshine and a dead fairy so he and Donut can survive the boss's disease attacks. The cure saves them from new infections but leaves Carl wounded, drunk, and still tainted while the boss and clurichauns overrun the room.
Carl turns one of the dead clurichauns into a suicide bomber and shelters Donut from the blast, accepting that he may not survive. Donut's frightened confession that she needs Carl deepens their bond at the moment the chapter ends on an explosive cliffhanger.
Summary
The boss is revealed as a level 10 Krakaren Clone, a tentacled neighborhood boss tied to a diseased collective species. As tentacles smash through the walls and ceiling, Carl realizes the boss seems blind and tells Donut not to attack it directly. Donut instead kills the clurichaun consultants entering from the boss room while Carl tries to prepare the Rev-Up immunity recipe.
Carl fills the smoothie container with unaltered moonshine, stuffs in the corpse of a laminak fairy, and powers the blender by pedaling a tiny bicycle. The potion turns pink and sparkling just as more tentacles and clurichauns break into the chamber. A glob from a tentacle infects Carl with the Taint before he can drink the completed Rev-Up Immunity Smoothie.
Carl drinks the awful smoothie and gives it to Donut, granting both temporary immunity to diseases and health-draining conditions, though Carl's existing Taint remains. The smoothie also inflicts Buzzed, making Carl and Donut woozy and loose-tongued. As rocks and tentacles batter the room, Donut admits she loves Carl, though not as much as Beatrice or Ferdinand, which hurts Carl despite the immediate danger.
More clurichauns rush in, and one tentacle sprays green mist that would infect them with Vigorous Measles, but the immunity blocks it. Carl orders Donut to raise a dead clurichaun as a zombie. While Carl drunkenly fights off attackers, the boss accidentally crushes some of its own minions, showing its tentacles are dangerous but indiscriminate.
Carl arms the clurichaun zombie with a boom jug and dynamite, then sends it running into the boss chamber. Knowing the explosion may be too large for the room, Carl hides with Donut behind makeshift metal shields made from inventory items. Carl expects he may die and tells Donut to return to Brandon, but Donut breaks down and says she needs Carl before the explosion hits.
Who Appears
- CarlImprovises the immunity smoothie, fights while drunk and wounded, and risks himself to protect Donut.
- DonutKills clurichauns, drinks the smoothie, raises a zombie, and admits she needs Carl.
- Krakaren CloneTentacled neighborhood boss that smashes through walls, spreads disease, and crushes enemies indiscriminately.
- Clurichaun consultantsBoss minions who attack with slingshots; one corpse becomes Carl's explosive delivery system.
- Laminak fairyDead fairy corpse used by Carl as the required ingredient for the immunity smoothie.