4.33 – Swapped II

The room she and Ana had fallen into matched the theme of the rest of the dungeon. Polished tiles for the floor, glass sculptures scattered around the edges, and a generally clean, elegant construction. Notably, there were no mirrors. Though the glass and tile were reflective enough they could serve as a makeshift one.

Peering into the crystalline bust of some chiseled man, Natalie inspected her new face, tracing her fingers across the contours of her nose, jawline, and lips. Ana's body. She'd really traded with her. No matter how hard she tried, that wasn't something she could simply move on about. She'd been through several weird situations in the dungeon by now, but this one took the cake.

To her side, Ana was inspecting her face, too. Though the dark-haired mage was stoic and able to take things in stride to a degree Natalie nearly didn't understand, she was at least curious. So, not wholly unaffected. Just not affected like she should be.

"Only one exit," Natalie said, tearing her eyes away from the reflection. "Suppose we should get going. See what's in store."

Ana nodded. "We don't have a healer. Nor Jordan to check for traps. So be careful."

"I know." Natalie wasn't happy about that. She'd grown to take Liz for granted—both her heals and the impressive strength boost. Jordan, too. At the same time, Natalie had trained to spot traps herself, as did any delver, for situations like this. Being split up wasn't the most common event, but hardly something that never happened.

And that was assuming this challenge included traps and combat. Liz's challenge hadn't, though generalizing from a single event might not be smart.

Lugging along her hammer—which felt much larger than usual, since Ana's body was noticeably shorter than her own—Natalie headed for the only door. She scanned for traps, but found nothing. She glanced at Ana, who had her crystal orb drawn and at the ready. Seeing her own face and red hair looking back made Natalie pause, then shake her head. She turned forward and opened the door.

It led into a hallway. At the end, another door stood: this one with pink trim. Natalie repressed a groan. The color pink couldn't herald anything good—not considering Natalie's class.

There was also a plaque of silver metal on the wall to the side of the door. Natalie couldn't make out the writing on it, not from this distance. There was a bin made out of white marble to its left. Lastly, on the door's right, a steel ladder led upward to a trap door on the ceiling. She eyed it warily. An exit?

Making sure to scan again for traps or threats, Natalie and Ana approached. Arriving, she peeked into the marble bin. It was empty, and large enough to fit both of them easily if they climbed inside. Natalie doubted it was some random piece of decoration, so she read the silver plaque, next. Ana stepped closer to also take a look.

It read:

'Armor, clothing, and consumables not permitted past this point. Place into the container. Items will be returned after exiting the challenge.'

"At least it's not being cryptic," Natalie said dryly. Liz's challenge room had also included instructions.

"The ladder's an exit," Ana commented. "There's another plaque. Look."

Natalie did. Indeed, in a smaller silver plate to the left of the ladder, a few words were inscribed.

'Exit. Forfeit future rewards.'

Like Liz's challenge, it seemed whether she and Ana wanted to pursue the challenge was entirely their own choice. That made sense not just because of Liz's precedent, but because Ana has been practically pushed into the mirror by the dungeon. Dangerous traps were avoidable, and there wasn't any way Ana could have stopped her entry. Natalie could have, of course, by not jumping in after her, but the original logic held.

Still, how they were consistently being given a choice by the dungeon felt strange to Natalie.

Natalie looked up at the ceiling. "You know," she said. "For a dungeon that's killed millions of people, you sure care about consent."

"I would think that's your influence, not the dungeon," Ana said.

Which was a fair point. Even so, that the dungeon gave them an option to interact with these lewd challenges felt out of character. The dungeon was absolutely brutal—more than happy to kill, maim, torture, and worse. Forcing them into lewd scenarios wouldn't have been anything egregiously worse. Gross, yes, but compared to being murdered? Not exactly on a different level from what the dungeon was already known for.

Nonetheless, she was grateful for how it responded to her class. All of this would be much more disturbing if Natalie didn't get to decide whether or not to participate.

"We going forward, then?" Natalie asked. "Or leaving?"

Ana tilted her head. "Forward. As long as you don't have any problems with it."

"We'll need to get naked."

Ana's brow furrowed. "Yes. That much is obvious."

Natalie stopped herself from an exasperated sigh. "And you're okay with that?"

"Seeing you naked? It's my body," Ana pointed out.

"I mean, yes, but …" Natalie wasn't sure where she was going with that.

"We can simply avoid looking down at ourselves, if you want modesty." Ana waved her hand dismissively. "But I believe that's the least of our worries. Nakedness is the start of the challenge, not the finale. What was your and Elizabeth's event? The entirety of it, I mean."

"That's between us."

"It was between you two," Ana disagreed. "Until the challenges spread to the rest of the team. Now it's a professional matter that we all deserve to be informed of."

Natalie hesitated. It was a good point. "Liz asked me not to talk about it. So I won't."

Ana frowned.

"But I'm sure you can make what inferences you need to," Natalie said. "If we walk through that door, who knows what's on the table?" She chewed her lip, glancing at the ladder. "But at the same time, it seems like we can quit at any time."

"Then there's not much of a risk." Ana shrugged, then looked down at herself. She fumbled around with all the straps, buckles, and connections to her armor. "Warrior gear is so complicated," she commented. "Can you help me with it?"

Help get Ana naked?

Even when it was Natalie's own body, the idea still made her feel faint. Especially when Ana remained completely unaffected by everything. Natalie wasn't sure she was up for this.

At least when it had been Liz, they'd both been blushing. Natalie might not be able to survive Ana.

Just how far would this woman go in the name of 'professionalism'?