The party limps toward Hump Town as surviving gnome aircrafts harass the city. Carl receives an achievement with a hostile message from the AI, making the party worry about the AI’s rapidly changing attitude towards him. They loot gnomish snipers, and Donut acquires a bandolier containing Live Ammo Balls filled with Frenzied Gerbils.

Donut realizes the AI wanted Carl hit by these balls, recalling its excited reaction when Carl squished the gerbil boss Ralph on the second floor. When Carl refuses to indulge this fetish, thousands of frenzied gerbils spawn and attack, overwhelming the party. Realizing they will lose the town, Carl relents and steps on gerbils. The wave immediately stops after he squishes about 50. He receives the achievement confirming the acceleration action has been suspended.

They retreat to the personal space. Henrik and the other Changeling Principals have disappeared, and Juice Box speculates they are seeking the ghost in the necropolis. The party opens their loot boxes, which includes upgrades for Carl and Katia and a toy version of Donut. She is thrilled to have merchandise, but Mongo immediately decapitates it, causing it to catch fire. Her Platinum box contains fang caps for Mongo and an Animal Wrangling skill potion.

Skarn and other kids visit the personal space to watch a film before reluctantly returning to their normal lives outside. As children leave, Chris Andrews approaches. He is now a Level 35 Igneous Zulu Warrior.

Chris explains he escaped the Water Quadrant through a missile tube, landing as the Wasteland was destroyed. Katia receives an emergency benefactor box from Princess Formidable. Chris acts strangely, claiming his Igneous race damages him when using chat or inventory, and that having a family makes you weak. He reveals he had a second daughter who died in the collapse and mentions game guides saying the dead could return on later floors.

Carl realizes this is not Chris but Maggie My, Frank’s widow who has been hunting them, possessing Chris’s body. When she produces a round ball, Katia shoots her with a special petrification bolt from the emergency benefactor box she just received, freezing her for one minute. Carl secures what he discovers is a Celestial Grenade. A message from the real Chris confirms he is being controlled by an entity that Juice Box identifies as an Infiltrator, a brain parasite. Mordecai explains Infiltrators take full control of living hosts, who remain conscious but powerless. The only cure is a potion requiring materials unavailable until the next floor. Chris messages that he wants them to kill him.

The Celestial Grenade would summon Algos, the god of pain, whom Maggie worships. Her sponsors are Prince Maestro and Crown Prince Stalwart of the Skull Empire. With time running out on the petrification, Carl prepares to kill his friend, but Donut casts the spell Hole in the street, dropping the petrified Chris into a sealed, partly flooded subterranean chamber.

Carl is furious but relieved. Imani suggests a plan: incapacitate them again after clearing the floor and bring them to the next level for the cure. Carl finds this too risky but tasks Mordecai with searching for potion ingredients. He also asks Mordecai to buy Donut the social media feed upgrade that will allow them to see active commentary from viewers.

Juice Box reveals Henrik is her brother and that the Changeling Principals seek the ghost of Quetzalcoatlus, a creature whose spell could create a food source to cure their generational birth defect. She confesses the Gate of the Feral Gods is real; it opens a portal but summons an ancient, mad feral god as a consequence. Carl receives a quest to collect all three pieces of the artifact.

A sandstorm forces everyone inside. The party rests and plans their assault on the floating house. Katia reveals she cannot have children and was adopting before the crawl. The toy company sent three more robots, two of which Mongo also destroyed. Carl pushes the heavier, fourth robot Donut off his shoulder; when Mongo attacks it, the toy detonates. Loita messages that the toy is designed to self-destruct if tampered with. Zev suggests naming the robot Ivy, eliciting a reaction from Donut.

Carl and Donut fly the captured gnomish biplane, renamed Nightmare II, to the top of the bubble. They use the engines to travel along the ceiling to the floating house, a standard two-story suburban home held aloft by a giant magical balloon. They climb down the balloon’s net onto the property.

The front door opens, and they are greeted by Bonnie, Commandant Kane’s young daughter. Her jersey is covered in blood, and her eyes are dilated, indicating she is under a spell.

Bonnie leads them inside, past her father’s bloody corpse. He was killed by something named Denise. When asked what happened, Bonnie vaguely points to the kitchen sink before changing the subject. When the house lurches, Carl falls and loots Kane’s body, acquiring gold, a mysterious pocket watch, and a letter from Ghazi, the Mad Dune Mage, threatening to destroy the world if the bombings continue.

An anti-magic aura from the roof dispels Carl’s stat buffs and prevents Donut’s spells from working. When Carl attempts to grab the glass of lemonade that Bonnie offers, it triggers a timed boss battle with three minutes until the house crashes.

The boss is revealed: Denise, the Feral Goose Mother, a Level 53 Borough Boss. Neither magic nor physical damage will harm the boss. Denise attacks with teeth shot from her flower-like mouth. After retreating upstairs, Carl notices Denise now has a health bar that has taken slight damage. Realizing she is an environmental boss, he theorizes she is vulnerable only to objects from the house. He confirms this by hitting her with the lemonade pitcher, which damages her.

The achievement notification reveals the lemonade was a deliberate misdirection. With seconds remaining, Carl wrestles Denise and remembers Bonnie pointing to the kitchen sink. He shoves Denise’s head into the sink and yells for Donut to activate the garbage disposal.

The disposal kills Denise, stopping the timer with one second to spare. The house lands safely, and a notification announces the Air Quadrant has been liberated.

The house lands near Hump Town, where the rest of Carl’s party waits. Bonnie reveals she has a Soul Crystal controlling the house’s floating ability and gives it to Carl. He loots the entire house, taking furniture, electronics, tools, and decorations. He sends Louis and Firas to recover the drifting Nightmare II and store it in the house’s garage.

Carl talks with Donut about remaining focused during fights and not panicking over Mongo’s injuries. After reading the mage’s letter, he decides they must go to the Land Quadrant next to avoid triggering the mage’s threat to destroy the world.

Zev messages to say goodbye because the social media board makes her role redundant. Loita threatens to confiscate and kill Mongo if Donut talks back, prompting Carl to defuse the situation. After sleeping and training, Carl watches the recap show. He is ranked second, Donut fourth. Two new names, Bogdon Ro and Chirag Ali, have appeared on the top-ten list.

The newest robot toy is sturdier but still bizarre. Mordecai suspects Veriluxx is a front for a corporation allied with Borant and the Bloom, a nationalist ruling party of Borant. Carl experiments with Kane’s pocket watch. Setting its alarm causes Henrik’s image to appear in the mirror, confirming he is alive in the necropolis.

They visit Bonnie, who is coming down from the potion’s effects. Carl gives her back her bed and a stuffed animal. Bonnie recalls her father’s death and asks for another potion. Seeing her grief, Carl resolves to enact a risky plan he had previously considered.