Before the dungeon, Miriam Dom was a vegan. So the producers thought it would be hilarious to arrange for her to be cursed and turned into a vampire. Anyone who was inside an enclosed structure during the collapse belongs to Borant, but if one of those who survived and didn't enter the dungeon becomes interesting, then Borant may offer rewards for bringing them in. It's illegal to interfere with the remaining humans, but no one bothers to enforce that. Carl's ex-girlfriend and Donut's former owner Bea gets collected with the intent of turning her into a Country Boss for Carl and Donut to fight, just to tug at the heartstrings, but those hunters are intercepted by a second group with different motivations. Chaco: It happens every time. You'll regret making it as far as you have, no matter who is helping you. No matter how close you are, we’re all alone in the end. Alone and broken with the choices we’ve had to make. We have too little interaction between crawlers in the first volume. In the second volume we get a new main character Katia, but two volumes later, I do not feel she intergrated well. It is still mostly Carl and Donut. Katia does not feel as her own independent character. It feels as if she just steals line, that could be as well atributed to Carl and she steals time, that could have been Donuts. Donut has also the growing problem now, that for the past volumes, she struggles to find a place to shine. Yes she is necessary, but feels more like a side character, then a main one. We need more interaction between crawlers, but most of it happens off screen. And even if it is on screen, it is in form of chats and messages. The third floor struggles with this, clearly in hindsight there were possibilities to distribute solution of the puzzle to more crawlers and make it more like a team effort.

Precursors: The Primals, a vanished race so ancient no one today knows what they look like. They created the AI technology that turned the Inner Systems into the haven of peace and power it is today, and which powers the dungeon crawls. The Mantids have been trying to recreate it. Carl takes Primal as his race on the third floor, giving him some advantages while leaving him looking human. Cloud of Exhaust puts groups of mobs to sleep, works even on higher level mobs, and enhances damage for thirty seconds after they wake up. Miriam Dom has it, and is in the top ten crawlers; she and her partner nearly took down a province boss with it until they were interrupted. On the other hand, Louis has the same spell, but is squandering it by running away from every fight. The characters are well developed and human enough to make me feel a wide range of emotions. I enjoy how Donut grew as a character and became one of my favorites after starting out as someone I would have been fine without. Same with Katia. The "Protective Shell" spell lasts just 20 seconds, remains immobile once cast, and only reacts to hostile creatures. Which means that if Carl casts it in front of a fast-moving enemy — or a train full of enemies — and then gets out of the way, it will basically pancake his foes while leaving allies, neutrals and structure intact. Out-Gambitted: Borant Corporation and the Skull Empire have enough warning to adapt to a feral god being dropped on the Skull Empire's camp on the ninth floor. Too bad that Carl had found a secret way to coordinate with his team, outside even the crawler chat, and arranged to instead flood the city of Larracos, catching them completely off guard and wiping out their supply lines.Bilingual Bonus: If it can be considered a "bonus", that is. Carl doesn't speak Spanish, so he can't understand the first Neighborhood Boss that he fights, but if the reader does, they can see that she's confused, scared, and begging Jesus to forgive her. Crawlers who badmouth Borant Corporation or the Syndicate may find their experience being accelerated. Meaning they will face an endlessly spawning horde of monsters until they die horribly. Of course there's a Sharktopus. Carl is a juggernaut and he finally takes a stand! A sneaky, crazy risky, highly satisfying stand. Dungeon Bypass: Prepotente exploits a weakness in the starting chamber of the seventh floor, and destroys the entire floor before it begins, sending all the Crawlers straight to the eighth floor.

Took a Level in Badass: Of course any crawler who survives is going to become an unstoppable badass in normal terms, but a few deserve special mention. Carl isn't anyone special, really. He just happened to be caught outside chasing his ex-girlfriend's cat at 3am when it all literally went down. But he might just be the best chance humanity has left. Or maybe the cat will do better. Reforged into a Minion: The eighth floor allows squads to collect up to six more "recruits" by beating monsters nearly to the point of death and then marking them with special flags that convert them into summoning cards.

Carl: Celebrating? You call this celebrating our culture? You're exterminating us and profiting upon our ashes. They're not just dangerous to crawlers, though; he later opens a portal to flood a city with shark-infested water. A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps.

Contrived Coincidence: In-Universe, anything that's supposed to be random is actually subject to the (sadistic, murderous) whims of the AI. Hunter Iota points out that the odds of him "randomly" appearing right in front of Carl are pretty slim, and Quasar, when mentioning the Zerzura spell's random targeting, confirms that "when I say random, I mean in the worst possible area." Mentor in Sour Armor: Mordecai is fairly grumpy, and specifically unhappy about becoming Donut's manager, which is delaying his retirement, but is very knowledgeable and does prove to be quite helpful. How much of that is because he actually cares about them, vs how much is because he gets financial incentives to help them get as far as possible, is hard to say. The Meadowlark residents. These are septa-, octa-, and nona-genarians who were all on the edge of death from old age. Those that made it to the third floor got new races and classes that rejuvenated them, quite literally, and gave them a lot of power. Tip of the hat to Elle McGibbons, who made it to the top ten with her ice princess class/race. Power Perversion Potential: The changelings in "Hump Town" are all prostitutes who are willing to use their powers to put on a show. Louis and Firas quite appreciate forms like Slave Leia, for example.DCC is very well done, finding a nice balance between plot and character driven story. I especially like that the characters are very rarely purely good or evil, and there is a lot of nuance throughout. (with the exception of Donut, of course, who is always good ;)) Once again I felt the latter half was stronger than the first half, especially the last quarter which was all kinds of absurdities. For this and the last book I haven't been liking it as much until it gets to the rising action. It's not so much that it's filler as it that I find it uneven in terms of how much I'm interested in it. The Not-So-Harmless Punishment: Landing on a "Nothing!" space on either the roulette tables or the Wheel of Fortune game in the Desperado Club's casino results in the hapless wagerer getting literal "nothing" — that is, they get instantly dumped into some kind of hell dimension. Carl doesn't realize this until after he's already placed his bet. His Wheel of Fortune spin comes dangerously close, but ultimately gives him a Scroll of Upgrade instead. He repeats it on the fifth floor during a specially designed battle that goes beyond the typical scripted boss battles. Similar a los anteriores: personajes de 10, mucha diversión, mucha acción y unas subtramas chulísimas.