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

Distant, muffled thunder rolled ominously across the horizon. Instinctively, everyone fighting along the defensive line fell silent.

The rumbling drew closer, and with it came violent tremors that shook the earth beneath their feet.

Almost involuntarily, everyone raised their heads and stared out toward the distant horizon.

Beyond the dense, swarming mass of monsters, an enormous, indistinct silhouette gradually emerged.

“What in the world is that?!” Drumph muttered, his face filled with shock.

He didn’t expect anyone to answer him; the words had spilled out unconsciously, borne purely from disbelief.

Everyone else shared Drumph’s astonishment, frozen in place, unable to react. It was as if they were all waiting for the arrival of that colossal, shadowy figure.

Only one person acted swiftly—naturally, it was Luca.

He first dispatched all the monsters directly in front of him. After ensuring no interference, he rapidly withdrew, taking position on the rooftop of a building behind the defensive line.

From this vantage point, he could observe the massive, blurry form more clearly.

With the heightened clarity provided by his fully maxed-out Perception ability, Luca finally made out the creature clearly.

It was a giant monster, reminiscent of an enormous mammoth. Covering its head were numerous densely packed eyes, each constantly shifting about and radiating chaotic energy.

Its mouth consisted of countless writhing tentacles, and at the center of these tentacles was yet another huge eye. This single eye stared intently in Luca’s direction, as if meeting his gaze directly.

“It’s a Sky-Devouring Behemoth!”

Sophia’s tense voice sounded clearly in Luca’s ears.

“I once read about the Sky-Devouring Behemoth in a book stored deep in my teacher’s Mage Tower archives. According to the records, the Sky-Devouring Behemoth has appeared only once before in the Eternal World—during a massive tide of chaotic energy that overwhelmed the entire realm. Only an incredibly potent surge of chaos energy could sustain the existence and movement of a Sky-Devouring Behemoth. I think this monster horde we’re facing might have come directly from the Chaos Sea!”

Sophia had already harbored suspicions along these lines for quite some time.

From the moment she noticed this monster horde was dramatically more powerful than any previous ones, she began suspecting its origin might directly trace back to the Chaos Sea. However, lacking concrete evidence at the time, she hadn’t shared her theory openly—until now.

But after seeing the Sky-Devouring Behemoth herself, Sophia now had all the proof she needed.

Luca offered no response.

His eyes remained fixed intently on the Sky-Devouring Behemoth in the distance, his mind desperately racing to come up with a strategy to defeat it.

Sophia continued speaking:

“The Sky-Devouring Behemoth is incredibly powerful. According to legend, the one that entered the Eternal World even devoured a god! It was responsible for the destruction of an entire great civilization!”

“There’s absolutely no way we can defeat this creature. We should flee while there’s still time. Abandon the Imperial Capital! We can retreat to Shelter 102. At least then we’ll have more time to figure out how to defeat the Sky-Devouring Behemoth.”

Sophia, who had always remained calm in the face of danger, was now plunged into a state of extreme panic.

She was actually urging Luca to retreat.

Of course, Luca could never agree to such a suggestion.

He slowly shook his head.

“The Imperial Capital is an extremely important city, especially its core region, and we absolutely cannot abandon it lightly. If we simply give up on it, Shelter 102 will soon come under the main assault of the monster horde as well.”

“That might be true,” Sophia replied anxiously, “but retreating to Shelter 102 would at least buy us extra time to prepare. Given our current condition, we simply don’t stand a chance against the Sky-Devouring Behemoth.”

Sophia was now pleading urgently with Luca.

Luca sighed softly.

“I remember you telling me something similar before. Several times, before the battles began, you believed we had absolutely no chance of victory. But in the end, we overcame every difficulty and defeated every powerful enemy. I believe we can achieve the same result again this time!”

His voice was filled with unwavering determination as he spoke.

Realizing further persuasion was futile, Sophia fell silent.

“Since you’ve already made your decision, I won’t say anything more. Although I still think it’s impossible to win this battle, I’ll stand with you and fight until the very end.”

The two quickly reached an agreement.

No matter what happened, they would fight until their last breath right here in the Imperial Capital.

Afterwards, they both began closely watching the Sky-Devouring Behemoth and the monster horde.

Gradually, a feasible plan began to take shape in Luca’s mind.

“The Sky-Devouring Behemoth is incredibly powerful indeed, but it relies entirely on chaotic energy to sustain its actions. If we can somehow weaken that chaotic energy, the Sky-Devouring Behemoth will naturally collapse on its own.”

He immediately voiced his thoughts aloud.

