The Eye of the Bedlam Bride: Dungeon Crawler Carl 6 - Hardcover

Dinniman, Matt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 059395601X ISBN 13: 9780593956014

Verlag: Ace, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Carl and Princess Donut journey into insanity in the wildly entertaining sixth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition!

Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, have survived longer and leveled up higher than anyone ever thought they could in the galaxy’s most popular reality show, but after the shocking conclusion of the seventh level, it’s now anyone’s game.

A pantheon of forgotten gods. An old grudge between a talk show host, an heiress, and the man they shattered along the way. A rapidly deteriorating AI system. An inconvenient tiara upon the head of a friend.

It is bedlam on the eighth floor.

The crawlers are given a new task: Find and capture six monsters, each of which will be turned into a card. The stronger, the deadlier, the better. At the end of the floor, the bad guys will also have decks, made of some of the most powerful cards available. So it’s crucial for crawlers to assemble the toughest squad possible. But, like always, there is a catch. There’s always a catch.

If Carl and Donut want a winning hand, they’ll have to capture the most lethal and terrifying monster of them all: Shi Maria. She was once married to a now-missing god. Her special attack is known to drive one insane. They call her the Bedlam Bride.

But even if Carl and Donut can capture her, they know all too well that just because someone has been captured, it doesn’t mean they have been tamed.

Welcome, Crawlers. Welcome to the eighth floor of the dungeon.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Matt Dinniman is a writer, artist, and musician (well, he's a bass player) from Gig Harbor, WA. He is the author of several books, including the bestselling Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Part
one


Havana

1

Welcome, Crawler, to the eighth floor. "The Ghosts of Earth."

Time to Level Collapse: 21 days.

Views: 13 Septillion

Followers: 331 Quadrillion

Favorites: 41 Quadrillion

Leaderboard Rank: 3

Bounty: 2,000,000 gold

Congrats, Crawler. You have received a Platinum Venison Box.

Remaining Crawlers: 38,532

It is December 10th.

Your squad has six open slots.

Entering El Capitolio Nacional de Cuba.

Donut and I stepped through the door of the globe chamber into the rotunda of a large, empty room made of marble and tile. I was instantly reminded of the US Capitol building, which I'd visited once long ago.

Blue and magenta floor tiles spread in both directions. Enormous arched windows dotted the walls at regular intervals. The curved half-pipe ceiling was also tiled with bronze squares in relief. In the center was a round divot leading to an enormous cupola. It was pitch-black outside, and the room was lit by what looked like streetlamps placed at intervals, giving the room a warm yellow light.

This wasn't the US Capitol building. It was similar in architecture, but not quite. This was El Capitolio. The historic capitol building in downtown Havana.

Cuba.

We were the only ones here.

"Listen," Donut was saying as we explored the empty hall. Her voice echoed. "As the party leader and dungeon's number one crawler, I just felt that throwing ourselves right into the Bahamas was a bad idea, so I picked someplace close. Do you really think it was a coincidence that they gave you a book about the Bahamas when that's where Miss Beatrice was? It was quite obviously a trap . . ." She suddenly gasped. "Hey! I went down to number two! Carl, I lost my top spot!"

"I'm not surprised," I said, taking another step into the large room. I focused on the windows. My map showed nothing outside. I focused on one of the brass lamps and the red-and-green ribbon hanging from it. It was a Christmas decoration. "Did you see that notification when we got here? It said it was December 10th."

"Carl, I need to pick a new class! Hey, I have more time to pick now. I now have ten minutes to choose!"

"Good," I said.

Carl: Mordecai, are you there? Donut needs help with her new class.

Mordecai: Holy shit, I'm here. It just blinked, and now we've skipped a floor. I heard what the announcement said. By his left tit, what did you guys do?

Carl: I had nothing to do with it. That was all Prepotente. Talk to Donut. She picked something on her own last floor, but she only had it for a minute.

Donut: VIPER QUEEN WAS A GREAT CLASS, AND I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I KEPT MY ABILITY TO SPIT POISON EVEN THOUGH I NEVER USED IT. I DON'T KNOW WHY EVERYBODY ALWAYS GETS GRUMPY WHEN I MAKE MY OWN DECISIONS. CARL IS ALWAYS MAKING DECISIONS WITHOUT ASKING ME. I STILL HAVE ALL MY BARD ABILITIES, TOO, THOUGH I FORGOT A COUPLE SONGS.

Mordecai: Donut, hit me with your choices.

Donut jumped to my shoulder as I explored. As they went back and forth, I continued to examine the room. There were multiple doors, but they were all locked. At the end of the hall was a door, and there was a level stairwell behind it. I walked to the door and tried to open it.

You need a key to open this door.

