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

Faced with the opponent’s strange behavior, Luca naturally had to prepare for any unexpected developments.

He had already activated his protective magic runes. At this moment, his body was surrounded by a shimmering silver-white glow.

At the same time, the Starseeker in his hand had also been fully activated, ready to unleash its immense power in the battle at any given moment.

After a brief moment of silence, both sides moved almost simultaneously.

A mass of vines erupted from the councilor’s body.

These vines were shrouded in a curse potent enough to corrode the soul. Simultaneously, the councilor raised his left hand, from which a beam of green light burst forth.

Luca launched his counterattack at the exact moment his opponent initiated the strike.

First, he reinforced his shield runes, ensuring that he wouldn’t be defeated by the enemy’s opening blow.

Immediately after that, he infused Dreamweaving Mist into the Starseeker.

In the next instant, the Starseeker’s form became ethereal and distorted, as if it existed simultaneously in both the real world and the realm of dreams.

Luca intended to use the weapon’s unique form to drag his opponent into the dreamworld.

If his plan succeeded, then no matter how powerful his opponent was, he would be trapped in the dreamworld for a period of time.

Both sides acted with remarkable speed.

As a result, both managed to achieve partial success.

The numerous vines and their cursed energy hindered Luca’s movements. At the same time, the Starseeker partially pulled the councilor into the dreamworld.

The battle entered a deadlock.

The councilor, drawing on the continuous energy flowing from the node, sealed off the summit of the snowy mountain. He simultaneously enhanced his own power, allowing him to gain the upper hand in the fight.

However, Luca’s strength was by no means weak, and the councilor was unable to defeat him quickly.

Luca could sense that he was at a disadvantage, and he was desperate to escape.

But the summit of the snowy mountain had been completely sealed off. No matter what method he used, he couldn’t break through the seal.

Neither side could gain a decisive advantage over the other.

As a result, they were forced into a battle of attrition.

With the support of the node, the councilor believed he could eventually outlast Luca and win.

“Stop struggling already. You have no chance of winning,” the councilor’s arrogant voice echoed across the mountaintop.

Naturally, Luca would never surrender just because he was at a disadvantage.

He had been at a disadvantage in many battles before, but no matter how difficult things got, he never gave up easily.

It was precisely this unyielding spirit that had allowed him to turn the tide in several crucial fights.

“So, you’re still not ready to give up. Then I’ll show you… my true power!”

As the councilor spoke, his body became increasingly ethereal.

One after another, ghostly afterimages flew out from his form and merged into the vines.

The vines, already brimming with cursed energy, grew even more grotesque and terrifying after absorbing the phantoms.

Luca could clearly feel the cursed power around him surging rapidly.

“There’s no way we can face him head-on. His power has already far surpassed what we can handle,” Sophia’s anxious voice echoed in Luca’s mind.

Of course, Luca knew she was right.

And he never intended to fight the enemy through brute force.

But under the current circumstances, evading the attack was almost impossible.

After all, the summit of the snowy mountain offered only so much space—no matter how he twisted or turned, there was little chance of escaping unscathed.

While Luca and Sophia were quickly strategizing their next move, a massive humanoid figure formed entirely from vines emerged, its sheer size nearly filling the entire summit.

Luca was now left with no room to dodge.

“As long as I kill you, I’ll be able to extract everything I want from your memories!”

The towering vine-formed creature let out a chilling, blood-curdling cry.

At that moment, no trace of fear appeared on Luca’s face.

Though he was extremely tense, he gripped the Starseeker tightly, ready to make his final stand.

“I’ll hold him off. While I keep him busy, you find a chance to escape,” Luca hurriedly communicated with Sophia.

Instinctively, Sophia refused.

“I’m not abandoning you! We live or die together!”

Her words moved Luca deeply.

But that emotion didn’t last long—after all, they were standing at the very edge of life and death.

Luca had to focus all his attention on facing the enemy’s incoming assault.

In an instant, countless vines wrapped around him, and a torrent of cursed energy descended upon his body.

Although he had activated his defensive magic runes in time, and had used flame runes to block part of the cursed power,

he was still gravely injured.

Luca could feel his soul being forcibly torn away from his body. At the same time, he could sense his physical form crumbling beyond repair.

Meanwhile, Sophia let out a cry of pain.

Even though she was currently hiding inside Luca’s body and using it as a shield, the power embedded in this latest attack was simply overwhelming.

Even though Luca had managed to block the majority of the assault, the small fraction that slipped through was enough to cause Sophia unbearable agony.

“I won’t be able to hold on for much longer! You have to run, now!” Luca urged Sophia once more to escape.

He had no intention of letting her die with him here.

“I already told you—I’ll live and die with you! Besides, now is not the time to give up. I’ll transfer all of my power to you.”

Sophia’s voice was faint and weak as she spoke.

She had very little power left.

But even so, with what little she still had, she could at least give Luca some form of support.

Luca felt his pain ease slightly.

Taking the opportunity, he examined the vines that had coiled around his body.

Although these vines appeared quite similar in form, the curses embedded in each one were subtly different.

Suddenly, an idea struck him—he might be able to use the variations in the curse energies to break free.

If he could get the differing cursed forces to cancel each other out, he might just be able to escape.

Although the plan seemed theoretically sound, carrying it out was fraught with difficulty.

The biggest challenge was: how could he get those different curses to conflict with each other?

Even though each vine was attacking him individually, they were all ultimately being controlled by the councilor of the Via Empire.

Any action he took would be immediately sensed by the enemy.

As Luca continued to think, his situation was rapidly deteriorating.

After a moment of fast, intense contemplation, he concluded that he had no choice but to take a desperate gamble and launch a counterattack.

If he wasted any more time, he wouldn’t even have enough strength left for a final strike.

“I need your help! Can you freeze the surrounding space within ten seconds?” Luca asked Sophia urgently.

“No problem! Although my power is almost completely drained, I still possess a vast reservoir of magical knowledge. I can use the knowledge I’ve mastered to briefly cast an ice spell.”

Sophia replied with firm confidence in her voice.

“That’s perfect!”

Luca was thrilled.

In his view, as long as Sophia could freeze the surrounding space for just ten seconds, his last-ditch counterattack would stand a strong chance of success.

“Are you ready? I need you to freeze the space around us immediately!”

Luca spoke urgently.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Sophia tapped into her arcane knowledge and unleashed a Frost Storm.

The summit of the snowy mountain was already freezing cold, and in such an environment, the effectiveness of the Frost Storm was greatly amplified.

The space surrounding Luca was rapidly encased in ice.

The vines that had been attacking him slowed down significantly.

Seizing the opportunity, Luca activated his flame runes.

Waves of blazing fire burst outward in all directions.

The vines closest to him were incinerated in an instant, while those farther away were forced to retreat.

However, because the space was frozen, their retreat was agonizingly slow.

Luca took advantage of this moment—gripping the Starseeker, he slashed directly toward the cluster of vines.

That cluster of vines marked the location of the councilor’s true body.

For the first time, the councilor felt true panic in the face of Luca’s attack.

He had never expected his opponent to pull off such a devastating counter in the face of near-certain death.

The vines under his control had to be drawn back toward his body immediately. That was the only way he could ensure his core form wouldn’t be fatally wounded by Luca’s next strike.

However, this maneuver came with another risk: when the vines rushed back too quickly, the differing cursed energies on each of them would begin to clash with one another.

And that was exactly what Luca had been waiting for—a brief opening in the councilor’s defenses.

The blade of the Starseeker slipped through a gap between the writhing vines.

In a flash, the tip of the blade was less than half a meter from the councilor’s core body.

Faced with such a threat, the councilor had no other choice.

He was forced to withdraw all of his power back into his physical form to protect it.

This, in turn, caused the sealing spell over the mountaintop to be lifted.

In that very instant, Luca yanked the Starseeker back and, without hesitation, leapt off the summit.

This time, he wasn’t counting on gravity alone to carry him to safety.

As he leapt from the summit, he used the last remnants of his strength to accelerate his descent even further.

Within just a few seconds, he had reached the base of the mountain.

At that point, his condition was terrible—his body was battered, and nearly all of his energy had been depleted.

But he had no intention of stopping to rest.

He knew this place was still extremely dangerous.

He had to get as far away from the snowy mountain as quickly as possible.