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Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to Faction Wars.
You are on the ninth floor.
Time to Level Collapse: 30 days or 90 hours after a winner is declared, whichever is sooner.
Views: 231 Septillion
Followers: 887 Quadrillion
Favorites: 420 Quadrillion
Leaderboard Rank: 1
Bounty: 6,000,000 gold
Congrats, Crawler. You have received a Platinum Venison Box.
Remaining Crawlers: 32,429
Warning: Due to the previous floor's rule set regarding looted items from the memory simulation, multiple items have been removed from your inventory. See the inventory tab for a list of items lost.
You have received dungeon mail via Liaison action. The Gate of the Feral Gods is now available and will be waiting for you in a dungeon mailbox.
Warning: The Ceasefire expires in 60 hours or until canceled. Upon expiration of the Ceasefire, only members of defending Team Retribution will be allowed to remain within the city of Larracos. This restriction will remain in effect until certain conditions are met. This restriction does not apply to the Shanty Town ring.
10 teams remain.
Entering Larracos, City of Dreams.
Quest Update! The Bedlam Bride.
The quest is to get the creepy spider to the city. You're in the city, you have the spider with you, sort of, but you haven't won the quest yet? How is that so?
Did you know that in some cultures, fares for travel aren't paid until the traveler safely arrives at their destination?
The spider is still sitting on the bus, so to speak. You just gotta open the doors and let her out, and you'll win the simple prize. What's the worst that could happen?
We appeared in a wet, stinking alleyway between two crumbling buildings. The blue dots of crawlers materialized all around us, appearing one by one as they zapped into existence in random places around the city.
Larracos. We had made it. The first thing I did was wave away the quest notification and search for the number of remaining crawlers. It'd gone down by over 1,300 people. Damnit. That was how many people had died in the time since we'd been pulled up into the sky and the floor collapsed. We'd been gone for just about four days. Most of those were probably people who hadn't survived getting pulled into the sky.
But we were alive. Holy shit. It had worked.
Imani wasn't with us, and I had a moment of panic, but she immediately jumped into my chat.
Imani: Carl, are you guys okay?
Carl: We are. We're here.
Imani: Thank god. When we started to spin there at the last minute-
Carl: Give me a few minutes to figure out where we are, and we'll find a safe room.
Donut sat next to me, sputtering. She'd landed face-first in a pile of mud, and she was completely covered. It had a familiar stink to it. The ocean from the fifth floor. We were in an area that had recently been drained. Very recently drained. The X of a corpse lay nearby, deeper in the alleyway. A concierge shark.
My book of voodoo started spamming notifications each time a new crawler came relatively close. I muted the notifications for now.
I looked up between the two buildings to see a crystal clear blue sky. I couldn't see anything else from our current position. I couldn't even tell how deep into the city we were, but if this part had recently been flooded, then we were likely in one of the lowest levels of the funnel-shaped city.
The buildings were made of stone blocks, and their walls were chipped and pitted. Even before the flooding, I had had the sense this was a poor area of town. A wooden door sat against one of the nondescript buildings, but this deep in the alley, I couldn't tell what sort of building this was. The door itself appeared to be bulging, possibly a result of recent water damage. A dozen meters to our left stood the exit to the alleyway leading to some sort of street. Just past that, a broken railing. A pair of dwarves rushed by in the distance, not pausing at the mouth of the alley.
There were blue dots everywhere on my map, but none in this alleyway.
I had a few chats waiting for me from before I'd appeared.
Florin: I got your note about Lucia. It looks like you made it, mate. I hope I didn't miss anything too exciting at the end of the last floor.
I grunted as I moved to the next one. It was from Quasar, my attorney.
