'I see now.' I thought, looking at the crater I created, noticing I'm standing on a transparent, flat surface.

  'I see why you couldn't escape this place, mutt.' I kneeled to it, touching it. It glowed around my palm.

  'A barrier of some sort?' I stood up, 'So, that means I can't really dig my way out of here... Alright.' I walked down the corridor, going toward the door leading to the Ninth Circle again.

  I re-entered the Ninth Circle. Not 10 steps into the corridor and it came at me.

  Little, wiry, bright green, with dagger-thin limbs and claws like obsidian splinters. Goblin-like, but too smooth, too quick. Its feet didn't make a sound.

  It didn't roar or scream.

  It simply appeared.

  And my head flew off.

  That was death two.

  And as I woke up, I thought;

  'I can see it now,' I grunted as I stood up, back at the Tenth circle. 'A goblin?'

  My first instinct afterward was to pour more points into Dexterity... But just before I did, another thought hit me.

  'I'm not sure it would close the gap. And what if the next levels required Vigor? or INT? No. I guess I'll have to do it old fashioned... Just die to it a bunch of times until it drops dead from sleep deprivation.' I thought, cracking my knuckles...

  ... Not knowing at that time that it would not be that easy.

  Again through the portal.

  This time I raised my arms first, bracing, watching the shadows.

  Nothing.

  No movement. No sound. Just the stale, dense air of the Ninth Circle.

  I took two more steps.

  The creature dropped from the ceiling and pierced my throat before I even realized it had jumped.

  Death three.

  Respawn. Inhale. Exhale. Eyes open.

  'Their levels... they must be absurd. If the mutt was a thousand... then these things must be somewhere close. Fast. Untouchable. Their DEX alone must be higher than my entire existence.'

  I stepped through again.

  'Well. This is a war of attrition. Not battle prowess.'

  This time I sprinted to find it. And much like before—

  The impact was so fast it looked like teleportation.

  My body flipped. Vision spun.

  Death four.

  Attempt 5.

  My feet slid the moment I pushed off. One creature kicked my ankle mid-air, sending me flipping upside-down. Then something sliced through my spine.

  Death five.

  Respawn. Jaw clenched.

  6.

  7.

  14.

  50.

  It preferred killing me quickly every single time. I thought it was nice of it. But that didn't matter. Can it kill me thousands? Can it kill me hundreds of thousands? I'd like to see it try.

  Attempt 51; I was again sprinting...

  ... And sprinting.

  And sprinting.

  Several minutes went by, and I was still not dead; that's when I was sure of it.

  'It could be resting. I need to find it NOW.' I thought as I then used my enhanced speed and sprinted all over the branching corridors, making all the noise I can.

  I could tell in my sprints that this level was bigger than the previous one. Much bigger, even; with more doors leading into more rooms that I still haven't walked into - as I was too busy mentally mapping the dungeon in my mind.

  But then, I started noticing things. Even when I took seemingly new paths and turns, I still wound up in places I've been to unintentionally. A few more turns, and I've lost myself entirely. I wasn't sure where I was at all.

  I was lost; but I kept walking and sprinting...

  Eventually, even I felt exhausted. I ran for hours at full speed, going in loops.

  'I'm...' I huffed and puffed, leaning against the corridor's wall and sliding to a sitting position, looking at dozens of rooms protected by a wooden door.

  'Haven't even explored any of the doors, and I'm still not sure of the layout of this maze-like dungeon... And considering how many hours it's been, that monster's probably fully rested by now.

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  I frowned.

  'God... FUCKING damn it..! My progress has been reset!' I slammed my fist against the wall, a loud bang echoed throughout.

  Blackness.

  I died without even noticing.

  But if there was one thing I learned in the previous level...

  'That if brute force won't work, then even more brute force, WILL.' I growled as I stood at the entrance to the Ninth Circle again.

  Eventually, I'll learn this layout. Surely.

  I entered.

  50 - 60 deaths, instantaneous; then its resting phase.

  I ran around, still lost myself.

  Died again a few hours later. Reset progress.

  50 - 60 deaths, resting phase - then I explored frantically. Collapsed from exhaustion and died to it again.

  And after what felt like days on end, at least 15 more cycles of dying and exploring, I noticed something that annoyed me.

  'No matter how many times I explore that place, I still manage to get lost and not remember the way. And I'm certain that place doesn't shift or change its layout.'

  'I...' I looked at the ground of the Final Circle, my home. 'Is just pouring everything I have into Dex my only way?'

  I opened my status window, looking at my Dex.

  'How else will I learn where that thing sleeps? How can I learn the layout of this whole place? I could just keep going forever...' I thought as I scrolled through my status window...

  Looking at my age.

  Age: 17.5

  '... But I don't have forever. My clock is ticking every second I waste away here.' I clenched my fist.

  'I need a way to map that area—'

  MAP.

  The word echoed in my skull.

  Of course.

  Map the area.

