4.34 – Swapped III

4.34 – Swapped III

Natalie helped undress Ana. Or undress herself. Because it was her armor, and her body. But that didn't change the fact that, more than anything, it felt like she was stripping her teammate.

What a mess.

Sensing Natalie's awkwardness, Ana politely avoided looking down at her body—Natalie's body—as she undressed. It was clearly for Natalie's sake.

Natalie sighed. "You don't have to do that. You can look. There's no point tip-toeing around each other."

Ana studied her for a moment. "I agree. But if you're uncomfortable with it, then you're uncomfortable."

"It's whatever."

Slowly, Ana nodded. "Then, it is rather difficult to avoid," she admitted. "Especially with how much you have up top. There's too much to not accidentally look." To emphasize the point, she cupped her breasts and bounced them, showcasing Natalie's unwieldy assets.

Natalie stared at her, disbelieving of what the clueless girl had so casually done. She shook her head in incredulity, then continued helping Ana unstrap her gear. This girl.

"Then again," Ana commented idly, "maybe you're just saying I can look so that you can look."

Natalie started to protest, but stopped before the words came out. Despite Ana's face—Natalie's face?—being passive, like it always was, Natalie detected a hint of sparkling eyes.

"You're messing with me," she said in realization. "Wait. All of it? The bouncing too?"

"Yes," Ana said. "I would think that was obvious, but I've been told it's difficult to tell when I'm joking. So I understand."

The words were delivered with a complete deadpan. Natalie stared at her, then gave a short, incredulous laugh. "Difficult. That's putting it lightly. Anyway," she said, happy to grab onto a conversational topic to distract from the fact she was helping peel armor off of Ana. "You do joke, then. What about that stuff with Sofia?" She hadn't been able to tell.

"My offer to be her owner?" Ana asked. "And my stating that the situation was humorous?" She hummed. "It depends what you define as a joke, I suppose."

It took Natalie a second to understand what she meant. "The offer was real, but you were also teasing."

"More or less."

"But, you meant it? You wanted Sofia as a pet?"

"Who wouldn't?"

That was fair. But Natalie was more than a bit shocked to hear Ana state it outright.

"After all, she's a proficient duelist," Ana said. "And an extra pair of hands never hurts. She'd make an excellent pet. One of the best familiars I could imagine, down in the dungeon."

It was as if Ana's complete disregard for the situation was making it worse for Natalie. That all of the embarrassment the mage should have been feeling was siphoning straight to Natalie, so that her cheeks were burning hot enough for the both of them.

"Ready?" Natalie asked, staring forward at the door, purposefully avoiding Ana. "Be ready for anything. It's letting us keep our weapons, which makes me suspicious."

"I'll be ready."

Nodding, Natalie pushed through the door, holding her hammer at the ready.

She'd been right to be concerned, because not two steps in, skittering and scratching noises appeared at the far end of the room. Her eyes latched to a small, shin-high opening, which a swarm of crystal spiders were scurrying out from.

She spared a moment to wonder at the ridiculousness of her life. In an instant, she was transitioning from blushing at Ana's nakedness to readying herself for a fight against a crowd of magical crystal spiders. Her life had really become so absurd.

At least they weren't real insects. These ones were just made of crystal.

Though, it wasn't all good news.

"Swarmers," Natalie grunted. "This is gonna be annoying."

Natalie smashed the first spider with a solid downward swing—it took the small beast out in a single hit. Unfortunately, there were at least two dozen of the things piling out of the opening. Of any encounter type, their team was worst against swarmers. Natalie, Sofia, and Jordan were all specialized in single-target damage, which was generally good for bosses—the most important encounter type—but that lopsidedness did create problems for situations like these.

Though, that was one of the major reasons Ana had fit well into their team. She had a suite of area-of-effect spells that shored up their primary weakness.

Ribbons of black light writhed up from the ground, then started slashing at the incoming horde. Natalie smacked down on a second spider, then slapped away a third that lunged for her. Its sharp, crystalline legs scraped her as she batted it, but it didn't draw blood. The spiders were far weaker than they normally would be—designed with a two-person, naked squad in mind.

Still, she wasn't happy about having to fend off dozens of quick, sharp-edged spiders while naked and swinging around a giant hammer. Another turned to dust as she slammed her weapon down, and she kicked two more. Several slipped past her, headed for Ana, and there unfortunately wasn't much Natalie could do to stop them. An [Illusion], maybe, but that didn't feel appropriate without a greater threat—she should save her mana.

The mage conjured black energy to defend herself, backtracking as she kited the persistent mini-mobs, but when they lunged and snuck in attacks, Ana wasn't durable enough that she could brush their attacks off like Natalie had; they drew blood. Natalie trailed after her and continued to do her best to clear them away.

She really hated swarming monsters.

It was hardly a lethal encounter, though. Soon enough, all of the aggravating, vicious crystal monstrosities had been pulverized or slashed in half by black energy.

The two girls panted in exertion, watching the last corpse dissipate into black smoke.

A loud click rung through the room, making Natalie jump. An even louder crash followed right after, and Natalie spun to see a wooden treasure chest settling onto the tile floor. Had it dropped from the ceiling?

Not a second round of monsters, then, but their first reward. A progressing series of challenges? Maybe with better rewards after each room?

Regardless, Natalie hefted up her hammer and approached the chest, curious to see what they had earned.