The latest version of Windows 11 is more insistent about the Microsoft account, and if you pull the ethernet out, or turn off the Wifi, it says it can't continue until you have an internet connection.
You can get around this by Ctrl and F10 for a command prompt, and then OOBE\BYPASSNRO
But....I've seen a couple of Windows 11 machines with local accounts recently, with Disk Encryption turned on, and buried in the control panel, a message to say "Sign in with a Microsoft account to complete the disk encryption set up". Quite a lot of potential here for losing the whole contents of the C: drive, because the bit that it hasn't done is to save the encryption key. These machines were Windows 11 Home, not Pro, and the owners had not intentionally turned on Disk Encryption. I rebuilt Windows 11 from scratch on one of these machines (disk initialisation and installation from USB), and it after I had done that, the C: drive ended up with disk encryption turned on, and again, without a Microsoft account to save the key into, the possibility of losing the whole contents of the encrypted disk.
I don't like it, I think it should be the owner's choice to have a Microsoft account or not, but I think its too dangerous to have a local account now. The encryption key needs to be saved somewhere, and there's a bit less chance of losing it if its saved in a the Microsoft account.
Earlier on this year, I saw three Microsoft Surface machines in a fortnight, that all started asking for the encryption key after a Windows update. None of the data was recoverable, because either there wasn't a Microsoft account to recover the key from, or the the key wasn't in it. My guess is that Microsoft bundled a BIOS update for the Surfaces into Windows Update, and thats what wiped the key from the machines. Without the encryption key, the data was toast.
Anyway...bottom line, bite the bullet and accept that Windows 11 needs a Microsoft account and associated logon.