Alexander paused at the junction where the tunnel widened, holding up his hand for the team to stop. He crouched down, examining the dusty floor with a frown.

  "Look at this," he said, gesturing to a long, curved impression in the dirt. "Something massive dragged itself through here."

  Riva knelt beside him, running her fingers along the edge of the mark. "Too regur to be a cave-in. This was made by something moving."

  Valeria shone her light down the connecting passage. "We've been exploring these deeper tunnels for three days since finally solving the Rooted Maze, and the signs are getting more obvious. Whatever it is, we're getting closer."

  Alexander nodded, satisfied with their progress. The maze had been frustrating—shifting root tunnels that reconfigured themselves just when they thought they had found the pattern. But their systematic approach and the resource gathering they'd done had eventually paid off. With the maze challenge completed, they could now focus on the floor's guardian.

  They'd been on Floor 2 for what felt like weeks now. Time was difficult to track precisely in the perpetual darkness of the tunnels, but Alexander knew they were taking longer than optimal. Their team had solid skills, but they were still finding their rhythm, with occasional miscommunications and inefficiencies that cost them time. More than once, he'd found himself wishing for someone with specialized technical skills who could help them navigate the tunnel systems more effectively.

  Alexander nodded, straightening up. "The Tunnel Serpent. Has to be."

  Elijah had wandered a few steps ahead, his bioluminescent torch casting eerie blue shadows along the walls. He stopped suddenly.

  "Everyone, you need to see this."

  The team moved forward, lights converging on what had caught Elijah's attention. Draped across a rock outcropping was an enormous shed skin, at least twenty feet long and wide enough that Alexander could have crawled inside it. The translucent material shimmered with iridescent green patterns where their lights touched it.

  "That's..." Valeria's voice faltered. "That's not from anything we've encountered so far."

  Riva approached it cautiously, drawing a small knife from her belt. She carefully cut a sample from the edge, holding it up to her light.

  "The scales have a crystalline structure," she said, professional curiosity overriding her evident unease. "Interesting defensive adaptation for an underground predator."

  Alexander touched the shed skin, feeling its surprising strength despite its thinness.

  "This is just what it discarded," he said quietly. "Imagine the actual size."

  "We won't have to imagine for much longer if we keep going this way," Valeria replied.

  As they continued deeper, the signs became impossible to ignore. They passed through a section of tunnel that was perfectly cylindrical, the walls polished smooth as if bored through solid rock. Small pebbles on the floor trembled occasionally, coinciding with distant sounds that might have been rock falls... or something much rger moving through the tunnel system.

  At a wider chamber where several passages met, they encountered a group of pyers hastily retreating toward the upper levels. Two were supporting a third between them, his leg wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.

  "Don't go that way," the injured man warned, grimacing in pain. "It came out of nowhere. Moved faster than something that size should be able to."

  Alexander approached them. "We're tracking the Tunnel Serpent. Any information you can share could help us prepare."

  The uninjured woman shook her head. "It's a suicide mission. The thing is enormous, and it knows these tunnels better than any of us."

  "Even so," Alexander pressed. "What exactly did you see? How did it attack?"

  The pyers shared a look, then the man with the wounded teammate sighed.

  "It doesn't slither like a normal snake. It seems to... pulse forward, using the tunnel walls for push-off. Makes it faster than you'd expect. Strikes from above when it can."

  "It's got these glowing eyes," added the woman. "You'll see them reflect your light before you see the rest of it. If you spot that reflection, you've got maybe two seconds to dodge."

  Alexander nodded, committing the details to memory. "Thank you. Get your friend to safety."

  As the group moved on, he turned to his team. "We need to gather more information before we engage. Let's set up a temporary camp here and speak to anyone else coming back from the deeper tunnels."

  Over the next several hours, they established a systematic intelligence operation. Alexander interviewed every pyer who passed through, compiling accounts of encounters with the guardian. Elijah examined injuries, assessing attack patterns and force. Valeria sketched a rudimentary map, marking reported sightings and attack locations.

  Riva continued analyzing the shed skin samples, using her small field kit to test properties.

  "The scales are remarkably heat-resistant," she reported. "And the material is too tough for standard bdes. But there's an interesting property—the crystalline structure seems brittle when struck at precise angles."

  As night cycle approached (though it made little difference in the perpetual darkness of the tunnels), Alexander gathered the team to review their findings.

  "Here's what we know," he said, pointing to Valeria's map. "The guardian appears to have a central territory around this chamber here, but it patrols through these three main tunnel systems in a roughly predictable pattern."

  He traced the routes with his finger.

  "It's sensitive to ground vibrations, which it uses to detect prey. But this also means we can detect it—those tremors we've been feeling aren't random. They correspond to its movements."

  Elijah nodded. "From the injuries I've seen, it attacks primarily by constriction after an initial strike. The pressure is immense—broken ribs, crushed limbs. Direct hits are likely fatal."

  "The good news," Alexander continued, "is that despite its speed, its size means its movements are somewhat predictable. Once committed to a strike, it can't change direction quickly. That gives us a dodge window."

  Riva held up her sample. "And I've identified a weakness. The scales are tough head-on but vulnerable to teral strikes. If we can target the joints between scale sections, we might be able to damage it."

  Valeria had been quiet, monitoring the subtle vibrations in the ground with a small device she'd constructed from salvaged parts.

  "It's moving again," she said softly. "Coming this way, but still deep in the tunnel system. Probably an hour out at its normal patrol speed."

  Alexander nodded, feeling the familiar calm of pre-battle pnning settle over him. They were as prepared as they could be without directly engaging the guardian.

  "We rest in shifts for the next few hours," he decided. "No fires, minimal light. We need to be at full strength."

  As the others prepared their camp, Alexander stayed up, reviewing the combat strategy he'd developed. The tunnel serpent would be his team's first major guardian battle. Unlike the Root Warden on Floor 1, which had been little more than a training exercise, this would be a true test.

  He felt the faintest tremor through the stone where he sat. Somewhere in the darkness ahead, something massive was moving, scales sliding against stone as it patrolled its domain. The hunt was coming.