This lower loop section of Floor 3 was relatively quiet compared to the main corridor.

And that should have been my first clue. Dungeon logic dictated that either no monster resided here at all, or one that was important enough to clear the way of any others in order to be present. I’d looked up the Ironback Crawler on the bounty board beforehand and found it listed separately from the Floor 3 bounty, indicating how important it was.

Moving cautiously into the lower loop opening, I engaged Pattern Recognition I in passive mode.

In contrast to the main corridor, this one had more room; either that was good for shooting with a bow, or bad news since whatever monster inhabited it needed the room. And the distance between runes grew once again, along with sections of darkness, while the flooring changed. The smooth stone floor with minimal debris suggested little evidence would be left here.

Until the Enemy Analysis flag went off on its own.

ENEMY ANALYSIS — IRONBACK CRAWLER

Type: Apex of Floor 3 – Lower Loop

STR equivalent: 45

AGI equivalent: 12

Weakness: Underbelly joint cluster – exposed during full extension

Trigger: Strike to both rear leg joints at once

Suggested strategy: Long-range combat, dual point precision attack

Warning: Armored body — standard attacks won’t work

Warning: Vibrations sensed — can detect movement by pressing into the floor

EXP reward: 55 per defeat

Fifty-five EXP. Twice, I went over the enemy description and then double-checked the warnings.

Vibrations sensed — can detect movement by pressing into the floor. Which meant that my standard repositioning strategy, which I’d been using in every battle from Floor 1, would alert it to my presence the second I made any move.

Simultaneously hit both rear leg joints with dual point precision attack. One bow, one arrow at a time. Simultaneous was impossible for a single archer with one weapon.

I stood inside the entrance to the lower loop, pondering this.

The Stoneback Beetle on Floor 2 had one trigger point, front right leg joint, stumbled, belly exposed. Simple linear chain reaction. One shot, one window, easy defeat if the angle was correct. The Ironback Crawler required dual triggers, which meant that the developers intended either multiple combatants or a dual-target weapon.

Neither option was available to me.

I opened up the full Enemy Analysis and re-read the entry.

ENEMY ANALYSIS — IRONBACK CRAWLER

Triggering Mechanism: Dual Rear Leg Joint Strike

Timing Threshold: Simultaneous or within 0.3 second threshold

Alternate Triggering: Single Joint Strike – Partial Extension Only

Partial Extension Result: Exposed Underbelly – Timing Window of 1.2 seconds

Partial Extension Requirement: Strike to Dominant Rear Joint – Right Side

There it was. A single joint strike on the dominant rear joint resulted in a partial extension – timing window of 1.2 seconds instead of the full extension window, but a timing window nonetheless. Same sequence logic as the beetle.

Except that now it had become vibration-sensitive. The beetle didn’t care how close I came to the floor. The Crawler would be able to feel my movements when I realign myself after the trigger strike.

Which meant that I couldn’t move my feet. Just once.

Two shots. First one to trigger, second one to finish – both done from a single stance without moving my feet.

I looked at the lower loop corridor. The Crawler was somewhere in front, vibration sensitive, armored, and had fifty-five EXP.

Pattern Recognition I was still operating on autopilot. I waited.

It was another four minutes before I detected the pattern recognition, no noise, no vision, just the slight vibration pattern through the floor beneath my boots. Steady. Patrol rhythm. Away from me on the far loop, which meant he was coming back around.

I had however much time the loop took to choose a position and make my move.

The runes on the right wall provided enough illumination at roughly thirty feet down the hallway to work with. This was my position – right wall, runes illuminated, thirty feet distance between me and where the return route would be.

Far enough for a bow shot but close enough for precise dual joint firing.

I carefully made my way to the chosen position. Footfall after footfall with only heel and toe contact with the floor. Slow enough that the vibration pattern did not exceed his threat detection threshold.

Position secured. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Waited.

There was an alteration in the vibrational frequency in the floor — the Crawler had returned. My boots informed me of that fact before my eyes saw any sign in the darkness.

And there was the Crawler in the light of the runes.

It was bigger than the Stoneback Beetle. Closer to the ground, more massive; carapace, the color of something that hadn’t cared about what it took to hit it since its birth. It had eight legs, working in pairs; and its rear joints were the largest and clearest set of the eight.

The Crawler’s right side possessed the dominant rear joint. I made the calculation from thirty feet away and assumed my stance.

The Crawler came into range.

I let the first arrow go.

It hit the dominant rear joint.

The Crawler’s rear portion jerked — partial extension, opening up the underbelly joint cluster — and then I had a one-point-two-second window and I was already drawing the second arrow. The position was identical; and so I released the arrow.

It struck the underbelly joint cluster.

The Crawler fell down.

+55 EXP — Ironback Crawler (Weak Point Kill)

Total EXP: 153/1000

SKILL IMPROVEMENT — Precision Shot I → Precision Shot II

Learned new skill: Precision Shot II

Effect: +accuracy for consecutive shots / faster draw on second shot

I positioned myself against the right wall in the rune light and stared at the Crawler on the ground and then read the skill alert.

Precision Shot II. My progress toward this had begun after reaching 60% in beetle kills back on Floor 2. This Crawler kill brought me past the threshold.

And then my overlay pinged at the bottom.

VORN — FLAG UPDATE

Second contact: INITIATING

Target: Daren

Location: Undercroft entrance — B-rank circuit

Method: Casual recognition based on prior encounter

Relationship meter — Vorn/Daren: 31 → updating

I read the flag update.

And then I gazed at the 153 EXP.

And then I gazed at the Crawler on the floor and then the passage up ahead of me and the loop below which still held whatever number of Crawlers I saw on the bounty board.

VORN — ACTIVE INTERACTION: DAREN

Duration: 00:45

Tactic: Recognition introduction — name recall / shared floor mention

Daren reaction flag: Pleased / Comfortable

Relationship meter — Vorn/Daren: 31 → 58/1000

Fifty-eight. Second contact, under a minute, twenty-seven points. The first contact was at thirty-one points over four minutes. The relationship meter was increasing exactly like how relationship meters increased once initial trust was established — each successive interaction had less friction than the last.

There was nothing I could do about the relationship meter from my current vantage point. I wasn’t able to interfere with it or stop the process from going on any further.

The only thing left for me to do was take out the next Crawler.

I grabbed an additional set of arrows that were in the backup quiver I brought with me, looked at the notification for Precision Shot II, and made my way through the lower floor loop.

VORN — ACTIVE INTERACTION: DAREN — CLOSED

Time elapsed: 2 minutes 18 seconds

Relationship meter: Vorn/Daren 58/1000

Tactic analysis: successful

Next contact: 1 to 2 days — accelerating

One to two days now. Two to three days before. The difference was shrinking.

+55 EXP — Ironback Crawler (Weak Point Kill)

Total EXP: 208/1000

I kept going.

CURRENT STATS

STR: 12

AGI: 17

INT: 20

Skills: Friendly Conversation / Moral Support / Observe / Evasion I / Throwing I / Fast Learner / Precision Shot II / Enemy Analysis I / Pattern Recognition I

EXP: 208/1000

Rank: D

Revised estimate: 9.6 days

9.6 days to reach C rank. Vorn progressing on a one to two day encounter schedule.

The numbers were still against me.

I was beginning to suspect that the numbers were never going to be in my favor, and that I was just going to have to win.