I only realized I'd been at it for more than five hours when I stepped into the Ninth Circle to continue mapping... and got killed instantly. It already woke up.

  'What if that thing can also think? I mustn't let it suspect a thing. I need the layout first.'

  So I entered 50–60 more times, died 50–60 more times, waited for it to sleep again... and then finished the full layout.

  By the end, I was sitting cross-legged before the slab.

  'Hmm. While it sleeps...' I exhaled through my nose, staring at the map. 'I have to find its resting place somewhere among sixty corridors and over a hundred wooden doors... This might be too much for one cycle.'

  I tapped the stone with a knuckle.

  'I could brute-force it. Cycle after cycle. Kick open every door, hope one of them reveals the bastard curled up... But—'

  My fist tightened.

  'What if doors have traps like the one here in the Final Circle?’

  Memories of me getting shot.

  ‘What if the noise of my armor or the door creaking open wakes it early? Sure, I managed to rob it of its sleep, but then it could just wander to a different room before I reach it after my death. I'd have to brute force again. And maybe fail again. Before it completes its sleep cycles anyway.'

  Tsk.

  “Damn it all!” I shouted.

  'Was this all for nothing?!' I bit down hard on my lip.

  ...No.

  No, I decided I'm taking action.

  I'm done running.

  'But... what can I do?'

  “Makoto,” She called, “What’s the problem?”

  “I… I can’t solve this problem, mom! It’s too difficult…”

  She approached softly.

  “Hmm… I’m not much of a math wiz, I don’t think I can help you here, sweetie.”

  “Damn it, mom… I need it by tomorrow! Why did you even come here, then!?”

  “...”

  I didn’t look at how she reacted to that.

  “Oh! I know,” She said cheerfully. “What always helped me with my math homework when I was your age, was look at answers I’ve already solved and—”

  “But that’s stupid! I’ve already solved them! Forget it. I’ll figure something out.”

  “... Alright sweetie. I need to head out for my night shift. Don’t work too hard, okay?”

  '... I’ll go back to the final circle. That place might give me some insight, or clues on how to approach this.'

  I stood, heading to the busted room in the Final Circle—the one where I'd found the Bottomless Storage Box.

  It was still destroyed.

  ‘I…’

  I took a breath.

  ‘I should’ve been nicer.’

  A beat.

  ‘Doesn’t matter now.’ I shook my head.

  I then looked at the chest again. My eyes scanning the broken room.

  'I remember... That mutt tore this place apart when it smelled me hiding. If it found me here, maybe the layout can tell me something.' I stepped through the gap, boots crunching shattered wood, and scanned the room with my enhanced vision.

  Wide. Empty. Only the remains of the chest.

  'Tsk. Useless. Yes, I know this layout. But rooms in the Ninth Circle might be completely different. Different shapes, different traps.'

  But I did not leave this room. Something stopping me from dismissing it.

  My gaze drifted to the jagged gap the mutt made.

  '...'

  Then I compared everything:

  This level. The Ninth. Their 'residents.' Their conditions.

  '... The final circle in general was already ruined before I arrived. The Ninth is clean. Too clean. And in every door I mapped, not a single one was broken.'

  I stared at my fist.

  'The mutt could’ve destroyed a wooden wall simply by bumping into it accidentally. If the goblin was as strong as the mutt… The Ninth would also be somewhat ruined. That means…’

  ‘... There's a chance that the goblin might not be as strong as the mutt. All the ruin in the Ninth level came from my reckless mapping, after all...'

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  My hand twitched.

  '... And I now have enough strength to deal the same damage the mutt did to this room. If I break every door in the Ninth Circle...'

  My eyes gleamed.

  'Ruin every single room, except one...'

  'Then there won't be any doubt where he hides.'

  And that's when the thought slipped out of me.

  'And that's how I could fucking kill him—'

  Kill him.

  Not 'deprive him of his sleep until he dies'.

  KILL HIM.

  I didn’t feel like I was putting on a show anymore.

  It felt natural. As if planning to buy food on the way back from school.

  Not just any food…

  A delicious ice cream I’d been craving for a week.

  I imagined finding him asleep.

  Grabbing his neck and pinning his small frame down to the floor.

  Squeezing my fingers into his neck and watching the light leave his eyes alongside all its blood.

  I stared at my hands, encased in metal.

  '... Time to get to work.'

  I marched toward the Ninth Circle. Another death cycle.

  He's asleep again.

  I step through the gate.

  At each doorway, I dig my fingers in and swung at the door; completely ruining the doorway.

  Crush the frame.

  Collapse the interior.

  Eradicate every hiding spot within the room.

  If there were traps, they're gone now.

  But then the next problem hit:

  'That thing is small, that I know for a fact.' I thought, staring at the ruined room. 'It could wedge itself between rubble and sleep anyway. No. This doesn't stop him.'

