Online Game: I Started with Max Charisma and Caught the Goddess's Eye - Chapter 390

Chapter 390: Chapter 390: A Battle With No Retreat
“Why are you still standing there? Get ready for battle, now!”

Luca expressed his disappointment in his comrades’ reactions, urging them to prepare for the upcoming fight immediately.

The members of the Northern Territory Morning Star, despite their lingering concerns, followed Luca’s instructions and began making their final preparations for battle.

Drumph, feeling the weight of the situation, summoned all of his trusted subordinates. He intended for these individuals to join Luca in the attack.

Nova, on the other hand, hesitated slightly. She had already lost all of her artificial monsters in the previous skirmish. Continuing the fight seemed like it would only lead to more losses, and that was something Nova found hard to accept.

After all, Nova wasn’t the permanent commander of Daskhollow Base. She was only temporarily in charge, sent from headquarters to oversee operations. Bearing the responsibility for the loss of so many of Daskhollow’s forces seemed unbearable.

However, it was already too late to back out of the battle now. She had worked too hard to establish a working relationship with Luca and the others. Moreover, she still hoped to extract valuable intelligence from both Luca and Leipoder.

In the end, Nova made up her mind. She would press on, no matter the cost.

“Don’t worry,” Nova said coldly to Luca. “I’m ready for battle. I can definitely coordinate with your actions.”

As she spoke, she drew a peculiar-looking handgun from her pocket.

The handgun in Nova’s hand was a strange shade of blue-violet. Unlike typical guns, this one didn’t have a magazine, which meant that the bullets could not be replenished in the usual manner. The area around the handgun’s barrel, which was normally aglow, had lost its light—almost as if the weapon had absorbed it.

Luca immediately noticed the oddity of Nova’s weapon. He made a mental note of it but didn’t dwell on it.

At that moment, Zenobia, now transformed into a giant serpentine monster, charged toward him with blinding speed.

Zenobia’s attack was savage. Not only did she close the distance between them at incredible speed, but she also used her sin burst forth ability to curse Luca as soon as she made her move.

Luca felt a sharp, agonizing pain in his head. At the same time, his ears were filled with the haunting screams of vengeful spirits.

Under the curse’s influence, Luca lost all of his senses in an instant.

“I need to recover quickly!”

Luca realized the gravity of the situation as soon as his senses disappeared.

If Luca couldn’t regain his senses before Zenobia’s next attack, he would likely be killed by her.

In moments of crisis like this, it was essential to stay calm and keep a clear head.

Luca’s mind raced at a rapid pace as he searched for a way out of this dire situation. After a moment’s thought, he made his decision—he would use his magic runes to escape the curse that had overwhelmed him.

He first activated the Flame Magic Rune.

In an instant, his body was enveloped in intense, scorching flames. While the flames couldn’t destroy the curse itself, they did help reduce the deafening screams of the vengeful spirits that had been tormenting him.

Taking advantage of the brief respite, Luca tightly gripped the Starseeker in his hand. Although he wasn’t entirely sure about its current condition, it was his only hope. He had to believe that the power contained within the Starseeker could still help him break free from this predicament.

The power within the Starseeker surged through Luca’s body at once. Amidst the pitch-black void, a flash of light appeared.

This flash was the first sign of the Starseeker’s influence on his body, a fleeting moment of hope. Luca seized the opportunity to activate the Dream Magic Rune.

With the arrival of the dream realm, the flash of light expanded rapidly, and Luca felt his senses begin to return.

Within the dream world, his senses rapidly recovered. He could now observe his surroundings through the lens of the dream.

Things were improving slightly, but Luca had not yet fully escaped the danger. The recovery of his senses only applied to the dream world. In the real world, his senses were still completely nullified.

Moreover, his body remained motionless in the real world, vulnerable to attack. At that moment, Zenobia was less than 100 meters away from him.

The giant serpent’s massive tail had already swung toward him, its deadly strike drawing closer.

“It’s over! I have no time to react!” Luca began to prepare himself for the worst-case scenario.

He poured every ounce of the Starseeker’s power into his body, flooding every single cell with its energy. This would significantly enhance his physical strength.

Luca had resolved to rely on his newly amplified strength to endure Zenobia’s attack head-on.

Just as Luca braced himself, Zenobia’s attack arrived.

The enormous serpent’s tail and the terrifying curse energy collided with Luca’s body almost simultaneously.

Though his senses had not fully returned in the real world, Luca could still feel the overwhelming pain from the impact.

The entire dream world became unstable, as if it were on the verge of collapsing entirely.

Luca gritted his teeth and endured the agony, holding on for as long as he could.

Despite the dire circumstances, he saw a fleeting opportunity.

The intense pain radiating from his body in the real world activated Luca’s senses. It seemed that he didn’t need much time to break free from the curse that had sealed off his perception.

