Questionable Friends

Chapter 71

Sitting in what I was now calling the bleachers of the Necropolis' entry zone, I watched the heroes advance. It took them a while to make it to the formal entry area and the first of the blue stacks. They seemed like they were going to move cautiously at first, but that vibe quickly disappeared.

It was weird to watch, as they would occasionally stop and take stock of things. Like they were going to make a serious study of the dungeon and what they were seeing. It would have been the smart thing to do. Despite their familiarity with the layout, the Skeletons always took the time, just in case I'd added a surprise.

Instead of doing anything useful aside from taking the occasional break, they mostly bickered during the short pauses. Or at least what I assumed was bickering going by expressions. On prior occasions, I'd noticed the security feed didn't include audio but hadn't thought that was too weird. It would probably be too much of an advantage to hear the party making plans as they worked.

I got a distinct feeling it wouldn't have been the case this time. These idiots seemed like they would make me wish for a mute function. Rather like I had when I had to watch the tutorial heroes take their victory lap after breaking my first practice core. The idea of using a shattered core for magic jewelry was still gross to think about.

With misplaced determination, the party pushed through the blue stacks up to the first mini-boss. It was the giant centipede I'd named Squish. Nine times out of ten, the skeletons didn't even need to pause during a league match to kill it. Poor dude rarely got to do more than hiss before he was stomped. Thankfully, he wasn't sentient.

"The fuck?" Chris asked, sounding baffled. A murmur had gone up among those watching, which wasn't that big a crowd. The skeletons had opted mainly to have me send out a mass text when the heroes got to the moles rather than sit through the newbie level stuff.

"What?" I asked, having zoned out a bit. I'd thought I should watch the party's progress right from the start but felt like that was turning into unintentional masochism.

"They're assuming some manner of formation," Henry said, watching intently but radiating annoyance.

I looked up at the screen, and sure enough, the party had changed from loosely walking in a cluster to a more different cluster. Combat tactics were not my thing. The guy with the sword whose name I'd forgotten was out in front, with the girls flanking him on either side. Reiner, I corrected, after looking above his head to check it like he was a sim.

The effort the party was putting into facing off against Squish felt like overkill. Still, I couldn't say it might not be a reasonable precaution if they weren't familiar with centipedes. Maybe they thought he'd spit poison or something. An idea that was quickly dispelled as Reiner lunged forward to attack.

"What the fuck?" I asked no one and everyone.

"Which bit?" Chris asked, watching the screen intently now. He'd been watching since the heroes first entered the dungeon, but without any enthusiasm.

"Squish shouldn't give them this much trouble," I said flatly. Squish was a mini-boss. I hadn't anticipated him giving a single adventurer trouble, let alone four. Really, a couple of ordinary people with decent weapons should be able to handle him.

Reiner, for some reason, was going at it alone and hacking away with only moderate success. Squish almost managed to summon another centipede before he was finally felled. I turned away as the girls in the party started to congratulate Reiner for his victory.

"It's like that guy doesn't know how to use his sword," I added. I was not a combat expert, but I was used to seeing the skeletons fight. So I could tell something was wrong, very wrong, with how the dude was fighting.

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"He doesn't. N-Not properly," Henry chimed in from where he was sitting next to me.

"Okay, I'm going to see if I can find out," I cut off. I'd meant to take a more serious look at what little the system would tell me about the party. I already knew it wouldn't give me levels from the tutorial. Since I'd been in the security view the entire time, I hadn't bothered looking at the standard map view. I only switched over since I'd need to tap their icons to see any additional information.

"Holy shit," I muttered. I tapped Henry and pointed out the guy's icon. It was an archer. Fighters could technically use any weapon, but I'd learned talking to the skeletons that they did need to pick a primary specialty if they didn't want to suck. This guy had chosen a bow but was using a sword. Poorly.

Henry simply nodded, apparently unsurprised. Reiner was both in the wrong position and using a weapon he wasn't good with. I really had no idea what was going on anymore.

"Their formation makes no sense either," Jeffry added. That caused more than a few skulls to nod in agreement. "Even if he had the armor for it, this guy isn't built to take hits. So him being in front is a dumb move."

I nodded, having no illusion that Jeffry's explanation was for anyone's benefit other than my own.

"I know I shouldn't look gift points in the mouth, but… This feels really wrong," I said finally. That also got some nods, though not as many as the previous comment.

"Second thoughts, Mistress?" Dawn asked archly. Chris looked over at me disapprovingly, but I chose to ignore the murder goblin for the moment.

"No. Not like that anyway," I started and faltered. My thoughts were a little hard to articulate to those who would have no frame of reference for what I was thinking of.

"I'm just worried. Elim mentioned some kind of weird magic at work. Only I have no idea what since the system isn't going to tell me. At least not until they're all defeated," I explained. Even then, there was also the chance it wouldn't since I had no idea what Elim had seen. I'd drawn a kind of forensic sketch of what he described at the time, but none of the magic users had known what it was.

"I don't want this to turn into them having some kind of unexpected power that lets them breakthrough even though they suck," I said honestly. It was a shitty cliche from Saturday morning cartoons, but I felt an eerie trepidation as I thought of it.

I was a dungeon core in a world with magic and heroes. So betting my safety on things making sense according to the rules of my old world was a dumbass move. One that seemed like an excellent way to get my core kicked in.

The power of friendship, at least, didn't seem like it would be an issue. I didn't know exactly what the dynamic was, but it was not a cheerful one. They looked a lot more like they were stuck together than a happy group of friends.

An added wtf factor was that the girls would occasionally give sultry looks to Reiner. Not that it was weird in and of itself for a bunch of teens. It was the bizarre preformative vibe to it that had me confused.

I felt like there was a pattern to it, but I couldn't quite place it. Reiner giving almost no response to it was also odd. Not that he had to reciprocate or anything, but a total non-reaction didn't make sense.

"This lot having some kind of hidden ace isn't likely, but possible," Aaron offered. I jumped a little in surprise, having forgotten he'd joined the group for a change. I wasn't the only one. He'd been sitting in a corner writing in a notebook long enough for most of the skeletons to forget he was there.

"Would you be able to tell if they did?" I asked. Aaron chiming in half-heartedly was soothing in a way. It left me feeling less nervous but moderately more irritated.

"Possibly, if I was near enough to see directly. Depending on what type of magic it is, and if it's an item," Aaron explained, still not looking up from his notes. My fingers drummed on my arm where I'd crossed them. Something rude danced on the tip of my mental tongue.

"Thank you for letting me know," I said neutrally in the end. Aaron was Aaron, and if anything, this was him being reasonably helpful. Sure it didn't actually help, but at least he was explaining things. Taking out circumstances beyond his control on him would have been a bastard move on my part.

"You’re welcome," Aaron said offhandedly, going back to his notes. That gave me a moment's pause, though I managed not to snicker. He really was sociable today.

"Hm... Okay, bets open tomorrow when they get up after sleeping," Dawn informed the group at large. This time I couldn't help but snicker as the room filled with enthusiasm. Why anyone had opted to watch the party during the early portion of the dungeon suddenly made a lot more sense.