Surviving the Holy Sacrifice
Orb of Healing
HP below 60%. Recovering 1% HP per second for 10 seconds.
“Huuuuh.”
Carpe let out a sigh of relief as he watched his HP bar filling back up.
This had been, without a doubt, the closest call he'd ever had since starting Last Savior. Even against fanatic priests or fragments of the Servant Lord, he'd never been pushed this far.
By the time the aftershocks of Holy Sacrifice faded, his HP had been down to a measly 450.
If Kate's mana had been just a bit higher, or her weapon a notch better, he'd have been dead for sure.
“Ow. Came this close to seeing the gray screen.”
“H-how did you survive that?”
“Got lucky.”
“No way! Holy Sacrifice isn't something you just luck out of... wait, don't tell me?”
A lifesaving item?
The thought flashed through Kate's mind, but she shook her head.
Lifesaving items let you tank an instant-death hit, leaving you with 10,000 HP. Exactly as the name implied—one free pass on death.
Especially at high levels, where death penalties were brutal, every ranker dreamed of owning one. Ultra-rare stuff.
For a clear unofficial ranker like Fist Demon, having one wouldn't be weird at all.
No. A lifesaver couldn't block Holy Sacrifice.
Those items and skills didn't stack, and their cooldowns were insanely long. Balance necessities to prevent total cheese.
Meaning, they only saved you once.
And Holy Sacrifice isn't a single hit.
Not many knew this, but Holy Sacrifice was two attacks: the initial blast and the follow-up. The two-second gap was so short it felt like one, but the holy grenade exploded twice.
Lifesavers only block the first. The second finishes you off.
That was why holy grenades were the natural predator of lifesavers.
“You tanked both? Impossible!”
A pure tank stacked with unique gear and a lifesaver? Maybe. But Fist Demon? Top-tier fighter and mage and tank? Nah.
Him having some secret full-revive skill made way more sense.
“How in the world...”
“Curiosity's great and all, but don't you have something more pressing right now?”
“...Ah.”
She let out a short sigh as Carpe approached.
Holy Sacrifice packed as much penalty as punch. Post-cast, HP and MP locked at 1. No heals, no pots. All stats tanked so hard you couldn't even swing a basic attack or run.
Kate had no choice but to accept death.
“Hope next time we meet, it's not as enemies.”
“Same here. I got lucky this round too.”
If this weren't her turf disadvantage, that one shot would've ended him clean. Or maybe even their Permafrost clash earlier.
“Spare me now, and it'll strengthen ties between The Sun and Cheonma Divine Cult, right?”
“Nah, tough sell. I prefer clean finishes.”
“Figured. Sigh. Rebuilding's gonna suck.”
Truth be told, Carpe didn't hate Kate's vibe.
Dumping precious skill points without hesitation to protect her guild master? Pretty badass.
Plus, she wears glasses.
-What? You into glasses girls?
...Not that. RaSe is VR, so it corrects physical issues.
Paraplegics could run free here. Vision too—everything crystal clear, no matter your real-life Rx.
So why wear glasses? Obvious: concept player or enjoyer type.
-...Dumb logic, but kinda tracks. Hilarious.
Personal fondness aside, no mercy.
That's that, this is this. Loser dies. Sparing her insults her.
-Mm. Real reason?
She might drop loot. Why pass?
-There ya go. Item ghost Carpe.
Trading life for loot felt too extortion-y anyway.
Carpe stepped up to her.
Kate shut her eyes, braced for the end. His fist flew toward her head.
Whoosh.
Right before contact, he halted and flicked his finger instead.
Snap!
“Ow!”
No pain, but the shock made her yelp.
She gave a hollow laugh, watching her body gray out.
“Ha. Dying to a finger flick... first time for everything.”
The 1-damage hit cut her off mid-sentence. She crumbled to ash and vanished.
“Ugh. That was rough.”
-Seriously close this time. No prep, you'd be toast.
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
Carpe and Cheonma bantered a ton about game strats.
Discussions raged past logoff via the Patron Spirit app.
And they'd covered this: How to handle burst like Holy Sacrifice?
Carpe had seen its power firsthand. Even he couldn't tank a direct hit.
Overpowered for her level, sure, but not invincible.
So, countermeasures?
Deep dives with Cheonma yielded options.
First: Room teleport. Holy Sacrifice had cast delay—warp out during it, return post-boom to mop up.
Useless in warp-block zones like Flame Spirit Haven, though.
Hence plan B.
-Tina pulled through big time.
“Yeah, way faster cast than usual.”
Unsumming Mukhyang saved him from the blast, but main goal: party slot for Tina.
Before first boom, unsummon Mukhyang, summon Tina.
Tina read the room instantly, no order needed, and fired off her skill.
8-Star - Radiant Command
LV. 10 (Master) For 30 seconds, boost all allies' physical/magic attack by 200%. Physical/magic defense by 100%.
Buffed attack and doubled phys/mag def/resist!
Carpe confirmed it, unsummoned Tina, then boom—first hit landed.
“Still hurt like hell, though. Honestly, surviving's a miracle.”
Rank 6 mage's Holy Sacrifice? Brutal.
Even with Radiant Command, first hit vaporized 97% HP.
Two seconds to follow-up death, so Carpe played his next card.
Once per day, use World Tree's Blessing (resets 6 AM).
* World Tree's Blessing: Ignore recovery block, restore full HP/MP (not treated as skill)
Title bless—full heal ignoring no-recover debuff.
Back to full HP, just tanked the follow-up by a hair.
That was the full sequence of his Holy Sacrifice survival.
“No prior sync, I'd be dead.”
-Yeah, but Madou King's dolls have insane AI. Zero hesitation in that chaos.
“Tina epic for a reason?”
-Epic-plus, even. But hey, your luck.
“Whew. Anyway, pot up and resume... Huh?”
Carpe spotted something where Kate vanished.
“Whoa, actual drop?”
-You struck first, but she aggressed first. Preemptive penalty applied.
“Yesss. Wonder what Rank 6 gear she dropped... Huh?”
Not gear.
A small rectangle. Familiar to Carpe and most players.
“Skill card?”
She must've been carrying an unlearned one.
“Ah...”
-Bummer. Player-dropped cards are trash 99%.
“Ugh, yeah.”
Good ones get learned ASAP.
Inventory stragglers? Likely dud pulls from level-up skill packs.
“Still, could be that 8-star she saved for a lucky day...”
-Lucky day my ass. Not everyone's you.
“Please... please.”
Carpe scooped it up like a gacha pull, praying.
Checked it.
“Huh?”
-Eh?
Not 8-star.
But no dud either.
“Whoa...”
-Insane. How many of these does she carry? Bought out the auction house? She Bomberman or what?!
“Jackpot anyway.”
Carpe pocketed the holy grenade with a grin.
Skill points hurt to burn, but prime joker card.
“Alright then.”
He eyed the golden door. The roars from within had gone quiet.
Gunter Lauhel, The Sun's guild master.
Official Rank 1 player.
Time to meet him.
The 10-Star Player's Lucky Draw