Donut remains outside in the hostile dryad town to collect a liter of blood from Mongo. Inside, Mordecai crafts a Charm Animal potion. Carl slips out using an invisibility potion. At the town gate, Donut launches a fireball that incinerates the dryad mayor and sets half the town ablaze. They travel to the next settlement and retrieve the completed potion.

Near Miriam’s location, Carl drinks a Levitation potion and flies up to spot her signal sparks. A massive creature slams into him—Sierra, a level-65 vampiric pterodactyl and former mount of the elite vampire hunter Viscount Fog, who was injured by Miriam and subsequently turned. After a brutal aerial fight, Carl destroys Sierra by stabbing her still-beating heart on the ground.

After fighting through hordes of vampire bambiraptors, Carl and Donut find Miriam Dom standing beside the paralyzed Prepotente in a clearing surrounded by corpses. Prepotente has a six-hour timer over his head. Miriam asks Donut to read a spell book containing the wake-up spell. Donut reads it and learns the spell. Miriam asks them to wait until after dawn to use it.

She then tells her story: She gave up her life to care for her aging parents and their farm and came to love the goats she considers her children. They were hunted by Viscount Fog as part of a television show. During the hunt, Prepotente used a scroll to transfer Miriam’s vampirism to Fog, but counter-spells caused the magic to bounce back and forth, leaving both men paralyzed. The magical burst also caused Prepotente’s Ring of Divine Suffering to mark Miriam, preventing him from healing her.

Miriam explains that if she dies as the infection’s progenitor, everyone infected for less than a month will be cured, including over a dozen crawlers. Carl understands that she summoned him to protect Prepotente after her death. He refuses to kill her but promises to stand watch until sunrise. As dawn breaks, Carl secretly puts on his Ring of Divine Suffering and marks Miriam. She leans on Prepotente’s shoulder, says her farewells, and turns to dust.

A system message announces that a champion has fallen. Carl removes his ring and notes that Miriam left a pile of loot. A mandatory world quest, The Creeping Apocalypse, is announced—its text mockingly notes Carl’s sudden intelligence gain after Miriam’s death.

While Miriam’s death cured the vampires, the undead army created by Big Tina has transformed into mindless monsters: thousands of Shambling Berserkers and 50 extremely powerful Odious Creepers. All crawlers and hunters must kill all 50 Creepers before sunset or face severe consequences. Mordecai warns that Odious Creepers are incredibly dangerous and can control surrounding plant life. Katia reports that some are over level 150.

Carl kneels before the frozen Prepotente and apologizes. Donut casts the wake-up spell. Prepotente silently removes his Ring of Divine Suffering, drops it, and then picks it up and swallows it whole. He collapses before Miriam’s ashes and screams. Donut comforts him while Carl prepares to handle an approaching raptor pack. Prepotente receives an emergency benefactor box from his sponsor.

Twenty velociraptors led by Kiwi enter the clearing, having been hunting Miriam as the source of the vampire infection. Carl realizes that the Charm Mongoliensis potion he received from the Plenty—Prepotente’s goat-like sponsors—was designed to ensure that they would protect him. Donut uses the potion on Kiwi, making her a minion for the remainder of the floor, and the other raptors become friendly. Some have an Immortalized debuff from being cured of vampirism, weakening them in sunlight but strengthening them in moonlight.

Prepotente opens his loot boxes. His legendary benefactor box contains an herbicide sprayer and a recipe to kill the Odious Creepers, which requires healing potions from Carl. After receiving them, Prepotente summons his familiar, Bianca, now larger, winged, and saddled. He mounts her and declares his intention to kill everyone responsible for his mother’s death or die trying. Now level 57, he flies off to hunt the Creepers.

Donut theorizes that the Plenty wanted Miriam to die. Carl agrees and suspects that Prepotente knows it too.

In the guildhall, Katia and Louis Santiago 2, a young crawler, arrive. Katia reports that Eva’s crew has been fighting Creepers and reveals that a crawler named Li Jun was a vampire until Miriam’s death cured him. Mordecai presents four jugs of powerful herbicide to kill the Creepers. Louis can deliver it over a wide area from the deck of his flying house, the Twister, up to three times before sunset.

Carl conceals his own delivery method and warns the group to attack from a great distance, as Creepers can control surrounding vegetation. After others kill 10 Creepers and Eva kills one, 39 remain.

