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 movent 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 movent by pressing into the floor. Which ant 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 ti. 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 ant that the developers intended either multiple combatants or a dual-target weapon.
Neither option was available to .
I opened up the full Enemy Analysis and re-read the entry.
ENEMY ANALYSIS — IRONBACK CRAWLER
Triggering chanism: 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 Requirent: 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. Sa sequence logic as the beetle.
Except that now it had beco vibration-sensitive. The beetle didn’t care how close I ca to the floor. The Crawler would be able to feel my movents when I realign myself after the trigger strike.
Which ant 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 sowhere 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 on the far loop, which ant he was coming back around.
I had however much ti 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 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.
Waited.
There was an alteration in the vibrational frequency in the floor — the Crawler had returned. My boots inford 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 sothing 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 assud my stance.
The Crawler ca 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 IMPROVENT — 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 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
thod: Casual recognition based on prior encounter
Relationship ter — 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 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 — na recall / shared floor ntion
Daren reaction flag: Pleased / Comfortable
Relationship ter — 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 ter was increasing exactly like how relationship ters increased once initial trust was established — each successive interaction had less friction than the last.
There was nothing I could do about the relationship ter 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 to do was take out the next Crawler.
I grabbed an additional set of arrows that were in the backup quiver I brought with , looked at the notification for Precision Shot II, and made my way through the lower floor loop.
VORN — ACTIVE INTERACTION: DAREN — CLOSED
Ti elapsed: 2 minutes 18 seconds
Relationship ter: 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 .
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.
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