A massive horde of monsters, drawn by the sounds of battle, swarmed us from every direction.
We cut them down one after another, yet their numbers didn't seem to dwindle in the slightest. They just kept coming, an inexhaustible tide of beasts.
At first, I’d used Flying Blades infused with Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds to pick off the special variants, but I soon lost the luxury of choice. Faced with such an overwhelming surge, I had to prioritize clearing the path in front of me.
Left with no other option, I began unleashing Great Flying Blades infused with massive amounts of HP to thin out the packs. If I used Explosive Blade, I could probably annihilate the swarms even more efficiently—but there was a risk of catching the others in the blast. More importantly, the thunderous roar of the explosions would likely attract monsters from even further away.
So, I refrained from using Explosive Blade. I didn't need Mighty Blade for now, either. I simply threw one Great Flying Blade after another, powered by Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds, while Hinata-san occasionally topped off my HP.
Finding myself with a bit of breathing room, I cast a quick glance around. I figured if anyone was struggling, I should probably provide some backup.
However, from what I could see, that didn't seem necessary.
『W-Woahhhhhh!!』 『The monsters are just getting sent flying lol』 『Aren't they totally dominating?!』 『That’s what I’m talking about! That’s the Hyakka Ryoran way of fighting!』 『Big sisters, you're so cool!!』 『Marry me!!』
The members of Hyakka Ryoran lived up to their reputation, maintaining an incredibly steady rhythm as they engaged the horde. Since they were one-shotting most of the monsters, they looked completely in control. For explorers of their caliber, it was only natural for them to handle "little tricks" like pouring HP into Sword Aura martial arts to strike multiple enemies at once, much like my Great Flying Blade.
However, the HP consumption from spamming those skills was significant. Since they didn't have a healer, they should have run out of HP quickly or been forced to chug massive amounts of potions—yet they showed no signs of either.
This was because all five members of Hyakka Ryoran possessed a certain Title, and the Title Skill associated with it was the secret to their strength.
Title—Idolatry (Idol). Title Skill—Fan Yell.
That skill activated when their fans cheered for them. Its effect was as follows: "While being cheered on by believers, HP and MP natural recovery increases. All stats except HP and MP are enhanced. Effects fluctuate based on the number of cheering believers."
To put it bluntly, it was a broken skill.
During their streams, the more their viewers cheered, the stronger they became. Apparently, the criteria for what counted as a "believer" (fan) or "encouragement" (yell) were quite strict, making it a surprisingly fickle skill to manage... but even so, it was effective enough that they could spam HP-consuming skills despite having no healer.
That said, the recovery from Fan Yell alone wasn't enough, so they seemed to be using Regenerate Potions in tandem. Still, they were using skills at a frequency that would normally be impossible. It was a peerless skill, without a doubt.
『Hey hey hey hey!』 『As expected of the cooks, they're beasts.』 『Aren't the battle chefs way too strong?』 『It’s hilarious how they're just butchering the monsters one after another lol』 『Uwohhhhhhhh!! Let me eat your cooking!!』
Meanwhile, the three-man party known as the Battle Cook Brothers was putting on a display of masterful combat.
While they were famous for the Dismantling skill, they also possessed various status-ailment-inflicting skills like Nerve-pithing and Bloodletting. Nerve-pithing was a skill that paralyzed the target when a critical hit was landed on the spinal cord or brain, while Bloodletting increased the amount of bleeding from wounds.
As a side note, these skills also increased the quality of food items when they dropped!!
Once they had paralyzed or weakened a monster with Nerve-pithing and Bloodletting, the Battle Cooks would swiftly deliver a finishing blow to the crown of the head using Brain-pithing.
For Brain-pithing, they didn't use their main kitchen knives, but rather custom-made piercing swords that looked like giant ice picks.
The Brain-pithing skill had an extraordinary effect: when attacking the target's head, it made it significantly easier to bypass an HP Barrier. Any explorer would understand just how insane that was.
