Chapter 13

Carl's group tests their new two-stage missiles against the borough boss Ruckus, a massive cyborg hawk with a giant multi-buzzsaw weapon. After discovering information about the Gate of the Feral Gods artifact hidden in a necropolis beneath the island, the system glitches and awakens the boss. Carl launches three missiles that successfully destroy Ruckus, though the two-stage propulsion system malfunctions. During the battle's conclusion, a system notification reveals that another player named Chris Andrews 2 has conquered the Water Quadrant's throne room and awakened the Akula submarine.

Carl visits Skarn to warn him to flee to the Toe if bombing begins, and Donut steals a telescope from the boy's roof as payment. They discuss the changeling situation and Donut's new sunglasses upgrade while driving out of town in the Chariot, which now sports a four-chamber missile launcher. They position themselves on a dune about a mile and a half from the boss to test their rockets. Using the stolen telescope, Carl identifies the boss as Ruckus, a spring-operated chicken hawk sentinel level 55, and reads that it's a minion of a dead bugbear treasure hunter named Shamus Chaindrive who sought the Gate of the Feral Gods in an underwater necropolis. A system glitch freezes the world briefly, and Mordecai theorizes it's gameplay reconciliation. When Carl reads the artifact information, the system pauses again. Ruckus suddenly awakens and rises into the air, triggering a boss battle sequence. The boss description changes, revealing Ruckus has lost contact with the Akula submarine but has now received new orders to eliminate enemies of the captain. Carl fires a two-stage missile that detonates prematurely, exploding short of the target. Realizing the missiles have shorter range than expected, he changes tactics and orders Katia to drive toward the boss. Katia manifests a second face on the back of her head during the battle. Carl locks three remaining missiles onto different weak points and fires simultaneously as the Chariot turns away. All three missiles hit, destroying Ruckus's left wing and causing the boss to spiral downward, entangling itself in the buzzsaw's cable. The weapon spins free and crashes into the ground near them, still whizzing violently. Carl wins the battle. While preparing to collect the buzzsaw as loot, a system notification announces that a crawler named Chris Andrews 2 has successfully occupied the Akula submarine's bridge, liberating the Water Quadrant and allowing Water Quadrant crawlers to travel freely between quadrants. The world rumbles with the announcement.