Online Game: I Started with Max Charisma and Caught the Goddess's Eye Chapter 423: The Quiet Beginning of Action

On a moonless, windy night, Luca and his team left the 102 shelter to begin their mission. This ti, their operation was to be carried out with the utmost discretion. To avoid alerting their enemies ahead of ti, Luca made the strategic decision to divide everyone into three separate teams.

He and Nova would take the main road, openly heading toward Lakeside City. Fuzzsir and lania would take the back route, aiming to quietly bypass the monster-infested areas outside of the city, and reach Lakeside City without drawing attention. Donlow would operate alone, also from the shadows, but she was to remain ready to provide support to Luca and Nova whenever necessary.

The next morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise, Luca and Nova arrived at the outer satellite town of Lakeside City.

"There’s a monster gathering here," Nova said, scanning the town with binoculars. "According to our previous plan, we must clear out all the monsters here before we can proceed."

She had already assessed the situation and estimated the strength of the monsters in the town. Their levels were all under 60. This ant that these monsters posed little threat to her and Luca. If they acted imdiately, they could clear out all of them within two hours.

"I’m ready," Luca replied coldly. "I’ll enter the town from the east, and you’ll co in from the west. We’ll et at the center of the town. That’s where the strongest monsters should be."

Luca was already prepared for battle. In fact, he had been waiting for Nova to get ready. The two of them imdiately set off in their separate directions.

Luca, wielding his Starseeker, charged into the town from the east. As soon as he entered, he began slaying the lower-level monsters in large numbers. With each swing of his weapon, monster after monster was reduced to ashes. In just fifteen minutes, he reached the heart of the town, where the most powerful monster in the area awaited him.

Fla Bat

Level: 69

Type: Boss

Abilities:

Sky FireShadow Tempest

As Luca gazed at the enormous Fla Bat, there was no visible change in his expression. He gripped his Starseeker tightly and charged toward the creature. At the sa ti, he activated the frost magic runes etched onto his body. The pure white runes enveloped him completely, causing the temperature around him to plumt sharply.

The mont the Fla Bat noticed Luca, it imdiately unleashed its Sky Fire ability. A torrent of flas descended from the sky, but all of it was absorbed by the frost magic runes surrounding Luca.

When the Fla Bat realized that its first attack had failed, it prepared to use its second skill, Shadow Tempest. However, the blade of Starseeker was now less than half a ter away from the monster.

Reacting quickly, the Fla Bat altered its course and darted westward at high speed. But within less than 100 ters of its flight, several powerful bullets shot towards it.

At that mont, Nova appeared directly in front of the Fla Bat.

"You’re too slow!" Luca remarked with slight dissatisfaction. "If you had been any later, I would’ve already taken care of this monster on my own!"

Luca was sowhat irritated by Nova’s delay, feeling like she had been intentionally stalling. But he held back from further sarcasm—after all, they were still allies. With Nova’s help, taking down the Fla Bat would be faster.

Nova paid no mind to Luca’s sarcastic comnt. She intercepted the Fla Bat and imdiately switched her custom handgun to its enhanced mode. The bullets transford into missiles, greatly increasing their power.

With Luca and Nova’s combined attacks, the Fla Bat was quickly slain. Its large, burning body disintegrated into ashes in re monts.

At the sa ti, Nova’s condition seed to shift. She appeared to have gained so kind of boost in power.

Luca, ever observant, noticed the change in Nova’s state and bluntly asked, "What’s happened to you? You’re stronger now."

"Your level should have increased by now, right? How far are you from level 70?"

"I’ve already reached level 65! It should only take another month or two to reach level 70!" Nova replied with a smile.

She then casually asked, "You must be level 70 by now, right?If I’m not mistaken, you should be preparing for your second awakening and profession change now."

Luca didn’t answer Nova’s question.

Instead, he directed his gaze toward the direction of Lakeside City.

"Let’s move quickly! There are several areas up ahead with monster clusters that we need to clear. We must reach the outskirts of Lakeside City before sunset."

Nova didn’t press further.

She nodded and followed Luca as they continued their journey.

After passing through a stretch of abandoned railway, they entered the area surrounding the river network.

Lakeside City was surrounded by nurous artificial canals, all of which branched out from the Greenwater River. The Greenwater River ran through the city center of Lakeside City and eventually rged into the Green Lake on the southern side.

Green Lake was a vast body of water that had once been a scenic area before the monsters arrived. After the monsters’ appearance, Green Lake beca a very dangerous area.

From the information gathered by the Northern Territory’s Morning Star, it was clear that there were many monsters in the lake. Moreover, their levels were quite high.

But it was precisely because Green Lake was so dangerous that very little was known about it.

As Luca walked across the canal’s bridge, he had a strange feeling that sothing wasn’t right.

He kept sensing a dangerous presence.

However, whenever he used his Perception ability to scan the surroundings, the sense of danger would suddenly disappear.

This situation made Luca very alert.

He slowed down his pace.

Just like that, Luca and Nova stopped right in the middle of the canal bridge.

"What’s wrong? Did you notice sothing?"

Nova turned around, looking at Luca in confusion.

Luca frowned as he stared down at the canal below, deep in thought.

After a while, he slowly asked, "Do you feel like there’s sothing in the canal?"

Nova hurried over to the edge of the bridge.

She looked down at the canal.

The canal’s surface was eerily calm. Without a breath of wind, the entire river looked like an unusually smooth sheet of glass.

"There shouldn’t be anything in the canal, right? The surface is disturbingly calm."

"It’s precisely because the water’s so unnaturally still that I think sothing must be beneath it."

The two of them stood on the bridge, observing for about ten minutes. Throughout that ti, the surface of the canal remained perfectly still.

Finally, Luca smiled and said, "Maybe I’ve been overthinking it. My judgnt might have been wrong. Let’s move on and not waste any more ti here."

Nova nodded in agreent.

"Alright then."

They continued walking, but only a few steps later, the bridge began to shake violently. In an instant, the entire structure collapsed.

Luca reacted swiftly. Before the bridge had completely fallen apart, he jumped into the air.

Nova, however, wasn’t as quick. With a shocked expression on her face, she fell straight into the canal along with the crumbling bridge.

By the ti Luca reached the opposite bank, he imdiately turned his gaze toward Nova.

"I have to save her. Without her help, I can’t possibly defeat Zenobia and Councilor Devitt."

He quickly made his decision.

Though Nova wasn’t soone he could fully trust, in the current situation, she could provide significant assistance.

With his mind made up, Luca acted without hesitation. He sprinted toward Nova, preparing himself for a possible confrontation.

Clearly, the sudden collapse of the bridge wasn’t a normal occurrence. His earlier suspicion seed to be correct. Sothing beneath the canal’s surface had caused the bridge to collapse.

As Luca rushed toward Nova, she too quickly regained her composure. She drew her specially-made pistol and switched it to the grappling gun mode. Swiftly scanning the surroundings, she locked the grappling gun’s target onto one of the remaining bridge pillars.

With the rope shooting out, Nova finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Maybe this really was just an accident? If a monster had caused the bridge to collapse, it would have attacked already. It definitely wouldn’t have given ti to escape."

Nova believed she had escaped danger.

But just then, a massive whirlpool suddenly ford beneath the water’s surface. Nova found herself right at the center of the vortex, and beneath it, there was a gigantic maw with sharp, gaping teeth.

The grappling gun failed to get Nova out of danger, and she was sucked directly into the monstrous jaws.

She froze in place, paralyzed by fear. At that mont, Luca was still a hundred ters away—there was no way she could wait for his help.

The massive mouth quickly snapped shut, and razor-sharp teeth closed in from both directions.

In the face of extre danger, Nova finally snapped into action. She aid her specially designed pistol deep into the monster’s throat.

With a violent explosion, the surface of the canal erupted in massive waves.

Luca, who was rushing toward her, was thrown off course by the shockwave, his movents slowing considerably.

However, the explosion successfully helped Nova escape the threat of death.

The monstrous mouth was torn open, and Nova scrambled out in a panic. She bolted toward Luca as fast as she could.

After a brief mont of contact, she had already concluded that this monster was far beyond her ability to defeat on her own. To win in the battle ahead, she would need to join forces with Luca.