Damnit.

I moved to one of the tall windows and put my hand against it.

This area has not yet been unlocked.

I put my face against the glass to look outside, but I couldn't see anything. It was just swirling black smoke.

Imani: Everybody check in. Where are you? We picked the western United States, and it looks like we're in some indoor water park in the middle of nowhere. Some place called the Great Wolf Lodge. We can't go outside yet. Elle and I have been placed in different squads, and they made us pick the starting location separately, but we both picked the same place.

Katia: We're in Iceland. We can't go out, either. There's a stairwell here, but we need a key.

Carl: Same. We're in Cuba. Havana.

Elle: Cuba? Prepotente picked Cuba? Why would he do that?

Carl: He dumped us before this level started. I don't know where he is. He never answers my chats, but I suspect he might be in the Bahamas.

Elle: So Donut picked Cuba? Or was that you? Are you looking for cigars or something?

Li Na: We are in the Galaxy SOHO building in Beijing. There are hundreds of crawlers here with us.

Imani: Is Chris still in your party? He never went back to mine.

Li Na: He is with us.

Katia: Florin, where are you?

Imani: I thought Florin was in your party.

Katia: He left just before Carl and Prepotente broke the last
level.

Elle: Yeah, that was really fucked-up, Carl. You need to warn us next time. I don't know if skipping levels is good for our health. Not all of us are as trained up as you.

Carl: I love how you guys just assume I had something to do with it. That was 100% Pony. I had no idea that was going to happen.

Florin: I am in Ecuador.

I continued to explore the floor, but there didn't appear to be a way out.

Donut: I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT PICKING SOMETHING CALLED AN AGONY URCHIN, MORDECAI. THAT SOUNDS DISGUSTING. IT CHANGES THE WAY I LOOK, AND I WILL NEVER PICK A CLASS THAT CHANGES THE WAY I LOOK. I HAVE AN IMPORTANT IMAGE TO MAINTAIN.

Mordecai: It's a great class. It's either that or Master Telephone Psychic. That one is pretty good, too, especially with your charisma, but you didn't do so well with psionic attacks on the previous floor.

Donut: THAT SONG WAS VERY HARD TO SING.

Mordecai: Well, those are your two best choices by far. Urchin will help keep you safe and Psychic will make your mapping ability better and give you some offensive charm
spells.

Donut: I'M PICKING PSYCHIC.

Donut glowed.

Donut: HEY! I GOT EVERYTHING LISTED AND A FEW ADDITIONAL SPELLS! THIS IS GREAT!

Mordecai: Your Character Actor skill is powerful now. What spells did you get?

Donut: SO, I STILL HAVE THE VENOM SPITTER SKILL FROM THE LAST FLOOR, BUT IT'S ONLY LEVEL 3. MY MAP CAN SEE A LOT BIGGER AND MORE STUFF. I CAN SEE THE WHOLE BUILDING. IT'S ALMOST LIKE WE ALREADY HAVE THE MAP FROM A NEIGHBORHOOD BOSS, BUT I DON'T SEE ANY MOBS AT ALL. IT'S EVEN BETTER THAN THAT PATHFINDER SKILL. I GOT A SPELL CALLED BRAIN FREEZE AND ONE CALLED BAD ATTITUDE AND ANOTHER CALLED WHY ARE YOU HITTING YOURSELF? THAT ONE IS GREAT! IT MAKES PEOPLE STAB THEMSELVES IN THE FACE! MY INTELLIGENCE WENT UP FIVE POINTS, TOO!

I relaxed. That was pretty good.

Mordecai: Bad Attitude is similar to Carl's Fear spell, but it'll be a lot more potent in your hands. If you work it together, it'll be a great combo. Fear tends to affect dexterity while Bad Attitude drains intelligence and lowers resistances. Brain Freeze does the same thing, but it targets only one mob and drains health. It also makes them temporarily blind if you can get it up to 10.

Donut: IT STARTED AT LEVEL 8.

Mordecai: Good. You'll want to train that one.

Carl: Can you see anything? We're locked in a large room.

Mordecai: No. I tried to open the door, but it says "Exit isn't yet available. Wait for the level announcement."

We didn't have to wait long.

A new timer appeared in my vision.

Time Until Phase Two: 14 days.

It started to count down.

Cascadia started the announcement. I immediately noted she wasn't nearly as chipper as she usually was. She pushed her way through the announcement with the enthusiasm of a kid being forced to mow their own lawn.

Hello, Crawlers.

Welcome to the eighth floor. The Ghosts of Earth.

This is going to be a long message. This floor is simple, but the environment requires a small amount of explanation....

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Ace
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2025
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 059395601X
• ISBN 13: 9780593956014
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 832
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland