The spear in Jeff's hand brightened up with a green glow. Like a ray of light, Jeff shot towards that minotaur.

Like a petal rising above water, a rainbow-colored scale suddenly surfaced from the minotaur's chest. In an instance, a beauty in a snakeskin robe appeared in Jeff's way.

Without slowing down, Jeff's spear pierced that girl and stabbed into the minotaur's body.

Boom!

That arc of flames made impact with the three.

The river bank behind the two monsters exploded under the blast. Sand, dry grass, and pebbles started to rain down.

Under this blast, the minotaur and the girl were hurled onto the highway above.

Before the flames dissipated, a ray of light shot out the flames, heading into the sky.

Up there, an ape held a machete over its head, chopping down at Jeff.

Seeing that ray of light, this monster rotated its machete like a fan. Holding its machete in front of its body like a shield, this monster tried to block Jeff's attack.

Then it lifelessly collapsed onto the sand. Mist steamed from the hole in its stomach. Way too slow.

[ Unique Quest: Energy Collection (Incomplete) ]

'Not now. Close interface.'

"Nooo! Ahhh!" The lion-face monster shot towards Jeff. Its hand had turned into a paw.

Jeff swept his spear.

The lion-face monster's head flew into the air.

Extending an open palm, Jeff's glint-tier dagger returned to his hand.

[ Unique Quest: Energy Collection (Incomplete) ]

'Close interface.'

Turning around, Jeff walked up the river bank.

Looking up, a handsome fella in a white robe was standing 50 meters above ground. The dude waved his feather-fan at Jeff.

A small twister formed before Jeff.

A ray of light shot right through that twister.

Maybe it's because of the wind, or maybe it's a bit too far, that flying dude dodged Jeff's attack.

Nevertheless, the twister bursted into a gust.

Jeff passed through the slowing winds.

During this time, on the highway roads...

The girl was laying on the minotaur's lap. Her head laid on the minotaur's hand.

"My love... For the kingdom of the Mist-born..." The girl murmured. Her gaze was fleeting away. Her body was evaporating into grey mist.

"You will be there with me darling. Together." The minotaur closed his eyes. "Leave your dreams to me."

"I will carry our dreams forward, and make it happen. Together."

The grey mist evaporating from the girl formed a stream. Gradually, the streams of mist entered the minotaur's wounds.

Two more streams of mist flowed up from the river bank.

Absorbing these streams of mist, at a visible rate, the minotaur puffed up like a balloon.

Ring~ Ring~

Jeff tiredly set his foot onto this highway.

"Hey Jeff." Liam's voice sounded out the phone.

"Yoh. Tsup Liam. In case you didn't know. I'm kind of busy here." Jeff took in deep breaths.

If there's a bed, Jeff felt like he could fall asleep in an instance here.

"I hope I'm not too late, but don't kill any other monsters before you kill that minotaur." On the other side, Liam talked into the phone with a constipated face.

"Why?"

That minotaur exploded into a cloud of mist in front of Jeff.

Seeing this result, Jeff's expression became serious.

It looked like the minotaur had just died. But there's no system notification. That minotaur was still alive!

"So you did kill more."

"Yes. 3 monsters. Felt like SS-ranks to me."

"..."

Jeff threw his dagger into that cloud. His dagger shot right through. 'Ahh... This shit again.'

Except this time, Jeff doubted that a glint-tier projectile could do anything.

Nevertheless, Jeff still took out a glint-tier dart. Holding this in his hand, Jeff poured his psychic energy and mana energy into it.

Unfortunately, Jeff did not have any high-level psychic abilities in his arsenal. This was his only method to deal with psychic life forms.

At this moment, Jeff really wished that he had a psychic-type teammate.

Clearly, this minotaur was in a vulnerable state. But Jeff doubted that he could do anything significant.

Liam became silent over the phone. Only the sound of typing could be heard.

"Why do you ask?" Jeff asked while charging his dart.

"I did some further analysis. In short, based on our readings, that monster is capable of absorbing mist from dead monsters."

"Through this process, it gets stronger."

"By absorbing thousands of mist-monsters, it grew from 3 meters to 5 meters."

In the sanctuary, Liam sighed in regret.

Looking back, after igniting the energy from their Starcore cannon, that minotaur should have been injured.

Between ignition and the cloud clearing up, they had a good window of opportunity to kill it. At least a 50-50 chance. Yet, this chance only lasted seconds. And they were not bold and daring enough to take it.

"Either way, I've added those three monsters to the equation."

"And it doesn't look good for you. Jeff."

"Can you report the weather status for me?" Jeff asked.

PAUSE: Jeff was not actually asking about the weather though.

"Will start raining in 2 minutes." Liam replied.

"I'll get back to you." Jeff shot his dart into that cloud.

BOOOM!

A torrent blasted out that cloud. The mist cloud puffed up. Then it quickly contracted and exploded.

As the wave of mist brushed through him, Jeff suddenly felt an intense heat wave.

The grey mist obstructing Jeff's view quickly dissipated. The snow on the ground melted into streams of water.

That minotaur was 7-meters tall now. It's like a 3 stories building.

That minotaur could hold Jeff like a barbie doll.

Now, its brazen skin was starting to emit a faint red glow. Its horns were glowing like molten metal. The water under this monster boiled into white fumes.

Extending its hand, its warhammer flew back into its palm.

DOOooomm...

The minotaur tapped the highway road with its hammer. The plating on that hammer fell off, revealing the molten metal within.

In a blink, that warhammer grew in size as well. Now, it matched the size of that minotaur.

At this instance, this monster was stepping into a whole new realm!

A realm beyond SSS-rank!

Jeff: ...

Staring at the little human, the minotaur huffed from its nose.

"How ironic." Jeff sighed. "The lord of the mistborns plotted to massacre his denizens, for his own power growth, and succeeded."

"Ooohhhmmm..." The minotaur's rumbling voice got louder. The world vibrated a little under this monster lord's voice.

"There is no need to hide it now. Either way, thank you human, for helping me do what I wish to do, but can't do."

The handsome fella up there looked at this mist lord with a cold gaze. Without further words, it flew away.

"Looks like you've just lost your last follower." Jeff took in a deep breath. After eating, his body was quickly recovering now. His strength, focus, and stamina was all coming back.

(Yeah. This is what happens when you've got stacked abilities. Totally normal. Please do not report.)

Looking at the minotaur with detection abilities, Jeff felt like he could chat with this thing all day.

This thing was still getting stronger, but barely, to the point that it won't make a difference. Looked like the video game growth law applied to this monster as well. Higher level. Harder and slower growth.

At the same time, being out of combat, Jeff was quickly recovering his missing health, mana, stamina, and focus.