A day must have passed in this new sanctuary of his. He'd examined every inch of it—it was much more cramped than his first floor sanctuary, which had been spacious with two entrances. This one only had the narrow gap he'd crawled through, barely wide enough to let him pass.
That rabbit had been acting strange too. It was able to get inside without being killed, but it acted weird once it entered. Its previous aggressive nature seemed to vanish, and it had acted confused, if he had to describe it.
What bothered him was his theory about what the sanctuary would do. Like his previous hypothesis about what happened with the roaches—well, he'd been knocked out then, so he didn't know what actually happened. But he hadn't let go of that idea, so there must be some condition that needed to be fulfilled for the sanctuary's defenses to activate.
Whatever was true, he couldn't rely on information that hadn't been verified yet, at least not by him. But at least he had something he could use as a last resort in the back of his mind.
However, he had to continue his journey on the second floor and map it out completely using only his memory.
He checked his gear to make sure he knew where everything was, so he could pull it out when needed—even in extreme circumstances where he was under immense fear and panic. After doing so, he was prepared to leave the sanctuary.
Before going out, though, he made sure to scan everywhere so he wouldn't get ambushed by a patrol of mutated rabbits or scorpions.
After confirming there were no monsters nearby, he left the sanctuary and headed toward the other half of the second floor.
He ventured into the unknown once again. His goal was twofold: to map out the entirety of the second floor completely, and to find the stairway to the third floor. He might have forgotten its location before, since he'd just been following his team members. When he'd been running away toward the first floor, it was through sheer tenacity and luck that he'd managed to make it all the way up here.
Now he'd have to do it himself so he wouldn't get lost. He had all the time in the world anyway, at least down here.
"Haaa, if only I wasn't so dumb with this type of stuff." He could only sigh at his own inadequacies, which were starting to show now that he was no longer in his comfort zone.
Meanwhile, while he was mapping out the second floor, the twenty people who had survived had managed to reach back to the fifteenth floor. They were now severely lacking necessary supplies like food, potions, and their weapons—no matter how well they maintained them—were reaching their limits. Even their spares had been repurposed for other uses. Still, they had yet to see the entrance, the only entrance to this hellhole.
"Hey, you think Benny made it out of here safely?" one of them asked.
"You mean that weak-ass son of a bitch crybaby guard? Who cares? I'm still mad you gave that loser precious supplies," spoke another member of the group.
"Don't be too harsh. He was actually a good dude, don't you think? He was quiet, yeah, and a bit antisocial. But I think he was decent. He was a scaredy cat, but when it came time to make harsh decisions, he gladly took the blows meant for others."
"While I agree with your statement, don't you think he was an oddball coming down here in the first place if he was that afraid?"
"Pfft, and you think any of us are better? You can fool yourselves into thinking you're brave since you're still here. But where did that bravery take us? Nowhere, right? So stop spouting such righteous nonsense. Just admit the fact that we're all afraid of death down here. Even that guy—what was his name again? Be...?"
"Benny. That was his name. Well, I hope he survived and told people to come rescue us, or he might have met his end already. That hardly matters now for us," said the leader of the remaining pioneer explorers.
The conversation died down as they continued their desperate climb toward the surface. Each floor they ascended brought new dangers, and their dwindling supplies meant every decision could be their last. Some wondered if they'd made the right choice letting Benny run first, while others remained convinced it had been necessary for their survival—at least someone else would make it up top to tell their tale.
None of them knew that far above them, the man they'd told to run was methodically exploring and growing stronger in ways they couldn't imagine. While they struggled to escape the labyrinth's depths, Benny was learning to master them.
Back on top of the second floor, Benny moved carefully through the unexplored sections, his newfound sanctuary serving as a secure base of operations. He was no longer the same terrified guard who'd stumbled into this place months ago. The labyrinth was changing him, and he was beginning to change it in return.
His mapping continued, each corridor and chamber carefully memorized. Soon he'd know this floor better than anyone who'd ever set foot in it—well, they were the first expedition, so he'd have to claim all the glory of mapping these floors. And then, when he was ready, he'd descend even deeper into the darkness that had claimed so many of them.
Out of the hundred pioneer explorers who'd originally entered, only thirty-one had survived the initial descent. Twenty-one of them were still trapped in the labyrinth, fighting for their lives that included Benny, while the cowardly ten had already returned to Tiamerith to spin their own lies about what had occurred down here.
But unlike those who'd come with Benny, he had something they'd lacked—time, patience, and the hard-earned knowledge that sometimes the greatest strength came from accepting your own weakness.