Carl and Hedy discuss their upgrades and one of Carl’s gifts, a key to an abandoned house. Hedy’s plan is to use one Golden upgrade and three regular upgrades—including an improved Bubble Buddy shield, a heat sink, booster rockets, and a “Roller Limbo” modification for upside-down racing. Imani messages that Zhang is distraught at the Lollipop bar because Li Na, who has been poisoned, is catatonic after her recent killing spree.

Later, Samantha confronts Carl, smelling the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue on him from his encounter with Lucia. Samantha warns that “Chachi” is unstable and has a history of sacrificing children. Carl is horrified, realizing this dangerous goddess is inside Lucia’s head with the trapped children.

Carl’s team uses their key to enter the abandoned garage of team One Fine Pig, where they retrieve Penelope the pig. Meanwhile, Carl messages his allies for information on Chachi.  Rosetta identifies her as a minor goddess of childbirth and harvests, while Prepotente connects her to the Aztec deity of the same name, who was associated with human sacrifice. Meanwhile, the group return to the challenge of entering the Stage Performance Guild. Intrigued by the challenge, Prepotente announces he will also attempt to sing at the karaoke bar to gain access to guild.

At the Lollipop bar, Carl’s team meets Grigori the Placid, a fleshmancer they hired to help reunite the two halves of the mantaur Corcunda. Also present is Minus, impersonating Elle’s fan Linus. Zhang is despondent over Li Na’s violent actions and reveals his plan to kill their mount during the next race, a suicide mission designed to force the system to eliminate them both. Carl explains this tactic no longer works.

Realizing Li Na has become a powerful but dangerous weapon, Carl devises a new plan to have her exit the dungeon entirely, thereby saving her and preventing more deaths. He messages another crawler, Bodi, to ask him to be Zhang’s new race partner.

Carl coordinates the complex plan for Li Na’s escape Mordecai and Rosetta confirm it is theoretically possible to use a cleaner bot—something like a round, robotic vacuum cleaner—to transfer Li Na to a secret dimension called the Pineapple Cabaret, where a former crawler named Herot is trapped. This would remove Li Na from the game, curing her poison and saving her from herself. The plan is risky, relying on unverified information from a war mage and the goddess Eris. Meanwhile, a drunken Dwight the unicorn arrives at the bar and confronts Prepotente, adding to the chaos.

While Elle and Zhang go to present the escape plan to Li Na, Carl and Donut prepare to sing their karaoke duet of “Take on Me” by A-ha. To ensure success, Carl consumes several performance-enhancing potions first, then waits until the last possible second to use a “Gelded Choirboy” scroll to alter his vocal range, because the scroll makes his voice squeaky. As the song’s introduction begins, the drunk unicorn Dwight stabs the DJ through the face with his horn.

A massive brawl erupts in the bar, but Carl and Donut are forced to perform their duet. They sing “Take on Me” while dodging projectiles and fighting off brawlers. Dong Quixote defends the stage with his nickel-filled sock, which is torn by a mantis creature he is fighting, spilling coins that incite others to join the melee. Mongo also joins the fray. Despite the mayhem, Carl sings perfectly and gains permanent access to the Stage Performance Guild. Donut, however, fails at the last moment when Dekoki the kappa, paralyzed after her head-bowl water spills, falls backward into her.

After the brawl, Carl enters the Stage Performance Guild, which is a vast, empty theater. He finds the guild-master, Porky, lying on stage, his white gimp suit’s zipper stuck. Carl helps him and explains that his other half, Corky, is in danger with the Lady Dominators team. Porky agrees to help reunite with his other half but demands that they first punish Dong Quixote, whom he blames for their separation. Meanwhile, Jurgen confronts Carl, desperately asking to be sent to the Pineapple Cabaret to save his wife, but he is ineligible because he worships a god.

Dong Quixote develops a life-threatening curse called “Separation Anxiety,” which is tied to his lost magical sock. His health begins to drain rapidly. The team’s plan to ambush the Lady Dominators and rescue Corky is foiled when the women, having overheard the plan, drive out of their garage and head to the starting line. Enraged upon learning of Dong’s involvement, Porky initially refuses to cooperate. Seeing no other option, Carl decides they will have to perform the dangerous reunification ceremony during the next race and brings a dying Dong along as a mercenary.

