Mutually Beneficial Dungeoneering 8 (Patreon)

Mara took in a deep breath. Let it fill her lungs. Expand her chest.

She tested the range of motion on the latest armor upgrade that Benny had made for her, stretching her arms, doing jumping jacks, swinging her sword, hopping in place, and doing stretches. Somehow, despite the fact that she was wearing a cowl shaped like a wolf's head, and had a flowing cape trailing from her upper back, she managed to get through all of her exercises without a single snag.

Even worse... despite her misgivings, it was exactly as she had expected. She could move far more freely with this sort of armor, and it did actually match and fit. "Does it have to look like this though?" she protested.

Benny's creations had a... remarkably consistent style.

Despite the metallic plates, it seemed to move with her body. Tight to her skin, yet moving as she breathed, allowing her to breathe.

"It feels like I'm wearing nothing at all!"

It was like a metallic second skin, black with a shiny finish. It covered her breasts almost like a bustier, raising and emphasizing them, making them look bigger than they were. Slim ties of leather connected her top to the pads on her shoulder, which themselves were connected to her cowl via leather straps that she could hook on. Easy to put on, easy to remove if needed. 

The cape behind her flowed like water, and it was hard to actually get a grip on. The power of a Dungeon Core, apparently. Kamadeva's cores seemed well suited for anything involving fluidity, movement or health improvements, and Mara's gear clearly showed it.

She looked down at her feet. Heels. Fucking heeled boots. Enough so that she actually felt slightly taller wearing them, and yet it had only taken a couple of steps to find herself well balanced, perhaps even better than with small heeled combat boots.

The boots were of the same make as her top, and went up to mid thigh, though the only real armoring on it were the greaves. 

It was all well and good, really. Great. She would've hoped not to show off her belly button and everything between her chest and neck, but she would trust Benny when he said she would be well protected, even if she had a sneaking suspicion the belly button window was just a fetish.

Benny seemed at least a little embarrassed. "I thought long and hard about what would be the best fit!"

Putting her hands on her hips, balled up into fists, and glaring at the giggling Cupcake and the apologetic Benny, Mara made her best attempt at looking bemused. "And the best fit was a pair of side tie panties with pompoms?"

Benny winced. "I... I needed it to tie the outfit together?" he tried. "I had some leftover fur, and, uhm, a few bits of dungeon core left that I didn't have any use for so..."

Mara sighed, bringing a hand down. The panties were the only part of the outfit that was not metallic in anyway. She actually used quite a bit of strength, patting her crotch. Of course, they were absolutely amazingly good at protecting her crotch. "Why are they so comfortable?"

"Ah! I've actually had quite a bit of experience with that! I had to practice real hard as I usually make this sort of clothing only for myself!"

Mara blinked. "Wait... so..."

Benny smiled widely. "Yeah! It's the same kind of protection I wear!" he said, bringing a hand down to his own metallic underwear, or rather outerwear, rapping his knuckles on it as if to demonstrate. "It's one of the weakest and most easily hit areas of the body so protecting it is very important."

How he wore those considering the monster cock he was packing, Mara didn't know. 

Either way... with everyone armored and armed, it was time to venture once more into Kamadeva. The preparing room at the entrance was tidied up, and the belongings they didn't want to lose were left at a locked strongbox rented from the adventurer's guild, the key itself left with Rosie.

Rosie had been busy with some other adventurers, but had still found a little bit of time to give them some advice. Especially as they were looking to head into floor two.

There were a few ways down, but it was not advisable to fight much on the way there. Monsters tended to avoid adventurers that could kill them easily, but going out of your way to combat them would just tire you out.

"And you're gonna need all your energy for the monsters on floor two, the weakest monster there is the Lesser Orc, and it's level three!" she'd lectured them.

Still... after a bit of searching, and more than a bit of time, they found a flight of stairs that lead down, in an abandoned Goblin Village, and they followed those down to the second floor.

Still a very cavey-like place, but the brownish dirt had changed, become a bit grayer in tone, and the light was dimmer.

"You know, come to think of it, isn't it weird that we can see just fine even though there aren't any lights?" Cupcake asked.

Huh. That... was actually weird. Mara scratched her cheek. "The previous floor had torches everywhere, I guess goblins need light to see... but..."

Benny smiled, and patted one of the walls of the relatively narrow passage that the stairs led down into. "This is Fluorescentite," he explained. "Usually you need to mix it with something else, but I'd guess the wall's got at least enough stuff mixed into it that it provokes this reaction. It's pretty but relatively soft and weak for rock. Very hard to work with, crumbles easily," Benny explained. "And it loses its shine very quickly... I guess the dungeon's special though."

Mara hummed. "You know a lot."

"Well, I did have to study exotic materials," Benny explained.

Cupcake seemed appreciative. "If it results in you making more of these," she pulled one of her knives, well balanced throwing weapons, "then I'm totally glad you're a studybug," she said, grinning. "Also, this new set of clothes is awesome," she spoke.