  I sighed.

  'I need to fill this room to the brim. Make sure not even a rat can crawl inside. But how...? If I just drag pieces of slab from the ninth circle, it will take me forever.'

  Then, another image flashed through my mind.

  [Dungeon Mushroom x1]

  [Human Skull x1]

  My Bottomless Inventory (Bottomless Storage Box changed to Bottomless Inventory); capable of holding objects up to 7x7x7 meters in size, each.

  'What if... it can store the stone slabs I break off the dungeon too? If I carve out massive chunks from the Final Circle's walls, shove them into my inventory, then pull them out and stack them in front of every room I ruined… It’ll be like a concrete truck filling a hole to the brim. He won’t have any place to hide… That means…'

  'HE'S. FUCKED.'

  I didn't waste another breath.

  I marched back into the Final Circle, knuckles already cracking against my gauntlets. The place looked the same as always: dim, ruined, scarred by that mutt's rampage... and by mine. But now, instead of feeling trapped, the whole floor looked like a quarry waiting for me to rip it apart.

  'Seven meters by seven by seven…' I muttered, lifting my hand.

  With five hundred Dexterity; and the practice from drawing my map, estimating distance of the granite felt almost trivial. My eyes tracked invisible lines across the floor, tracing a mental square with perfect edges. My body simply... understood it. Every step landed exactly where I meant it to.

  'Here.'

  I sank my fingers into the stone.

  The ground screamed.

  CRR–RRR–RRRRK.

  Veins of cracks shot outward like lightning as I pried upward, tearing a colossal slab from the floor as easily as peeling a sticker. Dust erupted around me, coating my armor in gray. I even shook a little... This was heavy.

  ‘Feels like I’m carrying 10 filled grocery bags in each hand. I wonder how much it weighs. 5 Tons? 10?’

  [NOTE: Granite of that size is much, much, much, much, MUCH heavier than Makoto’s estimate :)]

  A shadow passed over my helmet — the slab rising above my head, held with both hands.

  Seven meters wide. Seven meters long. Seven meters thick.

  Just to be certain, I flicked my finger and used [Inspect Item] on the slab hovering above me.

  [ITEM: Granite Slab (7x7x7m)]

  [Description: A carved-out slab of polished dungeon stone. Heavier than you think!]

  [Rank: Common (F)]

  I let out a dry exhale.

  'So it can read something this big. Good.'

  [Would you like to store: Granite Slab (7x7x7m)?]

  [Yes / No]

  My breath caught.

  'No way...'

  I tapped the window.

  [Stored: Granite Slab (7x7x7m) x1]

  The massive chunk vanished with a soft ripple of blue light.

  Not a tremor. Not a shake. Just gone.

  I stared at my empty hands, then the clean rectangular scar on the floor where the rock used to be.

  'Holy shit...'

  A slow grin stretched beneath my helmet.

  'I can empty this entire floor.'

  I dug my fingers into the adjacent stone and ripped out another slab. Then another. Then another. The rhythm became addictive: grip, pull, shatter, lift, inspect, store. Grip, pull, shatter, lift, inspect, store.

  Chunks of the floor disappeared one after another.

  The Final Circle gradually turned into a sunken pit, like some ancient titan had taken a bite out of the dungeon itself.

  [Stored: Granite Slab (7x7x7m) x11]

  [Stored: Granite Slab (7x7x7m) x18]

  [Stored: Granite Slab (7x7x7m) x24]

  [Stored: Granite Slab (7x7x7m) x37]

  Every time the message appeared, I felt a twisted satisfaction bloom in my chest.

  'I'm actually doing this...'

  Hours bled by.

  Soon, only narrow pillars and untouched corner pieces remained, like a skeleton of the room's former shape. Even those would go next. I carved the walls too, treating them like soft clay — taking out perfect squares of stone with surgical, obsessive precision using my high Dexterity.

  [Stored: Granite Slab (7x7x7m) x52]

  [Stored: Granite Slab (7x7x7m) x88]

  [Stored: Granite Slab (7x7x7m) x143]

  My inventory felt like a dragon's hoard at this point.... Though, all those slabs only took ONE slot.

  That's when I realized just how broken this skill was.

  Finally, when the Final Circle looked like an excavated ruin, I exhaled and wiped sweat from under my helmet.

  'This... this is enough to fill every room in that maze.'

  I flexed my fingers, still tingling from the constant carving.

  'I can seal every door. Every corner. Every hiding spot. All but one.'

  My heartbeat thumped harder.

  'And then...'

  I turned toward the gateway that led back to the Ninth Circle.

  'I'll crush him in his sleep.'

  My lips curled into a grin I barely recognized.

  'Time to end this.'