In the safe room, Carl apologizes to a dying Dong Quixote for trying to keep him away from Corky, admitting that survival means more than just staying alive. He then leaves Dong and Porky alone to speak. Porky quietly explains he kept the scarf Dong had given to Corky, and the two have a moment of reconciliation before the race. Carl then speaks a word of encouragement to the cleaner bot that will be used for Li Na’s escape.

In the guildhall, Mordecai explains the escape plan to the group. Li Na will be absorbed into a pet carrier, which will then be placed inside the cleaner bot “Suckira.” Donut will then sell the bot via the shop interface to Herot, who has a standing order to purchase all cleaner bots. A cactus enchanted with one of Li Na’s spells will serve as a signal: If a single flower blooms, it means she arrived safely and others can follow. After a final, emotional exchange with Zhang, Li Na is absorbed into the carrier, and the cleaner bot is successfully sold.

As the team prepares for the race, they receive confirmation that Li Na has been disqualified from the dungeon, and the cactus now bears a single flower, signaling her safe arrival at the Pineapple Cabaret. Carl, Donut, the dying Dong, the fleshmancer Grigori, and Porky get into the truck. Their heat includes the Lady Dominators, Osvaldo’s team, and Team Free Love.

The race begins in the Gasworks Screw Factory. The first section is a chaotic dash through a room filled with metal pellets and tiny NPCs. The team follows the Lady Dominators up a conveyor belt leading to a dangerous jump. Prepotente’s team joins them, planning to disable the Dominators’ shield. After a harrowing jump, they land in a room filled with massive piles of “Toddler Cocaine,” which explodes into a thick, vision-obscuring cloud.

The team escapes the cocaine cloud and enters a warehouse. They discover the Lady Dominators’ car has fallen through a trap in the floor. The vehicle is being torn apart by small, animate dolls infused with cocaine. Donut uses a teleportation spell to retrieve the unconscious Corky just as he is about to be killed. With his containment suit torn and the team under attack, they are forced to begin the reunification ceremony in the back of the moving truck.

The race continues into a vast cavern with a river of molten metal below. The track runs along the walls and ceiling, forcing Carl to drive the truck upside down. In the back, Grigori, Donut, and Dong struggle to hold the two halves of Corcunda together while the fleshmancer casts the joining spell. The cavern is patrolled by “Slag Elementals,” gorilla-like monsters made of molten metal. Just as Grigori completes the spell and Corcunda is made whole, a marked-for-death symbol from the god Grull appears above him.

The god Grull appears in the molten river, furious that Corcunda has been reunited without his consent. Donut casts Laundry Day, ejecting the orc Maestro from Grull’s chest where he had been riding as an avatar. Grull, still present and hunting Corcunda, calmly stalks the truck. The path to the exit is blocked, and the truck is swarmed by slag elementals. In a final act of heroism, the dying Dong Quixote mounts Corcunda and charges the god. Donut enchants his lance with a powerful magnet spell, which pulls all the loose screws from the factory floor, disabling the elementals as they fly past. Dong and Corcunda make contact with Grull, who accepts their charge as a “good death” and vanishes. The team crosses the finish line in fourth place.

After the race, the team learns that Dwight won by cheating, having driven over the factory instead of through it. The next and final event of the floor is announced: a two-part race inside a human apartment building where all contestants will be shrunk down. Carl receives his quest reward: He can summon any two people to the 11th-floor arena. Mordecai then confirms that Li Na’s signal from the Pineapple Cabaret is positive, meaning the escape route is safe for others.

Samantha meets Grigori and seeks his help in uniting her with a body. Grigori accompanies Samantha to her personal space to examine her “withering spirit.” Carl finally explains his full, desperate plan for the 11th floor, which involves a massive, coordinated effort to subvert the game’s rules. He also details the plan for a mass escape to the Pineapple Cabaret for those who do not wish to continue. The plan for the 11th floor is extremely dangerous, and Donut is furious that it requires Carl to temporarily leave the party, which she sees as a betrayal.

The core members of the team meet in the pet stables, a location they believe is hidden from the gods’ surveillance. Carl asks Rosetta to recount the convoluted and often contradictory dungeon myths surrounding the Scavenger’s Daughter, since the storyline is particularly relevant to his plan. Rosetta explains that older, wilder gods existed before the current pantheon, banished to the Nothing when the new gods arrived on the scene. Nekhebit, the ancient vulture goddess, is an old God, who gave birth to three children: Apito, a daughter, a centipede, and a mysterious third son—who has the power to destroy the current pantheon of gods. 