Carl discovers that the trebuchet they acquired can launch Mordecai’s herbicide. They set up about a mile from the nearest Creeper, with Donut climbing a tree to act as spotter. After several ranging shots, they land a hit and kill the Creeper—credit goes to Donut as the spotter, causing her to level up to 47. Louis kills another, bringing the total to 29. As they travel toward their next target, Kiwi sends her pack away to protect Big Tina. With hours left until sunset, only 14 Creepers remain.

As they approach their next target, it’s killed by an unknown party. Suddenly, they’re surrounded by High Elves on white stags, accompanied by a white rhinoceros carrying a curtained litter. A gruff voice from inside—the Familiar of Queen Imogen—informs Carl that he will dance with the queen at the masquerade and that the familiar has a message for Signet.

Without warning, a lightning bolt shoots from the litter at Mongo. Donut dives in front of it, saving Mongo but getting blasted into a tree. Her Cockroach skill saves her life. Kiwi attacks the rhino but is repelled and set on fire. The elves depart laughing. When Donut wakes and heals Mongo and Kiwi, she reveals what she saw inside the litter: Ferdinand, formerly known as Gravy Boat, her cat companion from before the dungeon.

In a group chat, Carl announces his intention to take Donut to the next floor immediately. Katia and Imani protest along with Elle McGibbons, another member of their crew, arguing that it will derail their plans. In a private chat, Katia begs him to stay. Donut refuses to leave early and tells Carl that she’s channeling the pain of seeing Ferdinand into her music.

Carl receives a Gold Benefactor Box. A system message then freezes the world and announces that the Creeping Apocalypse quest has failed. The consequences are severe: All safe-room access is now timed, requiring kills to replenish a new blood bar. Those who haven’t killed anything have empty bars and are immediately ejected. A spell called Gehenna Bramble is cast from the two remaining Creeper locations and will spread across the map, transforming all plants into a lethal wall of thorns that causes anyone pricked to explode.

A hunter named Iota materializes nearby and is immediately attacked by the raptors. Donut has Kiwi stop them, but Iota’s leg is already severed. Big Tina throws a tantrum because she’s not allowed to eat Carl’s group.

Iota is a level-50 Crafter hunter. Drunk and resigned, he explains that hunters had just won a lawsuit to nullify their contracts and escape the dungeon, but the dungeon’s AI overruled the court decision. He reveals that the AI is rumored to be a used one going primal—breaking from its programmed rules and making its own decisions, something the showrunners allow to continue for ratings. He believes that the AI teleported him directly to Carl on purpose.

Carl crushes Iota’s chest with his foot, killing him, and gains three intelligence points from the kill, which levels up his Ring of Divine Suffering to grant four stat points for future kills.

Carl loots Iota’s body, taking magical nipple rings, hundreds of healing potions, and other items. Donut has Mongo and Kiwi consume the corpse. Carl messages general chat, telling crawlers to hunt the ejected hunters.

Carl realizes that the Gehenna brambles will destroy the changeling hideout and messages Katia. She confirms that the brambles will end at the High Elf Castle in the southeast corner and says that her group is heading there to rescue Britney, who was ejected from a safe room. Meanwhile, as Donut, Mongo, and Kiwi interact with Big Tina, her map dot turns from red to white. Carl tells Katia that they’ll need to prepare a dance recital for Tina.

At a large settlement, Carl and Donut meet Signet, Holger, and Areson. Signet warns that the forest is summoning the god Diwata, who is especially unforgiving of apostates like Carl, and that he must avoid all-trees, which will report his location to the deity.

In a safe room, Carl tries to convince Donut to wear one of Iota’s magical nipple rings for a constitution boost. She refuses. To persuade her, Carl agrees to wear a ring that reduces his falling speed. Carl’s benefactor box contains a Pawna’s Cries potion that adds three points to any skill, along with a note instructing him to save the toraline. His Escape Plan skill reveals a hidden message: Circe Took, mother of the hunter Vrah, sponsors Diwata and is coming for him. Donut also needs to secretly boost a skill to level 15, with help from Prepotente, Imani, and Samantha.

Carl messages Imani and confirms that her ability can temporarily add a level to a spell. He offers Donut the valuable sponsor prize as payment for wearing the constitution ring. Carl pierces his own nipple first and receives a mocking achievement. He then prepares to pierce hers.