Online Game: I Started with Max Charisma and Caught the Goddess's Eye

Under the crushing pressure of the moment, Luca and Nova reacted in starkly different ways.

Luca gripped Obsidian tightly, his cold eyes fixed on the massive three-headed demon serpent.

Nova, though also holding her weapon firmly, was visibly trembling. Her gaze toward the serpent was filled with sheer terror, and her legs quivered uncontrollably.

"You haven't answered my question," Zenobia said in a chilling, sinister tone.

"Then I'll make the choice myself."

All three monstrous heads of the serpent curled into cruel, knowing smiles.

After a few seconds of eerie silence, all eyes turned toward Nova.

"I still want to torment him a little longer," Zenobia sneered.

"So let's send you off first."

The moment the words registered, despair washed over Nova's face.

But she didn't give in.

Almost instinctively, as Zenobia finished her sentence, Nova raised her custom-made pistol and fired. At the same time, she bolted in the opposite direction, trying to escape from Zenobia.

Her attack, however, was utterly ineffective.

The enormous three-headed demon serpent merely glanced at her with contempt—no pain, no reaction, just disdain.

Then, mid-run, Nova collapsed to the ground as if her legs had simply vanished beneath her.

Panicked, she looked down at her legs—only to find a horrifying truth.

Her leg bones were completely gone.

She could no longer stand.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Zenobia's sadistic, deranged laughter echoed in everyone's ears.

"Struggling will only make your pain drag out even longer! Just give up and accept your fate!" she mocked mercilessly.

Above Nova, three intricate magic circles suddenly appeared in the air—each one radiating a dense, malevolent curse.

Even though they hadn't struck her yet, Nova could feel it in her bones: once they hit, there would be no surviving them.

Panicking, she pulled out a vial of crimson pills.

Without hesitation, she swallowed the entire bottle.

She knew the risks were high—possibly fatal—but there was no other option.

With the surge of the pills' power, Nova was suddenly infused with a burst of primal energy.

For a fleeting moment, she could stand again.

A glimmer of hope flashed across her face.

But it lasted only a few seconds.

That newfound primal power quickly dissipated—fading like a dream.

Above her, the three cursed magic circles began to descend rapidly.

Nova stared in despair at the rapidly descending magical arrays.

"I never should have left headquarters!"

This was the only thought left in her mind.

Everyone present believed that Nova was finished.

In the span of a single breath, the cursed arrays struck her directly.

But then—something happened that stunned everyone.

Nova wasn't dead.

Between her and the incoming curse arrays, a longsword glowing with black light had suddenly appeared, blocking the attack.

Those familiar with Luca instantly recognized the weapon.

That black-glowing longsword was Obsidian.

Luca had intervened—at the very last possible moment.

Nova, still alive, turned her gaze toward him.

Luca was now slowly rising to his feet.

"Didn't you just ask us who should die first?" he said calmly.

"I can answer that for you now."

A faint smile touched his lips.

His eyes locked onto the enormous three-headed demon serpent, and he replied with solemn clarity:

"I choose to let you die first."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he activated his dreamscape magic runes.

The Dreamweaving Mist surged outward from his body in all directions.

Zenobia, however, reacted with startling speed.

The three-headed demon serpent immediately unleashed a thick, purple mist of curses from its gaping maws.

At the same time, dozens of cursed magical arrays appeared in the sky above, glowing with malevolent intent.

Under the combined pressure of the cursed mist and the arrays, the Dreamweaving Mist's spread rapidly slowed.

"You think you can defeat me with this?" Zenobia spat venomously.

"You're unbelievably naive! Did you really think I came unprepared?"

Her gaze had never once left Luca.

Despite her outward appearance—madness, arrogance, theatricality—she was, in truth, extremely cautious.

The insanity she portrayed was nothing more than a mask.

A deception.

The Dreamweaving Mist clashed violently with the cursed purple haze.

The battlefield was quickly engulfed in a swirling fog of conflicting magic.

Within the haze, the forms of the three-headed serpent and Luca grew hazy and indistinct.

Everyone watching from the sidelines could no longer see what was happening between them.

Even Nova, who stood closest to the confrontation, couldn't make out the battle clearly.

But she didn't remain where she was.

She understood immediately—this was her best chance to escape.

Realizing that the serpent's attention was no longer focused on her, she booked it toward the barrier at full speed.

Nova's movement was like a signal.

It snapped the others back into action.

Everyone else began seizing the opportunity as well, rushing toward the barrier at top speed.

Each of them desperately hoped to escape the deadly battlefield.

Within the dense, shifting mist, a fierce battle raged between Luca and Zenobia.

