James asks around a little, and finds that all the monsters in the danger zone keep coming back from the hive after the hunters kill them. James also decides to evolve his dagger because he wants to see what'll happen.
A blood-like substance starts coming out of his dagger and coats it. A dark flame then erupts from the bottom of the handle and spirals upwards until it touches the tip of the blade. The dark flame then tightens and envelops the dagger, seeming to eat it. When the transformation is done, the dagger is way stronger.
[Ding! Congratulations, your [Crimson Striker] has evolved into a [Dark Kindlebane]. Your [Dark Kindlebane] has also unlocked the skill "Blood Siphon".]
After that, James darts into the hive. He start slashing left and right, hearing continuous prompts from the system. After killing all the monsters on the outskirts of the hive, he heads to the inner area.
The ants there are even bigger and have 12 legs. Instead of mandibles, they have rows of teeth as sharp as a knife. On the ground, he saw half a guy. This guy was still somehow alive, and spat out "Be... Careful...", and then died. The ants in there may have been insurmountable for that guy, but for James, they were no different than their smaller brethren. He simply squashed the rest, and after a few hours, he had lain waste to the colony. He could feel something in the middle of the hive, something scary dwells…
James slowly headed into the middle of the hive and he felt immense killer intent rushing towards him. He activated Hell Stance and still felt a big blow which sent him flying back.
[Ding! Congratulations, your "Hell Stance" has been upgraded into "Infernal Wall" because you survived an attack that would normally kill you!]
This shook James. Of course, he was happy that his skill was upgraded, but that attack was normally enough to kill him. The thing in front of him was like a short centipede with a blood-red carapace. It had what looked like armor on it, and was still rushing towards James. He thought that this may be a good time to test out "Blood Siphon".
When the monster reaches him, he uses the skill and pierces its carapace. The monster shrieks and James feels the Dark Kindlebane thumping, almost as if it has a heartbeat. It starts sucking the creature dry (no innuendo here sir) and the monster starts shriveling up. When it was done, James could feel that his dagger had gotten stronger.
[Ding! Congratulations, you have killed the boss beast "Crimson Queen". You have also successfully exterminated this danger zone. To claim your reward, kill the remaining few monsters in the area.]
[Ding! Lucky drop! You have gotten "Pure Divine Ant Blood". Would you like to consume it?]
[Yes] [No]
James is surprised by this, but decides to consume it, as this monster was nothing but absolute power. Only improvements will come from it. He clicks yes, but something he never expected happened.
[Error! Host has not unlocked [Evolution And Mutation] system. This system unlocks at the third stage of the system.]
James didn't worry much, as he only needed 50 points in total to level up the system. In comparison, he had killed 72 monsters. 29 of those monsters were weak and only gave 2 points each. 33 of those were mid-grade, and gave 3 each. 9 were high grade and gave 5 each. The Crimson Queen he had killed gave him 15 points. In total, he had gotten 217 Evolution Points.
When he went out the hive, he killed the other stragglers and got his points up to a clean 250. The other hunters around him were incredibly surprised, but remembered he was the strongest person in the country.
After James had officially ended all the monsters, the area felt far safer to all, as there wasn't a single monster in sight. When he checked his bank account, he saw he he had 4700 Lidicus credited to his account. He decided that he may as well treat himself since he had exterminated an entire danger zone.
When James finally reached the city, everyone was looking at him. After all, he was the new strongest in the country. He saw a newly opened shop with a tag that said it had weapons and armor, so he thought that he should gear up.
"Hello sir, what brings you to my humble establishment?".
"I'm looking for some armor. What's your highest quality set?".
"Oho! A big spender, I should say! Our most expensive set would be this newly procured titanium armadillo scale armor! You won't have to worry even a bit when entering a 2 star danger zone! It's 500 Lidicus a piece, but I'll cut you a deal! Only 2200 Lidicus for the 5-piece set!".
"Wait, 2 star? I just exterminated a 3 star danger zone with my normal clothes. I'm the Mystic Vanquisher. And you're charging 2200 for the full set? Sorry, I'm not interested.".
James left and headed over to the Hunter Association Area and found that they had armor for all ranks, and specialized clothes for the strongest. When he donned them, he looked very authoritative and cool.