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

When they saw that the enemy was just a Dragonborn Assassin, Luca and Sophia both breathed a sigh of relief.

The Dragonborn Assassin's strength was nothing remarkable.

Luca had even managed to defeat a Blood Dragon on his own; naturally, taking out a Dragonborn Assassin shouldn't have been a problem.

Without hesitation, he launched an attack on the Dragonborn Assassin.

But this time, his strike didn't land.

The Dragonborn Assassin slipped into the shadows, evading Luca's blow.

"You can shadow-step too? You're not just some ordinary assassin!"

For the first time, Luca's expression turned serious.

He realized his opponent was no ordinary Dragonborn Assassin—this was someone he absolutely could not underestimate.

Even as the words left his mouth, the Dragonborn Assassin shadow-stepped again, appearing right behind him.

In an instant, the poisoned dagger in the assassin's hand sliced across Luca's back.

A sharp sting shot through Luca.

He spun around quickly, activating his Flame Magic Runes.

A searing fireball hurtled toward the Dragonborn Assassin.

But the blazing sphere failed to strike its target.

Once again, the Dragonborn Assassin vanished into the shadows.

At this point, a flicker of unease crossed Luca's face.

He felt himself slipping into disadvantage in this fight.

The Dragonborn Assassin could keep leaping between shadows, and with the terrain here, shadows were everywhere.

There was no way to light them all up.

Even if he fully powered his Flame Magic Runes to conjure multiple walls of fire around himself, the Dragonborn Assassin could still find a shadow to launch a close-range attack.

Luca realized he had to create some distance between himself and the assassin.

He quickly communicated with Sophia.

"Staying here to fight puts us at a huge disadvantage! Get ready—I'm going to make a break for it. While I move, you need to use your frost spells to slow the Dragonborn Assassin down."

Having laid out his plan, he sprinted toward the end of the passage as fast as he could.

At the very moment he bolted, Sophia unleashed her frost magic.

The Dragonborn Assassin's movements were slowed by the frost spell.

Yet he still used shadow-step to quickly catch up to Luca.

The two clashed again at the exit of the underground passage.

This time, Luca was far less patient than before. He decided to unleash his full power and make the Dragonborn Assassin understand that crossing blades with him had consequences.

The [Dragon-Slayer Greatsword] was drawn from its sheath in one smooth motion.

At the same time, he activated his defensive magic runes and shadow magic runes.

With the help of both sets of runes, his close-combat ability surged dramatically.

The [Dragon-Slayer Greatsword] slammed against the dagger in the Dragonborn Assassin's hands.

The dagger shattered under the greatsword's force, and the Dragonborn Assassin faltered in panic.

Instinctively, he tried to slip into the shadows again.

But this time his attempt failed—Luca and Sophia had already prepared for this.

They were now at the exit of the underground passage.

Here, there were far fewer shadows to exploit.

Luca deliberately activated his flame magic runes, and as numerous burning fireballs flared into existence, the number and size of shadows shrank even further.

Sophia moved in tandem.

She unleashed her Blizzard skill, covering what shadows remained and slowing the Dragonborn Assassin even more.

"You could only rely on ambush to catch me off guard. When I'm serious, you don't stand a chance against me!"

Luca picked up the Dragonborn Assassin's broken dagger. Using its two halves, he pinned the assassin to the wall.

"Where is your secret base? How do you get there?"

He snarled the question after successfully trapping the Dragonborn Assassin.

He knew the assassin wouldn't last much longer; after all, the two dagger halves pinning him to the wall were laced with poison.

The Dragonborn Assassin only glared at Luca in silence, eyes full of venom.

"So you really don't want to answer my question? Then don't blame me for what happens next! Did you really think you'd be allowed to die so easily?"

Luca's voice turned cold as he let out a short, mocking laugh.

He had no intention of simply letting the Dragonborn Assassin die.

He wanted to extract every bit of intelligence the assassin knew before granting him death.