Quasar: Hey, buddy. I'm negotiating with the liaisons, which really means I'm negotiating with the AI, trying to get a face-to-face meeting. We'll see if that happens. It's been a class-9 shit cyclone out here these last four days you've been gone. Lots and lots and lots of legal movement in the inner system, and in your system, that parking lot above the planet has devolved into a mini war zone. Warships threatening to blow things up. Syndicate security intervening. Most of this stuff is good, from your point of view at least. But some of it is going to itch like an infected ass tattoo, especially on the legal front. I'll leave the Faction Wars stuff alone for your adjutant to explain, but remember that contract with Sensation Entertainment, Incorporated? The one for the Vengeance of the Daughter storyline? Yeah. So, even though the main character is dead and gone, that guarantee of a third season we negotiated is about to haunt the fuck out of us. Sensation Entertainment just got purchased by a subsidiary of the Dream, and things are moving. They're demanding their third season. It's a fluid situation, but I will keep you updated. For now just stay the fuck away from any elites you may happen to see. Nothing is official yet. Either way, Signet won't be coming back, which means whatever happens, it's gonna be something stupid. The problem is, the new showrunners won't be caring about that anymore. They're going to try to use your contractual obligation to ass-fuck you. I'm trying to stop it on my end, but I don't think I'll be successful. Plus, the AI gives zero shits about what the courts say anyway. If it thinks it's going to be funny, it's going to let it happen. Just keep your head down and listen to what Judge Victory tells you. She's a smart one.
"Fucking hell," I muttered.
"Carl," Donut said, still sputtering. She looked as if she'd been swimming in mud. "You said this city was supposed to be pretty! Did you see all those notifications? Did you see that quest update?" She gasped. "It's telling me to pick a card to keep! I have to pick a new class, too! I only have thirty seconds to pick a card!"
A sudden pang ripped across my midsection. It was like a stomach cramp, but much more burning. It came out of nowhere. My Emberus ring flashed and started to get warm. I tried not to let the pain show in my voice as I said, "Yes. Pick the card and then have Mordecai help you with the new class."
I moved to my health menu. My first instinct was that this had something to do with the tattoo on my chest, but the moment I saw the notification, I realized I was incorrect.
I thought I'd have more time. Most of these diseases and debuffs and countdowns didn't count time between floors.
I focused on the top issue.
Soul Poisoning.
The effects of this condition are being partially blocked by your Pauper's ring of the Steadfast Emberus.
This condition is worsening.
This condition causes jolts of pain.
This condition has additional effects that will soon be revealed if you don't do something about it.
You are suffering from a very minor case of stop-carrying-stored-souls-on-your-back. Seriously. Do you know why soul crystals explode when they get overloaded? Do you remember that whole thing on the previous floor when too many souls flowed through Sheol? And you're just walking around giving a piggyback ride to a bunch of corrupted souls stuck in something made out of fabric? Yeah, good luck with that. You better smush something soon, dumbass.
Oh, and don't try unequipping that jacket while your soul power is full. That won't go well for you or anybody nearby.
I hadn't used up the soul energy from the Scavenger's Daughter back patch. I'd been warned over and over not to let it accumulate for too long, but the chaos at the end of the previous floor had caused me to forget. I needed to disperse it now. I searched the map for a mob, but I didn't see anything. Even if I did find a monster, I realized, I wouldn't be able to hurt it. At least not in the city. For the next 60 hours, safe room rules applied. I could still cast spells and blow things up, just like with a regular safe room, but the moment I tried it against someone alive within city limits, I'd get frozen by the AI.
I reexamined my map. It was showing hundreds of blue dots, with more arriving by the moment, along with a multitude of white dots signifying NPCs. The white dots all had an angled line through them, which was new. I assumed it had something to do with Faction Wars.
I didn't see any enemy combatants, who'd have been indicated with purple dots. Or elites, thank god.
Mordecai: Donut, give me your class options.
Donut: THESE CHOICES ARE GREAT! I CAN BE A CONSECRATED ENCHANTRESS. DOESN'T THAT SOUND DELICIOUS? IT COMES WITH A SASH! OMG, MORDECAI, THEY'RE ADDING ACCESSORIES TO MY CHOICES NOW!
Mordecai: You absolutely need to avoid any deity-themed classes this floor. There are going to be god-themed quests and gods flying all over the place, and you don't want to get roped into any more than absolutely necessary.
Donut: WELL, I'M CERTAINLY NOT GOING TO PICK THE HALLOWEEN AFICIONADO. I MEAN, REALLY. MY PERSONALITY IS MUCH TOO SPARKLY AND OPTIMISTIC FOR ME TO BE A GOTH. IT DOES COME WITH BLACK LIPSTICK. AND A BOX CUTTER FOR SOME REASON.
