Heresy and Taboo Between (5) - Shattered Momentum

Seeing Kaya's critical hit confirmed it: the law of luck conservation was real. She'd been double-rolled into missing twice—once against Shae, once against that bastard—and now she landed a crit on her first swing. I'd pegged her as tier 2 so many times. My judgment was off. Foolish. How dare a scrub like me assign Kaya-nim a mere tier.

Show me another battle nun who lands hits like that!

'Yeah, if there's such a thing as luck-destroying bullshit, there has to be pure luck too.'

There was no official Luck stat. But come on—how could anyone go through life without it? Luck's a fickle bitch that might screw you over later, but that's a problem for future me. For now, this was a gift from the heavens. Best to ride the momentum.

'Let me hitch a ride on that luck!'

My turn was back. What if I crit too? A max-damage crit? Let's go!

"...Huh?"

This wasn't right. Not even a little. The bastard was humanoid, I had Wanted Poster marked, and Head Crush had its +4 humanoid bonus. And I only did 2 damage?

'Fuck, minimum damage roll?!'

I'd forgotten for a sec because Kaya was outputting so much damage... but I'm the main dealer. This can't happen.

The attack connected, so no mentality drain. But that didn't stop the damage to my mentality.

'No. It's not minimum damage. Has to be that guy's gimmick!'

Too bad—my turn was over. It passed inevitably to him. Shae had a grim look, raising her sword into a defensive stance. The knight was prepping a vertical slash.

"Ngh...!"

"Wha...!"

Near-max damage again was bad enough, but that final message spiked my anxiety.

Not a status ailment or resistance success—this was ongoing...

Resistance rolls were random events when status proc and resist chances were close. Win and you resist; lose and you're afflicted. Ties usually reroll or default to failure.

Attacker had a slight edge on even odds, so we had to win outright.

'Please, please, please, please, please!'

'Shit!'

"Hah, hah, hah."

Thank god it didn't go to defender loss. Huge relief. No idea what status it was, but with her turn right after his, affliction would've likely wasted it.

'Shae! Is that all the madness you've got? You didn't snap just to collapse here, right? No way! I don't know what twisted you into this, but we gotta smash these heretic fucks!'

Still locked in with the knight, Shae's head tilted slightly. No way she heard me, but it felt like she was looking my way.

"Shaaaeee—! You held out great! Good job!"

"Shae!"

She did it. That fucker rolled two 5s in a row—chilling—but our madwoman, no, Queen Shae the genius, hit 5 and 6. She resisted. That's what mattered.

Even Kaya dropped the honorific to scream her name—it was a chest-thumping sight. Seeing her resist with my own eyes wasn't captured by mere "100% luck roll" messages. That's a tank. That's a crusader. And look at that composure. Heavy presence screaming the fight's far from over. It steadied me too. My weak attack soured the mood, but she reignited it. And now it was her turn. If her zeal led into an attack...

'Wait.'

Right before ordering another Judgment of Justice, I switched gears. Pure impulse.

'Shae! One more Shae's Tenacity!'

Shae's Tenacity could stack. Theoretically to 3, but practically 2 max since you couldn't just buff forever. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Still meaningful. Next turn, her speed hits 6. And then...

My turn again. Last turn for Wanted Poster. Attacking would drop it. Options: 1. Attack. 2. Refresh mark for Shae and Kaya's follow-ups. 3. Flashbang for blind safety.

Quick math on their specs and expected damage with/without mark. Option 2 edged out. Even as main dealer at level 1, amplifying them beat self-amp. For safety, 3. But my gamer gut—stale water at worst—whispered 1.

And gut was right.

"GRAAAAAAAHHHH————!!!"

"Fuck———!!"

"Boss!!!"

"Boss!!!"

The knight howled in agony; I howled in joy. He wasn't down yet, but composure? Gone. Same for Shae and Kaya. They couldn't see exact HP, but they knew: one blow from the brink.

And...

"Shae!"

"Yes, Boss!!!"

Her stacks drop to 1 post-turn, but now her speed was 6—skipping his turn. Betting attack for speed was about to pay off huge.

"Vanish, heretic!!!"

Licking blood from her lips, Shae swung.

"Uh...?"

Remaining 4. Dealt 5. New remaining: -1. But... why wasn't he down? No death message?

"————."

"Aaaagh!"

"No————!!!"

Forgetting turn-based rules, I lunged forward at the sight. But it wasn't my turn. Still couldn't move.

"…………………."

Thud—!

Once vaguely humanoid, the knight fully monsterized on revive—with insane damage reflection. Target? Shae, half-HP from two hits. Exact damage too. Perfect storm.

Agony. Death's brink. In The Long Terror, no instant death unless special—no HP to 0/- meant Agony. Stats -33%, buffs gone. One ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hit = permadeath.

The roguelike's sole mercy, sole safety net. But one Hero in Agony? Heart-stopping for party and player. Cherished hero dies to a breeze. Desperate retreats, kill before loss... Recover 1+ HP to escape, but turns wasted, stats gutted—easy to re-enter. Party mentality/HP wrecked meanwhile.

Still a game. 0 HP Agony Heroes could act—attack, move, despite debuffs.

But.

"Shaaaeee!!! Snap out of it!!! Shae!!!!!"

"Shae!! Shae!!!"

Kaya and I clutched the blood-vomiting, corpse-like Shae, minds blank. Pure despair. Die like this? For real? Highest high seconds ago—how? Double fixed reflect on revive? Makes no sense. Boss? No—in an instance. How? We grabbed heaven's gift greedily, so it snatched back? Even max diff needs to be clearable...

"……."

But despair wasn't over yet.