Online Game: I Started with Max Charisma and Caught the Goddess's Eye-Chapter 460: The Soul Devourer

Within the ruins of buildings near Morning Star headquarters, Luca, Drumph, and Drumph’s subordinates were formulating their next plan of action.

As they approached the Morning Star headquarters, they’d already gathered sufficient intelligence.

The headquarters was currently enveloped by a strange, unidentified fog.

All entrances appeared to have been sealed off.

Only a ventilation shaft located at the back of the headquarters remained passable.

If they wanted to infiltrate headquarters without alerting their enemies, their only choice was the ventilation shaft.

"First, we’ll have to circle around to the station behind the headquarters building. From there, we’ll use the underground tunnel to reach the outer ventilation area. Once there, we can access the only remaining open ventilation shaft," Drumph said quickly.

At the same time, he took out a map and spread it out before everyone.

Using this map, Luca successfully calculated the amount of time required to reach the entrance of the ventilation shaft.

It was approximately fifteen minutes.

"Do any of you have objections? If anyone has concerns, speak up now. If none of you have any issues, we’ll move immediately," Drumph said solemnly.

He was clearly eager to quickly understand the situation and eliminate the enemies inside Morning Star headquarters.

None of Drumph’s subordinates raised objections.

They all thought Drumph’s plan was airtight.

Only Luca felt that Drumph’s plan involved unnecessary risks.

He stood up immediately and said, "I think your plan has some flaws."

Luca’s words greatly puzzled Drumph.

He directly asked, "What flaws are in my plan? Is there any safer route aside from the ventilation shaft?"

"If we’re focused solely on safety, we do indeed have no choice but the ventilation shaft. But we absolutely cannot circle around to the station behind headquarters. If we proceed according to your plan, it’ll take at least fifteen minutes to reach the shaft entrance.

During those fifteen minutes, we could be attacked at any moment by hidden enemies. Don’t forget—Morning Star headquarters is already completely under enemy control."

"Our every move will be closely monitored by the enemy."

Luca’s words successfully made Drumph realize the flaws in his own plan.

The expressions on Drumph’s subordinates’ faces became even grimmer than before.

Drumph frowned and thought it over carefully, eventually realizing he couldn’t come up with a better alternative himself.

So he simply decided to shift the responsibility over to Luca directly.

"Then what kind of plan do you think we should implement?"

"I think we should enter Morning Star headquarters through the front entrance!" Luca declared firmly.

As soon as Luca spoke those words, everyone present displayed expressions of utter shock.

"Are you crazy?! Sneaking around the back of headquarters already carries a huge risk—if we go through the main entrance, we’ll definitely be spotted by the enemy. Our situation would become much worse!"

One of Drumph’s subordinates immediately stood up and protested.

"If you don’t want to take risks, you’ll have to waste more time. But if you want to save time, you have to take risks," Luca responded coldly.

He had clearly laid out the options in front of Drumph and his subordinates.

Without hesitation, Drumph said,

"We must save time! So let’s go directly through the front door!"

Though Drumph’s subordinates still felt anxious, since Drumph and Luca had reached an agreement, they had no choice but to follow the two of them.

Before heading to the main entrance, Luca and Drumph exchanged one final confirmation.

"I’ll take the lead! All of you just follow closely behind me and provide whatever support you can," Luca said decisively.

Immediately after finishing his sentence, Luca set out without further delay.

Drumph followed close behind Luca.

He knew he wasn’t nearly as powerful as Luca.

But he wasn’t satisfied with Luca’s suggestion that he merely provide limited support.

Drumph had already resolved himself.

If Luca truly faced severe danger, he would unquestionably fight alongside Luca until the very end.

Drumph’s subordinates quickly followed in their footsteps.

When they were only one hundred meters away from the front gate of Morning Star headquarters, Luca immediately activated the defensive magic runes.

A silvery-white protective shield instantly enveloped Luca and the group behind him.

At the same time, Drumph’s eyes locked onto the main entrance directly ahead.

He had already activated his ability—Eye of Detection.

With Eye of Detection active, Drumph could detect any enemies hidden in the shadows.

As soon as he spotted even a single enemy, Drumph would immediately alert Luca, allowing Luca to respond without delay.

Everyone remained highly vigilant.