And to achieve that, he would have to employ a few tricks.

"The poison on those daggers will only speed up your death," Luca said coldly. "It won't make you suffer much. But I have ways to slow the poison down."

As he spoke, Luca began forcing his own power into the Dragonborn Assassin's body.

His power was unusual to begin with.

On top of that, he had received the blessing of the Goddess of Life, giving his power an innate healing quality.

Wave after wave of green life energy poured into the Dragonborn Assassin.

The assassin's face twisted into sheer terror.

He could feel his wounds being healed by the life energy.

But this healing could never completely purge the poison. It would only slow his death and prolong his suffering.

At the same time, Sophia lowered the surrounding temperature once again.

The colder it got, the slower the poison spread through his body.

Before the Dragonborn Assassin could even think, a searing pain exploded from his internal organs.

With the poison slowed to a crawl, the agony became unbearable.

"Answer my question," Luca said firmly. "If you tell me what I want to know, I'll give you a quick death. If you refuse, I'll sit here and watch while the poison tears you apart."

At first, the Dragonborn Assassin tried to endure it.

But it didn't take long before he broke and began to plead.

"I'll tell you everything I know! Please, don't make me suffer from this poison any longer!"

"Then tell me—where is your secret base? How do you get there?"

"I don't even know what secret base you're talking about," the assassin cried out between waves of agony. "I was only ordered to guard this area and rendezvous with other Dragonborn Assassins. I waited an extra day, but they never came—only you did."

He shouted his words while the poison continued to rack his body.

In this state, he truly wasn't lying.

Luca frowned, thinking hard.

He could see that the assassin genuinely didn't know where the secret base was.

But he was not willing to walk away without gaining any useful information.

"Other than you, are there any comrades still alive? Do you have allies around the Black Forest camp? Answer me, quickly!"

Luca fired off the questions while still channeling his life energy into the Dragonborn Assassin's body.

By now, the Dragonborn Assassin was so wracked with pain that he could endure no more.

All he could think of now was ending it as fast as possible.

So he blurted out everything he knew in one breath.

"Other than me, no one else survived. The assassins who were sent out must have been killed by the guards inside the Black Forest camp. There are still some of my comrades around the Black Forest camp, but they're all hiding in very secret places. I only know they exist—I don't know where exactly they are. I've told you everything I know. Please, I beg you, let me go! Let me end this!"

Faced with the assassin's desperate pleas, Luca could only look helpless.

"Give him a clean death," Sophia's voice came from behind. "We're not going to get any more information out of him. He's already told us everything he knows."

Luca nodded reluctantly, then swiftly killed the Dragonborn Assassin.

"Looks like we'll have to head back into the pitch-black underground tunnels. Only there can we hope to find useful clues," he said, lifting his gaze to the dusky sky.

It was already afternoon. They had been on the move all day, yet in all that time they hadn't obtained any truly important information.

"At least we won't have to worry about the Dragonborn Assassins anymore," Sophia said gently. "They've all been wiped out. That means the Dragon King hasn't actually deployed much strength around the Black Forest camp. Our next move shouldn't be as dangerous."

She was trying to comfort Luca with her words.

But Luca only nodded expressionlessly.

He did not share Sophia's optimism.

In his view, the next stage would definitely be full of danger.

Still, he said nothing more. There was no point in arguing with Sophia about it now. The only thing that mattered was finding the Dragon King's hidden subordinates as quickly as possible.

And so, Luca once again stepped into the pitch-black underground tunnels.

This time, he resolved to venture deeper into their depths.

The entire network of tunnels sprawled in every direction—some leading back to the surface, others plunging further into the earth.

The passages closer to the surface had already been fully explored by Luca.

Now it was time to move into the tunnels that led down into the dark, knowing full well they would be fraught with danger.

So before setting out, Luca made sure he was completely prepared.

He gripped the [Dragon-Slayer Greatsword] tightly in his hands, ready to wield it at a moment's notice should battle erupt.