Apito defeated Nekhebit and absorbed her powers, while the centipede is believed to be none other than Scolopendra. The lore grows confusing from this point on, with it unclear if the scavenger refers to Nekhbet, Scolopendra, or the missing son. The identity of the scavenger’s daughter is also shrouded in mystery. Carl asks to examine Prepotente’s Apito memorial crystal.

Prepotente’s memorial crystal remains uncharged on Carl’s touch, rendering its purpose unclear. Prepotente explains his quest from his god, the Midnight Epicure, is simply to hold onto the crystal until he knows when to use it. Holding the crystal does not trigger an update from Carl’s god, Emberus, confirming the stables are a divine blind spot. Samantha interrupts the meeting, revealing that her secret plan for the 11th floor is also a kind of self-destructive mission, similar to Carl’s. Donut states that no plan can be as doomed as Carl’s, revealing that Carl is planning to summon immortals to the arena, hoping they kill each other off and destroy the dungeon, possibly dying himself in the process.

Carl’s team goes to Hungry Eyes, where hundreds of crawlers have gathered to say goodbye before the mass escape to the Pineapple Cabaret. The mood is somber, as no one knows which group—those leaving or those staying—is in greater danger. Bautista, Tran, Zhang, and many others from their alliance are among those departing. Minus, still disguised as Linus, serves tea alongside Bautista.

Carl gives a speech to the assembled crawlers, declaring them all his family. Elle then takes the stage and, after a tribute to her late husband, confronts Minus. She reveals that they know he is an imposter because the real Linus had shared a private essay with his fan club friends expressing deep regret and love for his brother—a sentiment the imposter never displayed. Cornered, Minus confesses he is Linus’s brother and was sent on an assassination mission by the Syndicate. His primary target was Imani, with Louis as his secondary target. Carl tells him their efforts to divide the crawlers have failed, creating a hardened, unified force. Minus is apprehended, knowing that allies of the crawlers are waiting for him on his ship.

The mass escape is successful, with 227 crawlers safely transferred to the Pineapple Cabaret. A “Garden of Deliverance” is created in the guildhall, with enchanted plants linked to each escapee’s life force. For heat six, all remaining teams are shrunk down and placed in starting blocks inside the AC ducts of an apartment building. A new rule is announced: Racers must pass through seven rings, one on each floor, to finish. Osvaldo messages Carl, reiterating that he will not take a deal, leading to a forced confrontation in the final heat.

The race begins, and the crawlers drop into apartment simulations of their loved ones’ homes, populated by “human shells” with their eyes sewn shut. A system-wide quest is issued by the AI, who explains that these apartments are “what-if” scenarios—predictive models of what the crawlers’ lives would have been if key events had been different.

As the team navigates the apartment building, they discover that when the human shells become aware of the racers, they rupture and release swarms of invulnerable “Sacred Feaster Scarab Beetles.” The team helps Imani and Elle get through a particularly disturbing simulation of Imani’s family home before continuing to the second floor.

The Royal Court team navigates to their mandatory ring in apartment 231, a simulation of the home of Carl’s neighbor Marjory, the owner of the cat Gravy Boat. Carl knows their ring is easy, since it did not actually land them in the simulation of the lives of their loved ones. Meanwhile, Jurgen messages for help, as Prepotente has become catatonic after witnessing a simulation of his mother living a successful life without him. With Osvaldo about to finish the race and their own position at risk, Carl makes a difficult choice and detonates a hidden explosive he had previously planted inside a Peach-flavored beer can in Team Free Love’s magical cooler—placed there earlier using his Oozy Form spell—eliminating the NPC team from the heat.

With Team Free Love eliminated, Carl’s team has time to help Prepotente. Carl takes a potion to protect himself from the apartment’s toxic air and goes to comfort his friend. He points out that Prepotente’s mother seems lonely in this alternate reality and reminds him that he is an essential part of their “herd.” Moved, Prepotente rejoins the race. They finish in second place, right behind Osvaldo.

Between heats six and seven, the Outreach Guild opens for crawlers to take deals. Instead of Zev, a new announcer, Damien, confirms that for the 11th floor, they will have 90 minutes to build a parade float for an event called “A Parade of Horribles”. He warns that the apartment building is now infested with the invulnerable beetles and strongly urges everyone to take a deal. The deal offers all peaceful players the chance of a galaxy citizenship after serving an indenture period in the dungeon. Damien also advises against the Pineapple Cabaret loophole, asserting it is an unknown space and the Syndicate is not responsible for anything that happens there. 

