“Hahaha! As I thought, exposing a human’s entire body to the sun is wonderful for one's health! I can feel the vitamin D being produced in droves!”
“That’s just your imagination, Professor!”
“Vitamin D is produced even if you don't go outside completely naked, Professor!”
“By the way, did you know, my dear Auditors? There is a theory that exposing the groin to sunlight stimulates the production of testosterone. If you find yourself troubled by a lack of male hormones, I urge you to give it a try.”
“We didn't know that, Professor!”
“We aren't trying that, Professor!”
“You'll get arrested, Professor!”
“Furthermore, the health benefits of spending time in the nude are many and varied. For example—”
“Not interested, Professor!”
“Fight seriously, Professor!”
“You’re getting attacked, Professor!”
Professor Naked Armor Shinra Zenichi was attempting to continue his lecture to his drone even as he was surrounded by a massive swarm of monsters and pelted with retorts from his channel’s viewers—the Auditors.
The Professor was, of course, stark naked. He had even set down his backpack, and was now truly, entirely nude—though his groin was being guarded by a jellyfish produced by Kurage-chan-san.
Naturally, if one tried to engage in a leisurely chat in the middle of a monster swarm, they would be attacked from all directions. In fact, the Professor was currently being struck by the monsters’ attacks.
A succession of crazy boars charged him one after another. These were tremendous impacts delivered by weights approaching a single ton. However, even when struck by such charges, the Professor was not blown back. Rather, the atmosphere was as if he were defenselessly accepting the play-fighting of small kittens.
The crazy boars’ attacks weren't working at all. There were many reasons for this: the Professor’s ultra-high level, his various defense skills, and his stat enhancement-type skills, among others. But if one were to point to a single reason, the most significant factor would be the effect of the most famous skill among his several title skills.
The title skill granted by the title Battle Nudist—Super Native Body.
The title sounded like a joke, but its title skill possessed performance that was also like a joke. This was a passive skill that only activated when the user was completely naked—possessing no clothes, weapons, armor, or tools—and fought only with bare fists. Because the restrictions were so severe, the effects were extremely powerful.
The skill’s effects were: “When the skill is active, all stats except HP and MP increase by 100%. Damage is reduced by 50%. Knockback is completely negated. HP and MP natural recovery increases by 2.0x. Resistance to all status ailments increases by 50%.”
Wait... isn't that too strong?! What is with this ridiculous skill?!
Most people who learned the effects of Super Native Body for the first time thought exactly that. Even I thought so. To put it simply, it was like taking Sakura-san’s Sacred Purity and Jackson-san’s War Monk, adding them together, multiplying by two, and then tossing in a little extra on top.
That being said, these were an evolution title and an evolution skill, meaning he had spent a total of eight skill points to reach the maximum level. Well, even so, it was still an extraordinary bargain. Incidentally, the pre-evolution title and skill were Nudist and Native Body, respectively. Not that it really mattered.
Regardless, due to the total knockback immunity of this skill, the Professor didn't budge even when taking a crazy boar's charge head-on. Additionally, thanks to the Professor’s high constitution and several defense skills, the damage from the charges was likely suppressed to zero.
The gap between the Professor and the crazy boars was that despairingly large. To the Professor, the crazy boars weren't even enemies. Therefore—
“Hmm, well then, I suppose I should start fighting properly soon. I’d hate to be scolded for slacking off later.”
“Finally, Professor?!”
“Do this seriously, Professor!”
“Fist Aura... No, I don't need it. Hup!”
Immediately after the Professor clenched his fist and swung his well-trained arm—Wham! The fist slammed into a crazy boar, blowing the giant boar’s head into smithereens as if he had punched a block of fragile tofu.
Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham!
The fists the Professor threw in rapid succession didn't even harbor the aura of Fist Aura. With a level of violence that was simply on another plane, he began exterminating the swarm of giant boars as easily as if they were slimes.
“As always, he’s too freaking stroooooong!!”
“Even if it’s because of the title skill, this power with bare hands is just wrong lol.”
“Well, his opponents are way below his level lol.”
“He doesn't even flinch when hit, and just by punching randomly, the boars turn into mincemeat... lol.”
“Is he Superman?”
“Apologize to Superman lol.”
“I’m sure Superman wouldn't want to be lumped in with a naked superhuman either lol.”
“Hahahahaha! As I thought, exercising in the nude under the sun is good for one’s health! I wish all dungeons were like this!”
He was overwhelming. As expected of the Professor. There wasn't even a shred of a reason for someone like me to worry about him.
And so, I looked away from the Professor and checked on Saito-san’s situation.
“Whaaaaaat?!?”
“He’s the only one playing a different genre of game?!”
“Is this a shooting game?”
“The Mobile Turret is at it again.”
“Wait, what is that beam-like magic?”
“It’s obviously Fire Arrow. Newbies should just go lurk for half a year.”