Luca was unleashing his full arsenal—his array of magic runes and his specialized dreamweaving skills.

Within the Dreamweaving Mist, he could manipulate the surrounding space with his mastery over dreams.

He began slicing the surrounding space into fragmented layers.

This tactic made it impossible for the curses from different zones to overlap and intensify.

At the same time, he continuously activated purification runes.

Though these runes couldn't completely erase Zenobia's curses, they could significantly weaken them.

Zenobia, on the other hand, was doing everything in her power to amplify her curse energy.

While doing so, she grew increasingly anxious—she couldn't locate Luca.

She suddenly realized she might've made a strategic misstep.

The purple curse mist she had released certainly disrupted Luca—but it also hindered her own visibility.

"Where are you hiding, you coward?" she shouted into the fog.

"Weren't you just saying you wanted me dead? Why hide now? Why not face me head-on?"

Unable to pinpoint his location, Zenobia began taunting Luca, hoping to provoke him into revealing himself.

But Luca wasn't about to fall for such an obvious ploy.

To him, her tactics seemed almost laughably naïve.

His only focus now was on further strengthening the Dreamweaving Mist.

The battlefield's visibility continued to plummet.

Zenobia soon found herself surrounded by mist so thick, it began to make her drowsy.

And within the Dreamweaving Mist, falling asleep meant certain death.

Reflexively, Zenobia backed away from the densest part of the mist.

She kept hurling insults into the haze, trying to flush Luca out.

But he never appeared.

Minutes passed.

By now, the Dreamweaving Mist had grown so dense that the boundaries between reality and dreams were beginning to blur.

Zenobia could feel the danger creeping in.

She decided—she had to get out of there.

But the moment she turned around, she saw him.

Luca.

He was standing there, calm and composed, with a faint smile on his face, staring at the massive form of the three-headed demon serpent.

"Weren't you just so eager for me to face you?" he said, his tone low and steady.

"Well, here I am. So tell me—why are you the one trying to run now?"

"I wasn't trying to run at all! Since you've finally shown yourself, today will be the day you die!"

The three-headed demon serpent lunged at Luca with a roar of fury.

But Luca simply stood his ground, a calm smile on his face as he watched the monster charge.

As the distance between them closed—ten meters, then eight, then five—the serpent suddenly came to a jarring halt.

Zenobia's voice rang out in disbelief.

"What… What's happening?! What did you do to me?!"

She was horrified to find her massive body completely immobilized.

Frost was spreading rapidly across the serpent's armored scales.

At the same time, a wave of weakness washed over her—draining her strength in an instant.

Luca still didn't answer. He simply kept smiling faintly.

He was waiting—for Sophia's plan to fully take effect.

Using the veil of Luca's Dreamweaving Mist, Sophia had successfully synchronized her state with Zenobia's.

This forced Zenobia into a weakened condition, vulnerable and unbalanced.

Simultaneously, Sophia unleashed her frost magic, striking at Zenobia from within the mist.

Under the dual assault of the weakening state and the frost-based attack, Zenobia was utterly unable to muster any real resistance.

Then, a ghostly, cold voice echoed in Zenobia's mind.

"Luca and I have beaten you once. We'll beat you again. Whether it's the Eternal World or the World of Ashes—you will never win."

The sound of Sophia's voice ignited a furious fire in Zenobia's heart.

She hated this frost mage—the one who had humiliated her time and again.

"How dare you?! You dare defile a goddess?! You will suffer an eternal curse!"

But her threats were only answered by Sophia's disdainful laughter.

In the end, with no other option, Zenobia was forced to sacrifice part of herself to survive.

She abandoned the body of the three-headed serpent—cutting it off like a lizard severing its tail to flee.

Already weakened, this self-inflicted wound left her in even worse shape.

As she fled, the enormous form of the serpent collapsed and shattered.

The purple mist and curse energy dissipated almost instantly.

Only Luca's Dreamweaving Mist remained, swirling quietly across the battlefield.

"We did it! We've driven the Goddess of Sin and Desire back again!"

Sophia's voice, faint but joyful, echoed into Luca's ears through the mist.

Luca forced a tired smile.

"Of course we did. You made it happen. Now go rest—you're in no shape to keep pushing."

He knew full well—Sophia was utterly spent.

Sophia didn't say another word. She quietly followed the flow of the Dreamweaving Mist, retreating back into a safe zone.

Now that Zenobia had been driven back, there was no longer any need for Luca to maintain the Dreamweaving Mist.

With a swift motion, he recalled every wisp of it, drawing the entire mist back into himself in a matter of seconds.