As Luca struggled to regain control, his allies weren’t sitting idle either.

Zenobia struck Luca’s body with great force, sending him flying through the air. Just as she was preparing to pursue him, Nova and the members of the Northern Territory Morning Star suddenly launched a fierce counterattack against the monstrous serpent.

Nova, wielding her custom-made handgun, moved fluidly, constantly attacking the massive serpent.

Each bullet fired from her weapon was a different color, and as the projectiles struck Zenobia’s body, they caused a series of unusual effects. The serpent’s movements gradually slowed down, and the parts of its body that were hit by the bullets began to rot and collapse.

The attacks from the Northern Territory Morning Star members, however, didn’t have the same effectiveness as Nova’s. Their strikes only managed to divert Zenobia’s attention for a brief moment.

Under the pressure of their assault, Zenobia finally abandoned her attempt to finish off Luca. She turned her attention toward the audacious pests daring to block her path and vowed to crush them first.

“You damned insects!” Zenobia’s voice echoed from the head of the serpent, cold and deranged. “How dare you interfere with my actions as a god! You will all pay the price. Each and every one of you will fall under the control of sin and desire, suffering for all eternity!”

With that maddening cry, a curse descended upon every member of the Northern Territory Morning Star.

They felt as though their very souls were being torn apart, and their bodies seemed to be collapsing beyond any hope of repair.

Nova, however, felt the effects less intensely. The moment she heard Zenobia’s ominous threat, she swiftly decided to put distance between herself and the beast.

By now, she was already close to the barrier protecting the core area of the Imperial Capital. This barrier could help to weaken the curse that Zenobia had unleashed.

Even with the protective barrier, Nova still felt a sense of dizziness and nausea. She quickly pulled a small bottle of blue pills from her pocket and swallowed one of them as fast as she could.

The moment the pill went down, she felt the curse lift from her.

“This situation is completely off,” Nova thought, her mind racing with questions. “What kind of monster is this? It has such immense power… and how is it able to speak so rationally?”

Nova had encountered many monsters in her time, and she prided herself on her vast knowledge of them. She had even entered the Eternal World before. Yet, nothing about Zenobia made sense to her.

Nova had always believed that she could handle any monster. Even if they were of a particularly high level, she felt confident that she could keep her cool and deal with them.

However, the massive serpent before her was unlike any monster she had encountered before.

All the monsters she had encountered in the past lacked intelligence. In her experience, monsters acted purely on instinct, driven by primal urges.

Despite the shock of facing such an extraordinary foe, Nova wasn’t about to flee the battlefield. In fact, she hoped to gather as much intelligence as she could.

A monster that was not only rational but also claimed to be a god could provide a wealth of valuable information.

Resolute in her decision, Nova knew it was time to unleash her full power.

She pulled a bottle of red pills from her pocket. Taking a deep breath, she swallowed two of them without hesitation.

Just a few seconds later, Nova’s body expanded to twice its original size. At the same time, the custom handgun she had been holding grew significantly in size.

The weapon no longer resembled a handgun in any way. It was now more akin to a rocket launcher.

“Let’s see just how powerful this so-called ‘god’ of a monster really is!” Nova smiled confidently as she aimed the massive rocket launcher at Zenobia.

Without any hesitation, she pressed the firing button.

A rocket, charged with immense power, shot forward at incredible speed. As it flew through the air, it left a trail of vibrant energy residue in its wake.

Zenobia, who had been preoccupied with attacking the Northern Territory Morning Star members, didn’t have time to react. By the time she noticed the incoming threat, the rocket was already just a few meters away.

The deafening sound of the explosion echoed across the battlefield.

The massive serpent’s body was engulfed by a dazzling, multi-colored mushroom cloud.

The force of the explosion was tremendous. The shockwave alone was enough to instantly kill those with weaker abilities in the surrounding area.

Everyone’s gaze was drawn to the enormous mushroom cloud, unable to look away.

Suddenly, the entire world seemed to fall into a heavy, oppressive silence.

Nova’s eyes were fixed on the direction of the mushroom cloud, carefully evaluating the effectiveness of her attack.

“Well, it seems like that wasn’t enough after all,” Nova muttered coldly.

It was then that Luca’s voice suddenly echoed in her ear.

“Don’t get complacent! That attack didn’t even leave a scratch on her! She’s completely enraged now. We have no choice but to fight to the death.”

Luca’s senses had fully returned.

Nova and the members of the Northern Territory Morning Star had bought him enough time to recover.

Now, it was his turn to take center stage on the battlefield.

Although Luca was fully aware that an enraged Zenobia would be incredibly difficult to deal with, retreat was never an option. This was a battle with no retreat, no room for hesitation or second chances!