“This isn't an image board lol. Lurk where? lol.”
“Wait, wait?! I saw it occasionally on the way here, but is that really Fire Arrow?!”
“That’s different from the Fire Arrow I know...”
“That wasn't Kafrizz. That was just Frizz.”
“Even for Fire Arrow, how is his MP not running dry when he’s firing that many?!”
“Whether it’s the Professor or Saito, the people in the true top tier are seriously on another level...!!”
“A virgin who can't fly is just a virgin, but Sage Saito isn't just any virgin!”
“As expected of Saito. Please stay a virgin forever...!!”
As he floated in the air with gravity magic, Saito-san slaughtered the massive swarms of bloody mantises one after another with beam-like Fire Arrows. The channel’s viewers seemed unable to hide their excitement.
Though, the ones who were especially excited were likely the viewers seeing his channel for the first time. The same was true for the Hinata Channel, but perhaps because we were conquering a dangerous new dungeon, a large number of new viewers had gathered on the channels of the members summoned this time. Because of that, I felt like there were many fresh surprises in the comment section.
Anyway, Saito-san’s fighting style was particularly incredible. Even including the Professor and Kurage-chan-san, his annihilation power was likely the undisputed best. Even while he was wiping out the bloody mantises in an instant, the moment Saito-san spotted a kobold trying to flee, he would fire a Fire Arrow at its back to vaporize it, making sure not a single monster escaped. (By the way, for some reason, only the kobolds were trying to run. Normally, it’s impossible for monsters to even try to escape...)
The sheer volume of fire from the man nicknamed the Mobile Turret would normally cause one’s MP to run dry in a short time. However, there was no sign of the rapid-fire magic slowing down. Furthermore, for a beginner-level spell like Fire Arrow, the power was far too high; someone unfamiliar with Saito-san would surely find it mysterious.
There were too many answers to that mystery to give just one. Saito-san was said to possess many skills that contributed to increasing magic power, such as Multicast, Precise Mana Control, Magic Understanding, Magic Overload, and Lucidity. These boosted the power of his magic. The reason he could fire magic in such rapid succession was credited to skills that increased recovery, reduced consumption, or allowed him to store surplus MP, such as Sacred Purity, Meditation, Magic Essence Absorption, Magic Efficiency, and MP Stock.
However, if one were to name the biggest reason for Saito-san’s strength, it would be the title skill Sage acquired through the Sage title. At its maximum level, its effect was: “Strength and constitution are constantly reduced by 50%, and HP is lowered accordingly. In exchange, intelligence and spirit are constantly increased by 100%, and MP is increased accordingly. Magic power is constantly multiplied by 2.0x.”
Sage Saito-san was an explorer hyper-specialized in magic.
But... Saito-san clearly had too many skills, didn't he? Magic skills of various attributes, magic power enhancement, consumption reduction, recovery speed increase, at least three appraisal-type skills, and various title skills... Among them, there were likely many skills he had leveled up using skill orbs, but even so, I didn't think he would have enough skill points.
If that was the case, there was a possibility that, like me, he had used several, or even dozens, of Skill Point skill orbs. Well, that might not be limited to Saito-san; it could be the same for Headshot Yakuza, Denshiro-sensei, the Professor, or Kurage-chan-san. In fact, that possibility was very high.
Now then. Last was Kurage-chan-san. The Professor and Saito-san were quite prominent with their overwhelming abilities, but even so, the one standing out the most this time was likely Kurage-chan-san.
“Aqua Create — Maa-chans.”
“There it is!!”
“The jellyfish army is here!”
“The strongest and most sinister jellyfish army.”
“Aqua Create Maa-chans. The enemy dies!!”
When Kurage-chan-san raised her staff above her head, a massive sphere of water appeared in the air. It was large enough to swallow about five humans whole. That water sphere changed shape as if it were boiling, and then began to split apart.
The split water spheres changed shape further. In an instant, every water sphere transformed into a transparent jellyfish with tentacles hanging from a giant umbrella-like body. There were over ten of them at a quick glance. From the umbrella to the tips of the tentacles, they were giant jellyfish easily exceeding two meters in length. The sight of those jellyfish floating softly in the air looked somewhat fantastical.
“Maa-chans... go.”
In a sleepy voice, Kurage-chan-san pointed her staff forward—at the countless monsters rushing toward them. In an instant, the jellyfish floating in the air attacked the monsters all at once.
The opponents were a swarm of rock lizards, giant lizards with skin far harder than rock. No matter how you looked at it, they didn't seem like opponents that jellyfish made 100% of water could stand up against. However, immediately after one of the jellyfish swung its long tentacle like a whip, the head of the leading rock lizard burst apart like a pomegranate.
“What?!”
“No way!”
“What is that power?!”
“How is that happening?!”
“Wait, didn't the tentacle just stretch?!”
