The chapter opens with a manual entry from Crawler Sinjin, followed by a note from Crawler Azin, both warning that worshiping gods is dangerous. Sinjin explains that divine benefits come with arbitrary obligations, intrusive messages, and the threat of being smitten, while Azin confirms that smiting can permanently cripple a crawler. The warning frames the chapter's larger danger: gods are volatile, and divine attention is never safe.

Back in the present, Carl's group rushes to save Orthrus before the giant puppy dies. Katia makes frantic last-second repairs to the damaged drop bear's engine, Louis and Firas maneuver the house so the plane can launch by dropping off the edge of the Twister, and Carl confirms through Tserendolgor that Emberus is still burning her world. Carl also orders Gwen and Tran to keep draining the necropolis, then climbs into the plane with Donut because healing Orthrus quickly is their only way to keep the quest from failing.

Carl barely gets the biplane airborne and struggles to control it, learning by instinct and incremental skill gains as the fragile machine shudders around him. Donut improves their visibility by lighting the wing, and Carl carefully approaches Orthrus from behind. Because Orthrus is down to about ten percent health, Donut casts healing twice, restoring the puppy to full health and buying Carl enough time to attempt the next stage of the rescue.

Carl then has Donut use the old Scroll of Meat Hooks, whose foul smoke lures carnivorous pets. The spell works: Orthrus notices the plane, pulls himself free of bubble 543, and tumbles into the Lacuna while happily chasing the reeking smoke trail. That completes the immediate quest, but the reward is another, worse group quest: Carl's party and the crawlers in bubble 18 must reunite Orthrus with Emberus, and if Orthrus dies, everyone involved will eventually be smitten by the fire god.

As Carl flies through the Lacuna toward Emberus's glow, the system escalates the situation again by issuing a world quest to every remaining crawler on the floor, offering huge rewards for killing Orthrus. Carl realizes the rescue has been turned into a bounty hunt, and Katia and Elle immediately start warning others not to attack. Before Carl can reach Emberus, however, Quan Ch appears in the darkness, strikes Orthrus hard enough to slash the puppy's health, and forces Carl and Donut to turn back toward the dog before a single attacker can doom them all.