Oops, I'm a Monster with a Too Long Prefix!-Chapter 32: Daffino, hang in there!

And just when Isaac thought the Bloodline fusion was done—it wasn't.

His lower half twisted further, fully morphing into the bulbous abdomen of a spider. The Hyenaman's stubby legs? Folded neatly into his new spider body, tucked away like an obsolete accessory.

By the time the fusion process finally ended, Isaac looked... terrifying.

Hyenaman torso on top, spider lower half beneath. Eight long, spindly legs fanned out beneath him, the front two tipped with sharp, curved claws. He looked like a half-mutated dungeon boss someone would scream at in a raid.

"Holy hell. I'm a full-blown half-Hyenaman, half-spider freak now," Isaac muttered. "Can't even be a proper monster without getting mutated halfway through..."

Yeah. He was hideous.

But there was no denying it—he was fast now. Real fast.

After crawling around for a bit, Isaac confirmed it: those eight legs weren't just for show. His movement speed had noticeably increased. There was something eerily satisfying about the way he glided over the terrain.

"Great. Guess I'm turning into the Zerg Queen now. If this wasn't a game, I'd be crying about losing my damn lower half."

He glanced back at his new plump, segmented abdomen and gave an involuntary shudder.

Changing his appearance back would require a skin purchase. Whether Hyenaman or Forest Venomspider, the cost was the same—1,000 Reputation.

But Isaac wasn't about to drop his precious Reputation points on cosmetics. Not when there was still so much left to buy.

"Screw it. This is me now. I've been undateable since day one anyway." He snorted. "You think I'm gonna spend 1,000 Rep just to not look ugly? Not a chance. This is the face of determination, baby!"

...

A full day of grinding got Isaac to level 11, with both his Quality and Talent upgraded. Satisfied and exhausted, he logged out, grabbed dinner, and decided to chill by watching the official forums and some videos.

The marketplace was buzzing. Level 1 weapons were flooding in, including several high-rolled versions hitting the auction boards. Prices had dropped fast—basic Hyenaman Clubs were now hovering around $150.

The top-tier players had clearly caught up in levels. Organized parties were farming Special Hyenamen, pushing supply up and prices down.

What surprised Isaac most was that even though he hadn't listed any gear all day, people on the forums were still talking about him.

"LoneMadness didn't post any gear today. Guess he finally ran out of inventory."

"He had his run. Now that we're all catching up, he doesn't have much of an edge left."

"He got lucky finding special mobs early. That's all."

"To be fair, the guy made bank. Look at how far prices have dropped. He probably cashed out already."

"I don't care about Hyenaman Clubs anymore. I want Cragstone. I heard some guilds are live-streaming Daffino raids now. Once Cragstones start dropping again, prices are gonna plummet."

Isaac rolled his eyes. "They seriously have nothing better to do than gossip about me?"

Still, he had to admit—his profits today were underwhelming.

"Man... only made ten grand this morning. Spent the rest of the day farming spiders, didn't even list anything."

He sighed, then laughed at himself. "I remember when $2,000 a month felt amazing. Now I make $10,000 in a day and I'm complaining."

Truth was, he hadn't come up empty. He had one full Venommist set in his bag, three on Red Team, one on himself, and a handful of extra bracers and greaves. But he wasn't planning to sell them just yet.

He needed to understand what lay beyond Venommist Forest. If this gear turned out to be essential for traversing it, then the set's value would skyrocket—it would become the golden ticket to reaching the level 10 city.

Speaking of which...

"Guilds are raiding Daffino already?" Isaac perked up. He quickly closed the marketplace and opened the streaming platform.

"No way—they can't kill Daffino yet. I'm not done farming this forest!"

At the top of the charts, multiple guilds were indeed live, all broadcasting their attempts to take down Daffino. Viewer counts were massive.

To his surprise, one of the streams belonged to AishaDoll—and her raid group was in L City's starter village.

"Wait, I thought she was from A City."

He clicked into the stream.

Sure enough, AishaDoll had joined forces with seven squads from the Darkstar Alliance, L City's top-tier guild.

On stream, she was clearly thrilled.

"Do you guys see that massive Hyenaman? The big one? That's him—definitely over two meters tall!"

"Huh? How did I switch villages? Hehe, it's a trick—DSA's tech guy spoofed my login IP. Cool, right?"

Isaac blinked. "...That's a thing?"

"Darkstar Alliance is crazy strong. Top three guild in Jiang City," Aisha continued.

"See those clusters of mobs? All Specials. Super risky if you don't clear them carefully. Especially the three waves near Daffino—if you pull even one extra group, it's a wipe. We found that out the hard way—twice."

"Respawning at the village and running back takes forever. Super annoying."

"Right now everyone's basically the same level. No one has real skills yet, so managing aggro and rotating damage is crucial."

"We're just tagging along. If Cragstone drops, we're not gonna fight over it. We're just here to help."

"Anyway, the fight's about to start. I might not talk much during the raid, but I'll read chat after!"

Soon, the raid leader DSA-VoidHunter issued commands, and the group moved out to clear the area.

Despite the risks, they were organized—surgical in their pulls, careful not to aggro neighboring packs. Isaac had to admit, their coordination was solid.

"These guys are good," he muttered. "That area's full of Star 1 and Star 2 mobs. Being able to pull cleanly in such tight space takes real skill."

But then a different realization hit him.

"If they kill Daffino... and start pushing through Venommist Forest..."

"Crap! I'm not done milking that zone!"

He couldn't care less about other villages, but L City was his turf.

"Nope. Not on my watch."

"Time to log in."

...

Back in the game, AishaDoll wiped sweat from her brow.

"Whew! Finally cleared the outer ring. Took us forever, but we made it!"

But clearing the outskirts was just phase one.

They'd spent thirty minutes inching their way to Daffino's lair. The final obstacle? Three groups of elite mobs, each nestled close around the boss.

Each group had:

– One Star 2

– Two Star 1s

– Four level 8 mobs

If you pulled one group, chances were high you'd aggro at least one more—and maybe even Daffino himself.

Two groups plus Daffino was survivable with tight coordination.

Three groups plus Daffino? That was a full-on suicide mission.

Voice chat buzzed with strategy talk as VoidHunter laid out a careful plan.

"Alright, listen up. I'll say this three times:

DO. NOT. AGGRO. THE THIRD WAVE.

No exceptions. Do not screw this up."

"Now, positions—Team 2 and Team 3, you're our tanks. You've got Special Sturdy and Special Robust traits. Team 4..."

...

Meanwhile, Isaac was sprinting across the map, his eight spider legs tapping like machine guns on the ground.

He tore through the forest at breakneck speed.

"Daffino, hang in there! I'm coming to save you!"