Once they drove the piercing sword through the skull, they’d give the brain a quick scramble to finish the job. That was their signature style.
While they couldn't handle as many monsters at once as Hyakka Ryoran, the Battle Cooks' combat power was objectively high.
After all, they were Battle Cooks. They were a production class and a combat class simultaneously.
By using their Cooking skill, they could turn monster parts into dishes that provided various recovery or buff effects depending on the ingredients. They must have brought a stockpile in their expansion bags; between clashes, they’d toss back easy-to-eat rations, moving fluidly across the battlefield as they buffed and healed themselves on the fly.
Battle Cooks. They were by no means gimmick explorers; they were true hybrids who performed both combat and production at an elite level...!!
"Hey, you guys! Don't just leave all the front-line fighting to us!!" "Don't screw with me!?" "Aim your magic properly! That almost hit us just now, you bastards!?" "You're the ones blocking our line of fire!!" "We're only barely holding our own because we're supporting you with magic in the first place, aren't we!?" "Besides, we just hate aggressive thugs like you!!"
『You guys, get along lol』 『Fight together, please—』 『The fact that they can still fight while bickering like that shows they really are high-level explorers lol』
On the other hand, among the Special Crisis Case Explorers summoned for this mission, the members of the Dungeon Pickup-Artist Association and the † Jet-black Fallen Angels † seemed to be struggling a bit more.
The members of the Association were a balanced group of high-level individuals, but they lacked the unique "trump cards" the other parties possessed. They were the perfect example of what an average explorer looked like after steady leveling—explorers who hadn't awakened a Title or a special skill.
Usually, high-level explorers have corresponding combat techniques, but even there, the Association members had nothing noteworthy.
This was because the Association was actually a subordinate party of Saint Bellwood’s clan. That clan was full of handsome guys chosen based entirely on Bellwood-sama's personal tastes. Many of them had raised their levels while being carried by Bellwood-sama's support and healing magic, so they inevitably looked inferior compared to other explorers of the same level.
In contrast, the Fallen Angels were experts who mastered the finicky Dark Flame Magic. However, their entire party consisted of mages.
In short, they had no vanguard. They could wipe out small groups before they got close, but against a horde like this, they couldn't maintain a front line.
As a result, the two parties fighting next to each other had been forced to cooperate. The Association members acted as the vanguard to hold back the tide, while the Fallen Angels annihilated them from the rear with magic. The roles had formed naturally.
Between the group of aggressive handsome guys and the group with terminal chunibyo, their personalities clearly clashed, and they looked ready to start a civil war at any second—but they weren't high-level explorers for show. Even while shouting insults, they kept the line secure.
『Mayurin is so strong!!』 『This is basically a Mayurin massacre lol』 『I knew Barrier Magic was a total cheat code.』 『Ikegami and the guys, do your best—』 『Did they get new skills from those monster room runs?』 『I feel like Ikegami and his crew have grown a bit... like their attack power went up.』
Mayurin-san's party had plunged right into the thick of the horde, fighting while completely surrounded.
Yet, neither Mayurin-san nor Ikegami-san’s group had taken a single hit.
The reason, of course, was Mayurin-san’s Barrier Magic. They stayed inside a protective dome that blocked all monster attacks and intrusion, while Ikegami-san and the others unleashed one-sided long-range aura attacks from within.
I’ve said it before, but it really was a cheat skill. Their battle was perfectly stable; there wasn't the slightest need to worry about them.
Recently, Mayurin-san and her team had been focused on grinding levels in monster rooms, and it showed. They were significantly stronger than when we’d explored the Minato Ward dungeon together. Ikegami-san and the others seemed to have picked up some damage-boosting skills, as they were one-shotting monsters that were supposed to be stronger than those in normal dungeons.
So far, I’d been watching the parties, but this group also included five "madmen" who had surpassed level 40 as soloists.
There was the Professor, Saito-san, and Kurage-chan-san, of course—as well as Sakura-san and Jackson.