"Well," Nox said, attempting casualness, "that wasn't so bad."
Henry stared at him like he'd just claimed the sky was green.
"NOT SO BAD?" Henry's voice cracked.
"You just murdered five hundred Destruction-rank monsters! By yourself! That's not 'not so bad,' that's absolutely insane!"
"I mean, I had an advantage," Nox said weakly.
"Really, anyone with the right class could have—"
"NO!" Henry interrupted, gesticulating wildly.
"No one could have! I've seen S-rank hunters struggle with hundreds of Destruction-rank monsters at once! You killed five hundred!"
Old Hans approached cautiously, stepping over chunks of what used to be living creatures. His chimeras stayed close to his heels, eyeing Nox with something between awe and terror.
"Mr. Nox," Hans said diplomatically,
"While I appreciate your modesty, what we just witnessed was... unprecedented. What kind of advantage are you talking about?"
Nox shifted uncomfortably. He needed to give them something without revealing too much about his abilities.
"My class has certain... bonuses against horror-type monsters," he said carefully.
"The Hollow Doctor specializes in dealing with creatures that rely on fear and corruption. Those Skin Walkers were basically my natural prey."
"Horror-type monsters?" Irene looked up from where she was cleaning her sword.
"I've never heard of class bonuses being that effective."
"It's a rare specialization," Nox said, which was technically true. "But against other monster types—normal beasts, elementals, humanoids—my damage would be much more... standard."
Henry processed this information with visible effort.
"So you're saying if we fought, like, a bunch of ice wolves instead, you wouldn't have been able to do this?"
"Exactly," Nox said, grateful for the understanding. "Destruction rank Ice wolves would probably kick my ass. This was just a perfect matchup."
"But still," Hans said thoughtfully
"Even with type advantages, the scale of what you accomplished... Five hundred Destruction-rank entities..."
"The matchup was really, really good," Nox insisted.
"Like, embarrassingly good. It's probably why they sent us here someone at the guild must have known my class would be effective against whatever was in this tomb."
"Just very favorable circumstances. Wrong monsters would probably flatten me."
Irene frowned slightly.
"But your transformation, and that weapon... Those seemed pretty universally devastating."
Nox's mind raced. "The tentacles are specifically designed for horror creatures—they can sense fear and corruption. Against normal monsters, they'd just be... weird tentacles with medical tools. And the gun uses specialized ammunition that's extra effective against undead and horror types."
"Specialized ammunition?" Hans asked curiously.
"Trade secret," Nox said firmly.
"Guild equipment. Can't really go into details."
This seemed to satisfy their curiosity, though Henry still looked like he was processing the implications.
"So basically, you're like the ultimate horror-monster hunter," Henry said.
"But put you against a dragon or something, and you'd be in trouble?"
"A dragon would absolutely murder me," Nox confirmed with complete honesty.
"This was just a really good day at the office."
"We should collect the cores," Old Hans suggested, sensing that Nox was uncomfortable with the continued questioning.
"Before they start to degrade."
Nox nodded gratefully. "Good idea. And these should be worth quite a bit—Destruction-rank cores are rare."
As they began the grisly work of core extraction, Henry couldn't help but continue thinking out loud.
"It's still incredible though," Henry said as they worked.
"Even with perfect type matching, what you did... Most horror specialists would still need teams for something like this."
"I got really, really lucky," Nox said, carefully extracting a glowing red core.
"Right class, right equipment, and the enemies were perfectly suited to my abilities. Any other scenario and I'd be useless."
"Useless," Irene repeated skeptically. "Against five hundred Destruction-rank monsters."
"Well, dead more likely," Nox admitted. "But yeah, this was just a perfect storm of circumstances."
The collection process took nearly an hour. Each Destruction-rank core was the size of a marble and glowed with inner fire, representing concentrated mana and life force. By the time they finished, they had filled multiple bags with what amounted to a small fortune.
"Five hundred and one cores total,and one Calamity Rank" Hans reported, doing a final count.
"That one form the pack leader's."
The pack leader's core was noticeably larger and darker than the others, pulsing with an energy that made everyone's teeth ache just looking at it.
"That's going to be worth more than most hunters make in their entire careers," Irene observed.
"Times five hundred," Henry added helpfully. "Plus the big one."
Nox hefted one of the bags, testing its weight. "Well, at least we won't be going home empty-handed."
"Empty-handed?" Henry laughed.
"Nox, even if you're downplaying it, this is still going to be legendary. A solo clear of five hundred Destruction-ranks? Most S-rank hunters would tap out after the first hundred."
"Can we please keep the details vague in the report?" Nox asked hopefully.
"I'll try," Henry grinned. "But good luck keeping this quiet. Five hundred cores don't lie."