“That approach might indeed work,” Sophia said hesitantly, “but we simply don’t have the means to weaken the chaotic energy here. The chaotic energy brought by this monster horde is far too powerful. Even the Origin Holy Grail wouldn’t be able to absorb all of it.”

“The Origin Holy Grail can absorb part of the chaotic energy, and the Ancient Gods’ remains can absorb another portion. Combined, the two should be able to substantially weaken the chaotic energy,” Luca replied, having already made up his mind to use the Ancient Gods’ remains once more.

Sophia immediately objected to his idea.

“You can’t do that! If the remains of the Ancient Gods absorb too much energy, there’s a real chance that the Ancient Gods themselves could resurrect! We barely managed to completely suppress the resurrection of the Ancient Gods!”

Sophia’s voice rose sharply in protest.

From her perspective, the threat posed by the Ancient Gods far outweighed even that of the monster horde.

The Eternal World had successfully repelled monster horde invasions multiple times. Therefore, no matter how strong the monsters became, Sophia believed they could still ultimately find a way to counter them.

But the Ancient Gods were different.

The Eternal World had only faced one invasion from the Ancient Gods, and in that catastrophic event, nearly all native deities had been wiped out by the Ancient Gods.

The few remaining gods of the Eternal World today had emerged only after that devastating invasion.

Facing Sophia’s objections, Luca fell silent for a moment before finally speaking:

“This is the only viable solution I can think of. If you disagree, then can you tell me a better way?”

His pointed question left Sophia speechless.

She had no alternative strategy to offer.

“If you have no better idea, then let’s proceed with mine! Actually, the possibility of the Ancient Gods fully resurrecting isn’t as high as you imagine. I’ll carefully control the remains, limiting how much chaotic energy they absorb. The Origin Holy Grail will still do the bulk of the work in absorbing the chaotic energy.”

Luca reassured Sophia once again.

Sophia remained silent, having run out of things to say.

While the two continued refining their plan for confronting the Sky-Devouring Behemoth, the situation on the battlefield underwent a sudden dramatic shift.

The vast horde of monsters suddenly ceased their attacks.

Instead, they began withdrawing en masse, and a strange quiet quickly descended upon the battlefield.

However, none of the humans celebrated this retreat.

Everyone knew all too well that the monsters withdrawing didn’t mean the battle had ended.

The rumbling thunder drew ever closer to the human defensive line, the tremors beneath their feet growing steadily stronger.

By now, everyone could clearly see the gigantic figure approaching.

At last, the Sky-Devouring Behemoth revealed its true form to humanity.

Its countless eyes simultaneously unleashed beams of violet light, each radiating intense chaotic energy, directly targeting the human defensive line.

The moment these violet beams made contact, numerous humans were instantly transformed into monsters by the chaotic energy.

The devastating assault plunged everyone into a state of utter panic.

All of them began desperately scrambling towards the still-safe inner region of the Imperial Capital.

Witnessing this scene, Drumph was filled with fury.

“You can’t run away! No matter how powerful our enemy is, we must hold the line here! If you flee now, our defenses will completely collapse!”

He shouted desperately, trying to persuade the others to stay.

However, his efforts bore little fruit.

The members of Morning Star naturally obeyed his call. Even Zovland and Evelyn chose not to flee. Despite enormous pressure, every member of Morning Star remained resolutely at the line, preparing themselves for the Behemoth’s attack.

But the members of the Imperial Capital Guard and the ordinary human warriors had already had their morale shattered.

Only one thought occupied their minds now: escape, at all costs.

Drumph’s shouts fell on deaf ears.

Members of the prominent noble families of Imperial Capital did not hesitate for even a moment when they saw the Sky-Devouring Behemoth. They immediately turned to flee, openly scoffing at Drumph’s pleas.

Not one of them wished to remain and face such a terrifying monster.

In a matter of minutes, only a handful of humans remained at the defensive line.

The Sky-Devouring Behemoth was now less than a kilometer away from the line.

The shadow cast by its enormous body loomed heavily over the entire defensive position.

Seeing this, even Drumph began feeling a creeping sense of despair.

“It seems nobody can save us this time. This monster is far too powerful. There’s simply no way we can stop such a massive creature from advancing!”

He muttered helplessly, staring blankly at the enormous shadow cast by the Sky-Devouring Behemoth.

At that very moment, Luca soared directly over Drumph’s head.

He had no intention of allowing the Sky-Devouring Behemoth to reach and destroy the last defensive line protecting the core region of the Imperial Capital.

Instead, he would face the Behemoth head-on outside the line and halt its advance himself!