However, even after passing through the main entrance into Morning Star headquarters, they encountered no attacks at all.

Drumph’s subordinates visibly relaxed.

Some of them even began to think the mission was easier than they’d initially imagined.

"Maybe the traitors already left?"

"I think so too! The traitors probably only wanted to throw headquarters into temporary chaos. They wouldn’t dare stay here to wait for us."

"This time, we won’t encounter danger, and we’ll definitely achieve something big. The federal leadership will reward us greatly!"

Some of Drumph’s subordinates even started chatting casually.

Drumph turned around sharply and snapped, "Shut your mouths! The mission has just begun—we can’t yet be certain if danger awaits us! Everyone needs to stay focused!"

Under his stern rebuke, the group fell silent again.

But even then, they didn’t seem particularly serious.

At the front of the group, Luca wore a grim expression.

He was certain the situation couldn’t possibly be this simple.

Even after activating his fully maxed-out Perception talent, he still couldn’t detect the presence of any enemies.

This situation made him even more uneasy.

He refused to believe that the enemy had simply left after plunging Morning Star headquarters into chaos.

"Have you noticed anything?" Luca chose to ask Sophia for help directly.

"I haven’t detected anything specific. All I can sense is the presence of a very powerful soul energy within this building," Sophia replied, sounding equally puzzled.

She had been closely monitoring their surroundings throughout Luca’s advance, but she had found nothing unusual either.

The existence of powerful soul energy hadn’t particularly caught Sophia’s attention. She assumed it might just be leftover energy from deceased Morning Star members.

"Could the enemies really have left already? That seems highly unlikely," Luca muttered suspiciously to himself.

At that very moment, a sudden scream echoed from behind him.

Shockingly, one of Drumph’s subordinates had directly attacked another.

"What the hell are you doing?! Why did you attack your own teammate?!"

Drumph roared furiously.

At the same time, he immediately launched an attack against his traitorous subordinate.

From Drumph’s perspective, he was significantly stronger than his opponent, so the fight wouldn’t last long.

However, when the two of them actually began to fight, Drumph suddenly realized his opponent’s strength far exceeded his expectations.

During their brief clash, the enemy used abilities Drumph couldn’t even comprehend.

He felt as though his consciousness was being forcibly torn from his body.

At that exact moment, a silver-white streak of light suddenly shot through the air.

It was Luca’s Starseeker.

Starseeker slammed directly into the rogue Morning Star member, knocking him away.

Drumph’s consciousness smoothly returned to his body.

After stabilizing himself, Drumph once again turned to face the battlefield.

What he saw next shocked him deeply.

The enemy battling Luca was no longer his subordinate at all. Instead, it was a terrifying, distorted monster composed entirely of countless humanoid shadows.

When he examined it more closely, he recognized some of the shadowy human shapes—they perfectly matched the appearances of certain Morning Star members.

In that instant, Drumph realized these shadowy figures were the souls of Morning Star members.

There had never been a traitor inside Morning Star.

The chaos at Morning Star headquarters was entirely caused by this monster, which was capable of devouring human souls.

Drumph’s guess was absolutely correct.

However, having never encountered such a monster before, he was unable to immediately understand its precise abilities.

But Luca, already engaged in battle, was a different story entirely.

With Sophia’s help, Luca quickly figured out the nature of the monster he was battling.

"This monster is a Soul Devourer—a creature that previously only existed in the Eternal World! While fighting it, you must keep your consciousness clear at all times. Once your mind starts to blur, it means your soul is already being devoured," Sophia explained swiftly.

She understood clearly that if she didn’t immediately tell Luca about the Soul Devourer’s traits, Luca would suffer greatly in the ongoing fight.

"It can harness the souls it previously devoured to strengthen itself and even use the abilities those souls possessed when alive. You absolutely must end this fight quickly. The longer the battle drags on, the more likely the Soul Devourer will unleash unexpected combinations of skills against you."

Luca listened carefully to Sophia while continuing the fight.

He had already realized that the Soul Devourer was an incredibly troublesome monster.

Even if Sophia hadn’t warned him, he still would have aimed to finish the battle swiftly.

In just this brief clash alone, the Soul Devourer had already employed twelve completely different abilities.

The sheer number of these skills combined had thrown the entire battlefield into chaos.