Meanwhile, Zev messages that he is on lockdown at the show’s headquarters. Donut asks him to stay safe.

Osvaldo again refuses to take a deal, locking him, Carl, and Dwight into a three-way battle for the final heat. Many crawlers take deals, but not enough to prevent several heats from having multiple crawler teams. While in Hungry Eyes, Carl and Donut encounter Britney, who is acting erratically. She communicates with Carl telepathically, a new and startling development, telling him to focus on his own survival.

Pontiff sends a message that he has successfully used the “Nothing” portal in the Desperado Club, confirming it is a viable escape route. In response, Carl devises a desperate, last-minute plan. Meanwhile, just before the final heat begins, the AI rearranges the teams. To their horror, the crawlers discover their alliances have been pitted against each other: Imani and Elle are now in the same heat as Chris, while Louis and Britney are in the same heat as Florin and Lucia.

Carl is furious at the AI and the Syndicate for pitting him against his friends. His allies exchange panicked messages on how to navigate the new loophole, when in a surprise twist, the AI unleashes the first of nine system-wide attacks from the world-boss Scolopendra. A cosmic wheel spins, and the “Beast of Burden Sin” is chosen, triggering a transformation spell. A second wheel appears before each crawler to determine if they are affected. Carl’s lands on red, and he is transformed into a long-haired dachshund. Other crawlers are also changed: Elle becomes a goblin, and Chris becomes a werewolf, though he remains in human form.

Now a dachshund, Carl is unable to drive. Samantha, who was hiding in the truck, is assigned as the new driver, with Donut on the pedals. Carl relays a desperate contingency plan to the other crawler teams who are now forced to fight their friends. As the race begins, his team instantly eliminates Dwight by using a new weapon to disable his vehicle’s systems, allowing Donut to decapitate the unicorn. Across the lobby, the other crawler teams do the same, quickly dispatching their NPC opponents, leaving only Osvaldo.

Carl detonates a series of explosives he planted on the upper floors, creating a direct vertical path to the portals on the roof. Osvaldo immediately launches himself upward, but his plan to win requires his mount, Bruna, to die so he can cross the finish line on foot. Anticipating this, Carl’s team deploys shields to protect Bruna from the explosives Osvaldo left behind. When Osvaldo hits the portal’s barrier, he is stunned, and Britney—in the same heat as Florin and Lucia—kills him, claiming his bounty. With all opponents eliminated, the surviving crawler teams defy the race rules and decide to regroup in Hungry Eyes.

The surviving crawler teams abandon the race and head back toward the Vendor Village. On the way, Donut loots Dwight’s abandoned garage, acquiring two new mounts for the parade. As they pass through the lobby, they encounter a giant, non-hostile shell of Imani, who is trapped and lamenting her choices. Donut uses her amplified headset to offer the shell words of comfort about the real Imani’s happy life.

The thirty remaining crawlers enter the Desperado Club to use the “Nothing” portal as an escape route. The club’s security has changed, but they are allowed to pass when Clay-ton, a former gladiator NPC, vouches for them. The casino is now run by a high-level croupier named Mitch, who agrees to open the portal for a steep price. The group suspects a trap and decides to send one person, Chris, through first as a test. After an emotional goodbye with Imani, Chris successfully enters the portal.

After Chris successfully uses the portal, Britney unexpectedly jumps in after him. Louis prepares to go next. As they negotiate the price for the others, Mitch springs a trap, revealing that he and every object in the casino are “Shadow Mimics,” the kind of changeling in the form of which Mordecai had appeared. Since shadow mimics are powerful and intelligent ambush predators,  a chaotic battle erupts between them and the crawlers, with even the furniture attacking the players. The crawlers, though surprised, quickly gain the upper hand. Carl uses the Eye of the Bedlam Bride—now on his dog forehead—to freeze Mitch, and Donut kills him with a full-strength Magic Missile as Mongo simultaneously leaps onto the corpse.

With the mimics defeated, the remaining crawlers who chose to leave, including Louis, use the portal to escape to the Pineapple Cabaret. Samantha is heartbroken over Louis’s departure. The group leaves the now-infested Desperado Club and returns to their cul-de-sac. The team launches their truck up through the hole in the ceiling, leaving the 10th floor behind.