Chapter 97

Carl defeats Scolopendra, the final dungeon boss, with a makeshift weapon created from his scrambled inventory after Eris swaps inventories among all crawlers. Eris then confronts Carl privately, revealing cryptic information about deities, an impending Ascendency competition, and a mysterious fifth side of a coin, before departing. Taranis arrives, retrieves two pieces of his mother, and leaves with Samantha.

As the crawlers approach Scolopendra for its third attack, Eris's appearance triggers a random inventory swap effect among nearby crawlers, leaving Carl with thousands of disorganized hats instead of his own gear. Imani, Elle, and Florin experience similar swaps. Under extreme time pressure, Carl instructs Donut to find and combine items from the scrambled inventory. He creates a banger sphere mixed with a Nothing Special enriched pet biscuit, launches it into Scolopendra's mouth, and the massive boss instantly liquefies into a gelatinous puddle. The world freezes again as Eris materializes in a massive hybrid form composed of Saccathian and Krakaren features with thousands of snake tails. Speaking to Carl while Uzi Jesus is present, Eris reveals that Taranis is being manipulated by his mother (who is partially resurrected), describes the pig as a distraction created by an AI, warns of an impending Ascendency competition where "those guys downstairs" pose a real threat, and cryptically references doors, entrances, and a coin with a fifth side. She departs, and Taranis appears holding Penelope, catches a tentacle swipe from Krakaren, and dismisses Khepri from the realm. Penelope communicates that Taranis lied about something called "splooge." Taranis announces he is taking two pieces of his mother and sparing Carl's life only because Penelope spoke on their behalf. Samantha whispers to Taranis, who captures her and vanishes along with Krakaren, leaving the dungeon floor empty.