  '... But how?' I asked myself, 'Last time I checked there's no pen or paper in this dump. Just stone and...' I realized.

  '... My finger. That is so strong, it can carve into said stone. But... Don't I need a compass?' I stood, looking around.

  'There's no way of telling where my North is... Maybe there's a McGyver way to improvise a compass, but I haven't the slightest idea. Damn it...' I looked at the doorway to the Ninth Circle...

  'Hmmm...' I looked down, rubbing where my chin is on my helmet.

  'Wait a minute. Do... Do I even need North to draw a map? My teacher always said I can't draw a map without North... But the North is just a direction.... I think. What if I decide that 'straight-forward' is my North, and carve a map into stone based on that? And just... Never change the North I've made up for myself?'

  I could feel my eyes flare.

  'Worths a shot.' And thus I entered once more, letting that Goblin slaughter me 50 more times before it went into its resting phase.

  That's when I started my plan.

  I walked up to a random, smooth slab of stone-granite on the wall of the Final Circle; digging my fingers into the stone. The surface split with a gritty shriek as I wedged my hand deeper, prying out a rectangular chunk. Dust plumed. Pebbles scattered. I barely felt the pressure as the stone gave way, snapping free with a heavy crack.

  The slab was thrice or four times as thick and twice as big as me, but I carried it with ease.

  'Haaah...' I exhaled, lowering the slab beside the doorway to the Ninth Circle. It landed with a dull thud. Not too big, not too small. Good enough for a first attempt.

  'Okay. My North...' I stood exactly at the entrance and pointed straight ahead. 'Is that way. Forward. Never change it.'

  Just saying it out loud made something click in my skull. Artificial or not, direction was direction.

  I tightened my gauntlet, rolled my shoulders once, and stepped into the Ninth Circle again.

  Silence. The thing was sleeping. Good.

  I ran in a perfectly straight line, letting the corridor stretch in front of me until I reached the first split; a crossway with three branching paths yawning into the dark.

  'There. First landmark.'

  I turned around and sprinted back the way I came, boots smacking stone. The doorway reappeared, then the Final Circle's familiar damp scent washed over me.

  I knelt by the slab.

  'Alright. Straight line first.'

  I pressed my fingertip to the stone. It carved instantly, dragging a straight groove from bottom to top.

  ‘Clean and straight... I suppose that was my high Dex at play here.’

  'And here...' I made a small perpendicular mark where the crossway should be. 'My first branch.'

  I stood, returned to the Ninth Circle, and jogged back to that exact split. This time, I chose the leftmost path.

  I sprinted down it until I reached the end—a dead-end, no doors, no branches—then dashed back. Once at the entrance again, I crouched by the slab and carved a stubby line branching from the first intersection. That was the left turn I took.

  'Good.'

  As I studied this almost-map taking shape beneath my fingers... something in my chest thumped in a way I hadn't felt since a while ago when I learned I could do backflips.

  Almost like a pulse waking up again.

  'I'm... having fun?' I wondered briefly before shaking my head.

  That's something for me to ponder later.

  Back in.

  To the crossway.

  Right path this time.

  This one stretched longer. It reached a door at the end. I didn't open it. Just noted it. Then sprinted all the way back.

  Carved it.

  Another branch. Longer this time. With a little square at the end for the door.

  Hours passed like this. Run, return, carve. Run, return, carve.

  Each time I drew another path, the slab grew more crowded. My straight line thickened with branching symbols, intersections, turns, dead-ends. Before long, the stone was a messy spiderweb.

  'Fuck...' I sat back on my heels. 'It's... too big.'

  The slab was full. The Ninth Circle was not even fully mapped yet and already the stone looked like a toddler's scribble.

  'I suppose I deserve this for drawing it bigger than I have to...' I rubbed my helmet against my palm. 'I should've made everything smaller from the beginning. Damn it!'

  Annoyance rose in my chest like bile.

  'Great. Now I have to copy the whole thing. Onto a bigger slab, just in case... But smaller; also in case that place is bigger than I thought... God damn it.'

  I pushed myself up, marched to another part of the wall, and jammed my fingers in again. This time I carved out a much larger slab—wide enough to hold everything I needed.

  I dragged it beside the old one, dropped it with a heavy slam, and stared between the two.

  'Okay... small scale. For real this time.'

  I dragged my fingertip along the new stone, carefully copying each line from the messy slab—only smaller, tighter, cleaner.

  The work was tedious, but smooth; like I knew how to draw my whole life.

  ‘High Dexterity copying is something else…’

  Slowly, the map began to form.

  Neat. Legible. Compact.

  By the time I finished, sweat dripped down my neck despite not breaking a sweat at all.

  'There. Better.' I shoved the old slab with my foot, sliding it aside. 'Now I can actually fit the rest.'

  I wiped my fingertip on my gauntlet, stood, and cracked my knuckles.

  'Round two.'

  And I marched back into the Ninth Circle — ready to turn the entire maze into stone lines under my thumb.