The viewers posting surprised comments were likely the first-timers. Speaking of rock lizards, they were troublesome monsters with high constitution and multiple defense skills. Since one had just been smashed to bits like tofu, it was no wonder they were surprised. Furthermore, the jellyfish’s tentacles had clearly reached a rock lizard that was outside their range. Just as the viewers said, the tentacles actually stretched. Unlike normal jellyfish, these jellyfish were made entirely of water, so they could easily deform and extend their tentacles.
And the surprise of the first-time viewers didn't end there.
“Huh?! Wait a minute?!”
“The rock lizard got lifted up?!”
“Seriously, what kind of strength do these jellyfish have?!”
“Wait, is the one caught in the jellyfish’s tentacle shaking like crazy???”
“Oh, its eyes rolled back. It’s foaming at the mouth.”
“I-It’s dead...!!”
“What is that? That’s scary...!!”
While the jellyfish were thrashing the rock lizards with their stretched tentacles, they also coiled their tentacles around any rock lizards that got in their way, lifting their massive bodies into the air to neutralize them. The rock lizards lifted into the air struggled desperately to escape the tentacles, but almost immediately, their entire bodies began to shake violently. Their eyes rolled back, they foamed at the mouth, and then they vanished, turning into countless particles of light. They had died.
Super Deadly Poison Strike. This was a skill Kurage-chan-san’s jellyfish could use.
The Poison Strike skill, which inflicts the poison status on an attacked target, evolved into Deadly Poison Strike, which inflicts deadly poison—and the skill that evolved even further was Super Deadly Poison Strike. Its effect was: “Inflicts the deadly poison status on the target, and each successive attack increases the deadly poison damage.”
The reason the rock lizards, which should have high HP due to their high constitution, were dealt enough damage to die in only about ten seconds was likely because the Super Deadly Poison Strike was being applied multiple times simultaneously with the restraint from the tentacles.
And there was more.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey!!”
“These jellyfish started using magic?!”
“Wait, what is this power?!”
“What kind of power turns a rock lizard into mincemeat?!”
“Wha—?!”
“This time the rock lizard froze in an instant?!”
The jellyfish could use Great Ocean Magic, the evolution of water magic, and Freezing Magic, a high-tier derivative of water magic. The Aqua Arrows fired by those magic skills literally blew the giant bodies of the rock lizards to smithereens, and the individuals struck by the chill of the Freezing Magic didn't just have their body temperatures lowered; they were frozen to the core.
The numerous jellyfish wiped out the swarm of rock lizards in an instant. It was a sight that looked as if she were summoning and commanding tamed monsters, much like Hinata-san’s summoning. However, that wasn't actually the case. It hadn't been made public what skill caused this effect, but all the skills the jellyfish were using were skills that Kurage-chan-san herself possessed.
A skill that shared the skills she possessed with the jellyfish she created. It was speculated that such a skill existed. Therefore, Super Deadly Poison Strike, Great Ocean Magic, and Freezing Magic were all Kurage-chan-san’s skills. However, the resources like HP and MP used for their activation were borne by Kurage-chan-san.
If that were the case, her MP should have run dry in an instant... but naturally, Kurage-chan-san, like Saito-san, possessed several skills that reduced MP consumption and increased recovery speed. Among them, the most famous were the skill Ruler of the Great Ocean and the skill Mother Sea, which could be obtained through the Ruler of the Great Ocean title.
Ruler of the Great Ocean: “Cannot use attribute magic other than water attribute and freezing attribute. In exchange, MP consumption for water attribute and freezing attribute magic is halved. Magic power of water attribute and freezing attribute is multiplied by 4.0x.”
Mother Sea: “Surplus MP stock. Upper limit 5000. HP and MP recovery speed increases by 2.0x.”
The restrictions were significant, but even accounting for those, the skills were far too extraordinary. Incidentally, the upper limit of the MP stock from Mother Sea referred to the maximum amount of MP that could be stored. When you considered that the upper limit of the MP stock Saito-san possessed was only 500 even at maximum level, you could understand just how much of an outlier Mother Sea was.
In terms of water attribute and freezing attribute magic specifically, Kurage-chan-san was a magic specialist who surpassed even Saito-san.
Professor, Saito-san, and Kurage-chan-san. As expected, the performance of these three was overwhelming. The reason we were holding our own against the succession of massive monster swarms—or rather, the reason we were able to annihilate them—was thanks to these three. Thanks to them, the number of monsters rushing at the other members was significantly reduced. Without these three, even Sakura-san and Jackson-san wouldn't have been able to operate solo, and the Association or the Fallen Angels wouldn't have been able to hold back the monster swarms.
And this was far from the Professor and the others going all out, so it was seriously incredible.
While marveling at everyone’s strength, we kicked the massive monster swarms aside, advanced a bit, and were attacked by more massive monster swarms again—repeating this for about six to seven hours. We finally caught sight of the fortress that Saito-san had mentioned as our destination.