Unlike Mara, Cupcake had absolutely no objection to wearing a second skin. Hers wasn't metal armored, instead, it was purely made of cloth and leather, a white, skin tight leotard that was eaten up by her fat ass cheeks, and strained to contain her tits, with a leather thong and bra set in tanned brown, as well as a belt around her waist that had her knives and darts hanging from it, as well as bags for loot. 

"I'm glad," Benny said, grabbing at his own belt, which held an iron rod that had a very similar shape to a sword.

The latest experiment... and the one that had worked best for him so far. An iron rod and a small, disk shaped shield, set on his left wrist. His armor was tinted blue, and was noticeably less decorated than Mara or Cupcake's, a testament to his priorities.

"Alright, we'll-"

A roaring scream came from right ahead of them, and all of them looked down the carved passage to see one of the second floor's monsters, a lesser orc, rushing towards them.

It was about a head taller than Mara, about two times as wide as her at the shoulder, three times at the belly, and it carried a club the size of Cupcake, of rough and gnarled wood, on his left hand, and a large axe on the other.

And then before it reached them, from several paces away, it stopped, even as they took a combat stance, each of them readying to fight.

"What the, why did it stop?" Benny asked.

Cupcake prepared to throw.

"The passage, it's too narrow, it realized it would be too small to move in!" Mara said, looking at how the passage seemed to grow wider the further it went away from the stairs. 

Cupcake snorted. "Well... if it's not coming to us..."

"Then we'll go to it!" Mara agreed. "Cupcake, cover our advance, Benny, with me and ready to block!"

"On it!" Cupcake shouted, moving to Mara's left, and preparing to throw her knives.

"Ready!" Benny moved to her right, raising his shield. 

The orc roared. 

"Now!" Mara shouted, running to the orc's left, with Benny right behind her, at the same time as several knives cut through the air in the orc's general direction.

It slapped some of the knives away and had the rest embed themselves shallowly on its flesh, its tough skin and thick fat preventing the attack from dealing major damage...

It swung the club on its right hand down, but Mara slid under it, skidding on the ground while Benny raised his shield and took the blow, grunting in effort. His free hand moved and the iron rod on it struck at the orc's other arm, at its hand, forcing it to drop the axe it was wielding. 

Mara was now behind the orc, and she pulled her sword from her waist, the weapon slicing through the air and meeting the orc's empty hand, as it swung wildly to try to catch the attack. The arm went flying, and the orc roared, spraying its blood.

"Finish him!" Mara shouted.

Cupcake's aim was true and deadly, and a knife struck the back of the orc's thick, wide neck, its tip erupting from the other side, as the knife buried itself and went through, stopped only by just how ridiculously tough and strong the skin and muscle it pierced was.

The orc crashed down, and Mara had to roll out of the way. 

It was dead, and it was time to recover the resources used to take it down, and make sure everyone was okay.

"Whoa, that... was a tougher monster than I expected," Mara muttered. "Even at a new level, and with all new gear, we can't take things lightly, huh?"

Grabbing one of her knives, Cupcake hummed. "I need to remember to throw at these with a lot more strength. Damn, I didn't even pierce the flesh, just the fat," she spoke, as she looked at the hole that wasn't even bleeding on the orc's arm.

Benny rubbed his chin. "I think I could use Orc Fat as insulation but... maybe later? I think Kamadeva has a snow floor," he said. "It could come in handy then... but it's super heavy."

Mara shrugged. "We'll deal with that when we get there. It's pretty far down!" she said. "Still..."

"You're curious, aren't you?" Cupcake asked.

"Curious about what?" Benny asked, confused. 

"Well..." Mara looked aside. "Well, you know... how we got levels really quickly and all..."

Benny blinked. "You... you mean doing... that? With..."

Cupcake's nose twitched as she approached the orc's lower half. Its brown, unknown fabric loincloth was moved aside. Despite its towering height and the thick, powerful muscles covered by fat... 

"That's disappointing," Cupcake said, looking at the orc's cock and balls. "His balls are the size of my tits but his cock's the size of my pinky."

Mara winced. "Maybe they're growers, not showers?"

Benny blushed. "I- I- that's-" he swallowed. "I mean that's possible..." he muttered. "Uhm, could- could we get a move on?"

"Are you uncomfortable?" Cupcake asked.

"No- I- ah," Benny shook his head. "I really need to pee."

Mara blinked. Then she laughed. "Right... let's keep exploring. I want to have an idea of what we're dealing with before we start taking quests here. We'll look for a quiet, out of the way spot so you can take care of business and... maybe we'll look into some quick leveling options..."

Cupcake grinned. "Aw yeah, that's what I'm talking 'bout!" she cried, pumping her fist.

Benny nodded, and did the same as Cupcake, with his shield arm. "Let's get some levels and even better gear!"

"Yeah..." Mara agreed, though already, she was beginning to feel the slightest bit of trepidation, and perhaps a hint of excitement, at the thought of it.