She gasped as she spied a new one.
Donut: MORDECAI, MORDECAI, LOOK AT THIS ONE! IT'S PERFECT!
She gasped again.
Donut: IT COMES WITH A HAT! OMG! AND SOMETHING ELSE! WHAT'S A GHILLIE SUIT?
They continued to chat as I worked on the problem with the soul poisoning. I needed to use my Daughter's Kiss skill, and I needed to do it now. The last time I'd unleashed my soul power, I'd partially collapsed a mountain of dirt. I needed to be careful.
I moved deeper into the alleyway, my bare feet sloshing in the mud. I examined the long, jet-black, and very dead shark curled up in the corner. It didn't look as if it'd been dead for long.
Concierge Shark. Level 41. Killed by suffocation when the Semeru Warden finally decided to open the drain.
With both arms, I lifted the dense, slippery creature. I could barely hold on to it. Not because it was too heavy, but because it wanted to slosh from my hands. I tossed it up into the air, forming my fist as I did so. I activated Daughter's Kiss, and I punched the dead shark as hard as I could.
Bam!
I flew back in the mud, hitting the ground and sliding. Donut yowled as she, too, was blown back and slid through the mud as the shark vaporized. Stinky red mist filled the alley. It sounded as if a small hob-lobber had detonated.
New Achievement! Sushi Smoothie!
Yeah, I just made this achievement up on the fly. But holy shit! You annihilated that thing! It was really gross, too! You could probably start a business making confetti out of corpses with that skill!
Next time use your foot.
Reward: You've received a sushi-making kit!
"Carl! Warn me if you're going to do that!" Donut sputtered even more. She was mixed in with all the dirt and mud and zombie and demon gore from the end of the previous floor.
I groaned, sitting up. I'd taken a sliver of damage from that. I shook my head, trying to clear the cobwebs. I needed to make certain I didn't allow it to build up and linger like that ever again.
I reached up and touched the Shi Maria tattoo on my chest. Nothing happened, other than the description popping up again.
Tattoo. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride.
She'd talked to me, in my mind, just before the last floor had ended. She was like one of those golems Signet had had. I didn't like that, especially now with this new development from Sensation Entertainment. That whole message gave me an ominous feeling.
This tattoo was yet another thing I needed to take care of right away.
Elle: Hey, guys, what'd I miss? I just had to go through class selection again. There were only a few of us in the warehouse this time. I picked wind. I went from Tundra Princess to Hailstorm Queen.
Donut: YOU'RE A QUEEN? THAT'S GREAT!
Elle: Yeah. This is probably as far as it's gonna get. I can add the final element if I ever make it to the 12th floor, but I'm betting this whole shit show self-destructs before we even get close.
A new wall of text assaulted me.
Welcome, Warlord. You have successfully onboarded into Faction Wars.
Your territory is spot number three. It is marked on your map.
You have multiple action item rule changes to review.
You are currently in neutral territory.
You have one important message in the Warlord Chat.
Warning: Your army is at suboptimal force levels.
Current army size: 58 soldiers.
You have recruits who have not yet been approved. They are waiting at headquarters to be sworn in by an officer.
Warning: You have no officers in your army! See the Warlord tab to assign officers.
Warning: Protection enhancements have now been removed. While some protections exist during a Ceasefire, those of you who were getting regenerated can now die. So don't trip and break your neck. At least wait until the Ceasefire ends.
Shit, I thought. This was already getting complicated. We needed to act quickly. The moment the ceasefire ended and we were kicked out of Larracos, any crawler not already "recruited" was vulnerable to conscription. We had to quickly spread the word that if people didn't voluntarily join the Princess Posse army, they could be forced to fight for one of the other teams.
Warning: The Bone Clan has announced a formal truce with the Operatic Collective.
The Blood Sultanate has joined the truce.
The Prism Kingdom has joined the truce.
The Dream has joined the truce.
The Lemig Sortition has joined the truce.
Copyright © 2025 by Matt Dinniman. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
