"Ohhhmmm... Human. You should know. In this world, only personal might matters. With this power, I can always get more followers!"

"This city is now my! My power is unstoppable! My will is now law! Those who defy my orders shall perish!"

"You know my vision now, human."

"Humans and mist monsters can coexist."

"Kneel before me, bring strong mist-monsters to me, and I shall grant you riches and stature just below me."

"I know you have detection abilities. And I trust that you will make a wise choice."

"Choose."

Jeff squinted at that towering monster.

Based on his detection results, this was not something he could beat. Sure, he had stacked abilities.

But this thing had thousands, if not tens of thousands of monsters, and three SS-ranks, plus his original strength stacked together!

Quantitative change brought forth a qualitative change in nature!

Lord Trample had gained a trace of sage-tier like powers!

Just by standing here, the air here was starting to become dense and thick.

The air felt like it's becoming a gel. Jeff felt like there were invisible hands pressing down on his shoulders, like invisible weights strapped onto his body.

Jeff sighed. "To be honest, I should probably agree to your generous offer."

"Ohhmm... Kneel then." The minotaur nodded.

"Then if there's a chance, I'll grow stronger and rebel. That would seem like the wiser choice."

"Ohhhmm?" The minotaur's pitch of voice raised.

"But once you kneel down."

A ray of light shot towards that minotaur. At the same time, Jeff shot away from this monster. "It's tough to stand up again with a broken spine."

That minotaur grabbed onto that light. It's Jeff's glint-tier dagger.

The minotaur tightened its grasp.

Crack... Crack... Snap!

The minotaur let go. Bits and pieces fell to the ground.

Seeing this result, Jeff's heart sank. Sure, it was just his testing attack. However, the minotaur's response was still rather unexpected.

He was at least expecting to get his dagger back. It's been his main weapon for 5 months now... ever since the beginning.

Leaving a trail of red light, the minotaur shot towards Jeff.

In a blink, it had caught up.

Jeff stomped the road. Like an arrow, he shot backwards at an even quicker speed.

A trail of red light in the air.

Slam!

The minotaur's warhammer sank into the asphalt road. Under the impact, the road exploded like it's been hit by an artillery shell. Asphalt blocks and wet dirt were blasted into the air.

Moving by some prediction, Jeff held his spear in front of him.

BAM!

A tremendous force pressed onto Jeff's spear. Jeff had blocked a kick.

But it's too heavy!

Jeff's spear handle pressed into his chest.

Like a ragdoll, Jeff was sent down the road. Bouncing up from the road, Jeff crashed through the traffic barriers, and flew down the river bank.

[Runic Skin (in activation)]

Some impact energy converted into mana.

[Regenerative Genes (in activation)]

Mana was quickly converted into health

[Battle Fervor (in activation)]

Jeff was still gaining an overall boost in attributes over time in battle

...

...

Except for those close-calls in his early days, Jeff rarely faced uphill battles.

But this was not Jeff's first rodeo. His sense for battle had not rusted over the days.

While still in air, Jeff exploded into a black cloud.

[Shroud]: A skill with low mana cost. Basically dyes the fog in the air black. Not complicated, but very useful sometimes.

The quickly expanding cloud obstructed the minotaur's vision. There could be potential dangers lying on the other side. But the minotaur charged into that cloud anyways.

The monster's vision cleared up. That little human had crashed into the river bank, knocking up a cloud of sand.

Without hesitation, that minotaur shot towards Jeff.

Slam!

It smashed its warhammer down.

Poof!

Jeff exploded into a cloud of mist.

BAM!

Jeff's spear had stabbed into the back of this monster. In the next instance, the green spear tip exploded.

The towering monster turned around. The wound on its back quickly healed up.

There were two Jeff's in his view now. Both had digital-red covered arms, and a bar of red marks on their chests. However, these red covered areas were quickly shrinking.

What could Jeff say. [Telekenesis] sure made his life easier. Mimicking the vampire girl's ability (back at the mall) took some effort. But it worked out.

"Oohhmmm..." The minotaur huffed. The monster looked a little confused.

Yeah... This was normal for digitalized bodies.

Jeff's fighting capabilities was only affected by his energy left, negative statuses, and debuffs applied by his opponent's abilities.

Not affected by injuries...

Clearly, this minotaur didn't have debuff applying abilities.

So technically, Jeff could fight at his prime until his health reached critical levels.

(Again. This is totally normal. Please do not report.)

The minotaur shook his confusion out of his head. Stepping forward, wielding its warhammer, it smashed down at Jeff.

Both Jeffs exploded into a cloud of mist.

Behind the minotaur, Jeff suddenly appeared. Without hesitation, Jeff shot towards this giant monster. In air, his camouflage gradually wore off.

This [Stealth] ability gained from the wolfman sure was helpful. (Day 12)

Lord Trample had detection abilities. But clearly, it wasn't supernatural-late tier.

Like a ray of light, pointing his spear forward, Jeff shot towards that minotaur.

Looking from a far, Jeff looked like a toy figure jumping into a human.

PAM!

Jeff was punched into the river bank. Like a small comet crashing down, the sand surrounding Jeff exploded, forming a crater.

"Oohhmm... Human." The minotaur walked towards Jeff. "I've read some of your literature."

"Are you going to get a power spike now? Maybe second form? Final Form?" The monster seemed to be in a good mood.

"Well..." Jeff struggled to stand up again. His entire body was covered in a digital-red now.

"If you want to go by the tropes, this is your time to shine. The stage is yours. You can talk about your goals, plans, or dreams...

The minotaur shook his head. "That is what the villains do. But in this mist world, we are the protagonists!"

"Game over, hero of the past..." The minotaur raised his warhammer.

Slam!

Like a ray of light, Jeff shot past the minotaur's legs.

The minotaur stomped the ground. A blast wave formed.

Jeff felt like he was frozen in air for an instance.

Stomp!

Jeff flung his spear at the huge approaching hoof.

BAM!

An explosion of torrent.

Under the hit, Jeff skipped down the beach.

"Why are you still resisting. You know your death is inevitable. Do you really want a slow and excruciating death." The minotaur walked up to Jeff.

"Yeah... Yeah..." Jeff tiredly stood up again. Patches of red everywhere. Those patches were still shrinking. But the healing had slowed down.

Sure, Jeff looked like he was severely injured, but he still had some way to go. At least he wasn't fainting from starvation yet.

"To be honest." Jeff panted. "I was expecting you to say things like: 'Human, your resistance is futile.', or something along those lines."

"Is it not?" The minotaur seemed to be running out of patience.

"No. Not really." Jeff prepared his spear. "I've held you here."

"It's been 2 minutes. And my reinforcement is raining down."