Mutually Beneficial Dungeoneering 15 (Patreon)

Rush forward, run like the wind itself can't catch up! Strong, slender legs, as shapely as they were mighty, smooth dark skin revealed for all to watch as she stepped around enemy attacks like flowing water, crashing upon the foe like a rampaging stream, and tearing apart the opposition with furious speed and impeccable skill.

Mara dug her heels and came to a rest several meters behind the Ogres that had impeded their path. The two gray skinned lumpy, fat and yet massively overmuscled monsters stood there, dopey looks to their one eyed faces, until one of them tried to turn around, only for his head to topple off his body, falling behind it, his hands going for the neck, which spewed blood at high speeds, before the body, too, fell to the ground, first on its knees, then losing all strength.

The second Ogre tried to grasp at its own head, terrified at the thought of what happened to his comrade, holding it in place with its empty left hand as he turned around.

Mara grinned as she turned to face the ogre, crossing her arms.

The ogre roared and with its right hand, holding a ridiculously massive, if dull, broadsword, it threatened to attack...

But then it stumbled forward, and the sound of multiple bladed weapons impacting against its strong skin, burying themselves into the fat and muscles of its back, distracted the ogre, leaving it totally and completely open for the follow up, as the party's smith crashed down upon it like a meteor from the open skies.

The fourth floor took the form of a maze-like canyon, and indeed, it faked the appearance of an open sky. In truth, it was merely blue rocks that were of a similar color to a cloudless sky, and the few 'clouds' upon it were actually spiderwebs.

The orange walls were made of a crumbly, clay-like substance that was quite thick, creating choke points and narrow passages in many places, but which a good, strong hit could break apart, opening the way. There was bedrock beneath, sturdier than even enchanted steel. 

Mara wiped her forehead. "This is going better than expected," she said, grinning, "you guys are doing fantastic!"

"Damn I didn't really notice it before but it's super hard keeping up with you, girl!" Cupcake stated, as she came running on her short legs, towards the second fallen ogre. "I could barely pierce its skin..." she muttered. "I think I'll need to start using the good stuff," she muttered, looking at her slightly warped and bent knives. "Yeah, we're gonna need to get some new weapons," she said. "You think you're up to the task, Benny?"

The Smith nodded. "Y-Yeah, I guess," he said, pulling his mace out of the Ogre's skull. "I... think I've got some ideas. Can we get some more of these guys' bones?" he said, as the ogre body beneath him began to fade, leaving the common drop for the ogres behind.

"I've heard the expression big boned before, but that's ridiculous," Cupcake stated, looking at the massive bone that kinda sorta resembled a femur. 

"If we can get a skull, it'd be great," Benny added, grabbing the bone and swinging it around. "Yep, as expected, it's heavy and sturdy, I think I could make some good thrown knives with this, but you'll have to get used to their new weight."

"It'll be fiiiine," Cupcake said, waving her hand. "I'll just train my fingers some more," she said with a wink.

Mara snorted. 

Benny blushed, but chuckled nervously. "To be honest, it's still a bit hard to get used to getting so much stronger so quickly," he admitted, raising his mace, as if testing its weight, then swinging it against the clay-like wall. "These walls are stronger than the city walls in many places," he said, his weapon going through the dungeon wall like it was glass, and it shattered just like that.

"What, really?" Mara asked. "But it's like crappy clay," she said, reaching for the closest wall. 

Worse than that, her fingers would go right through it if she poked it hard.

Cupcake laughed. "You're not even aware of how strong you've become, aren't you?" she asked. "Betcha you weren't expecting you'd be this strong six months ago, huh?"

"Have we been together that long?" Mara asked, frowning. "It feels like it's just been a couple weeks..." she said, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, glaring into the distant fake sky, averting her gaze from her teammates.

"Well you've been taking us pretty far pretty fast," Benny said. "It can take over a year for an adventurer just to get to level five," he said, closing his eye. "Some never go past that, even."

Mara sighed. "Some people spend their entire life content with mediocrity," she said, "but we've got an opportunity to be more than that, I'm not weird just because I want to take it, am I?" she asked. "I mean- I guess I've been pushing a little hard, but-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, losing sucks, and I don't like it any more than you do," Cupcake said. "Especially when it doesn't come with a deep pipe cleaning. I'm not sure I can ever go back to gnome dicks after this," she said, "maybe humans are fine though," she said, eyeing up Benny.

"Using Benny as a standard to judge humans by will leave you very disappointed," Mara snarked. "Speaking about which," she said, walking up to Benny, who was cleaning up his armor, she looked him up and down, and focused on his midsection.

Everything under his solar plexus was bare, revealing his very well formed abdominals, and the fact that he had remarkably smooth skin. She poked his muscles, then nodded. 

"Eh...? Do I have something weird on me?" Benny asked.

"Besides the fact that you're wearing weird armor," Mara mused, happy that he'd at least added a loincloth to his usual getup, though it still looked way too much like he was wearing a pair of panties, "your muscles are looking pretty great," she said. "But the musculature is..."

"Huh, so it's not my imagination?" Cupcake asked. "Benny you're looking a bit girlier than usual."

"G-Girly?" Benny asked. "... you don't think it's got anything to do with-"

"We all agreed we would never speak about that again!" Mara shouted. "We will NOT speak of those events," she said, "nor will we remind each other of it, and we will never challenge the boss of the third floor again," she said. "Don't make me hit you upside the head until you get amnesia from it!"

Benny flinched, and Cupcake laughed.

"Alright, let's keep moving, we'll make sure we're able to take the monsters here, and then we'll work on leveling up some more!" Mara said, raising her sword, the cape of her cowl billowing behind her.

At last, she was finally able to wear it again, now that there were no more cats to worry about that could tear her cowl to shreds with their anti-armor claws, she was back to wearing her favorite set of clothes! She jumped into the air, and felt it shake behind her as she came back down.

Beside her, the other two caught up shortly, as she took off at a run once again, putting in only a fraction of her full strength, using the full extent of her agility. This was such a better floor, she felt so much better in it, running along its floors, jumping high into the air, even defying gravity and running along the walls, watching them crumble under her feet as she did so... she was filled with exhilaration!

Each step moved her forward, physically and mentally! She laughed earnestly and from the bottom of her heart, jumping from wall to wall, even doing a pirouette to squeeze past a narrow pass, followed by her party. 

Bouncing from wall to wall, she was almost too entertained to notice that there was something strange going on in the distance. The walls of the canyon weren't all the same height, and Mara built up speed and force by bouncing off back and forth until she reached the highest part, jumping off to gain further height, and looking down towards where she had caught a glimpse of action, and got a good eyeful of it.

As she hit the ground she was unsurprised to find Benny and Cupcake catching up to her, both of them skidding to a stop before they ran into her.

She hummed. "Well at least now I know how the dungeon has so many monsters," she said. "How do you guys feel about breaking up a breeding chamber and getting a captured party back to safety?"

The other two glanced at her, and nodded.

Weapons out, it was time to rumble.