Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

Matsukawa Kazushige stood on the service line.

This was already the third game, and both players were burning with energy, but this guy's serve remained as steady as a pre-programmed NPC. There were no fancy run-ups, just a simple overhand float serve, yet the trajectory was disgustingly tricky.

The volleyball crossed the net, veering erratically as it headed straight for the back corner.

"I'll do it."

Lu Ren lowered his center of gravity, his feet seemingly rooted to the ground. In the game, this kind of float ball is like a long-range attack with an unpredictable trajectory; although the damage isn't high, the hitbox is very wide. He didn't rashly reach for it, but instead adjusted his footwork, using his body to intercept the volleyball's trajectory.

"Bang!"

The pass was only halfway through. The ball didn't go directly to the net; instead, it went slightly off-center.

Kageyama Tobio didn't even look at where the ball would land; his body moved into position instinctively. His gaze swept across the air, and the instant his fingers touched the ball, Hyuga Shoyo had already sliced ​​through the air in the frontcourt like an orange lightning bolt.

The weirdo's fast attack.

No verbal communication is needed; it's muscle memory ingrained in our very bones.

However, just as Hinata swung his arm, an arm suddenly blocked the path of the ball.

Iwaizumi Ichi.

This guy was like a front-line tank who had anticipated the BOSS's skills, managing to keep up with Hyuga's speed.

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, the volleyball hit the side of Iwasuzu's palm and bounced off course.

"One touch!" Iwaizumi yelled.

Kageyama landed, clicking his tongue in annoyance. The sound was soft, but Lu Ren heard it clearly in the noisy arena. It was the frustration of having a finishing move blocked.

The counterattack from the west of Aoba City came extremely quickly.

Hanamaki Takahiro set up the first pass, and the ball flew steadily to the setter's position. Oikawa Toru jumped. His posture was as graceful as if he were conducting a symphony, but his eyes were frighteningly cold.

"Kkindaichi!"

With a low shout from Oikawa, the guy with the leek-like haircut leaped high into the air on the right.

This is a very standard back-row attack tactic.

Karasuno's blocking reaction was quick, and Tsukishima and Tanaka quickly closed in, blocking the diagonal shot.

"The line is empty!"

Kindaichi clearly saw this as well, and with a swing of his arm, the volleyball hurtled towards the straight area, skimming the marker pole.

Lu Ren was standing there.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time."

As Lu Ren watched the volleyball fly towards him, a red ballistic warning seemed to flash through his mind. He adjusted his position the instant Jin Tian jumped. For players, once they figured out the monster's attack animation, the rest was just simple QTEs (Quick Time Events).

He clasped his arms together, making no unnecessary movements, and steadily cushioned the powerful slam.

"Good shot!" Daichi Sawamura shouted.

The ball bounced high and landed perfectly.

Kageyama stood under the ball once again. This time, he didn't look at Hinata, but instead straightened his back and flicked his wrist back.

The pass left a straight afterimage, flying directly towards the left wing.

There, Ryunosuke Tanaka was already poised to act.

"Get out of my way!"

Tanaka roared, facing a semi-blocker rushing from the west of Aoba Castle without hesitation. He didn't choose to dodge, but instead swung his arm in a wide arc, using pure force to blast through the defense.

"Bang!"

The volleyball hit the opponent's blocker's forearm and deflected out of bounds.

The whistle blows.

The scoreboard flips. Aoba Johsai 2:4 Karasuno.

"Yoshi!!" Tanaka roared after landing, clenching his fist, looking just like a berserker who had just cleared a high-difficulty dungeon.

Lu Ren let out a breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Although he was leading by two points, he knew very well that this advantage was as thin as paper in a volleyball match.

Rotation. Tanaka serves.

"Good serve! Tanaka-senpai!" Hinata shouted, bouncing around the net.

Tanaka patted the ball, his eyes focused. He tossed the ball, took a run-up, and jumped to serve.

The power is good, but the angle is a bit too straight.

Hanamaki Takahiro simply turned slightly to the side and controlled the ball perfectly. The first pass was spot-on.

"Defense!" Sawamura shouted a reminder.

Oikawa Tetsu's fingers were incredibly soft the moment they touched the ball, and the volleyball seemed to be imbued with some kind of magic, instantly accelerating towards the net.

Matsukawa jumped up quietly.

Fast attack.

Too fast. Before Karasuno's block could even fully take shape, Matsukawa had already completed his spike. The ball hit the floor with a dull thud.

3: 4.

In just over ten seconds, the score difference was narrowed.

Lu Ren watched Oikawa Tetsu high-five his teammates and cursed him inwardly as an old fox. This guy's ability to adjust was practically a bug, giving his opponents absolutely no chance to breathe.

"Don't worry about it! Next ball!" Sawamura clapped to boost morale.

Aoba Josai serves. Iwaizumi takes the ball and walks to the baseline.

This guy is a tough one.

Karasuno made a substitution. Yu Nishitani, the short guy in the contrasting jersey, rushed onto the court like a whirlwind and replaced Tanaka in the back row.

"Come on!" Nishiya's eyes gleamed, like a hunter eyeing its prey.

Iwaquan throws the ball, takes a running start, and his whole body is like a fully drawn bow.

"boom!"

The volleyball, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, hurtled towards Karasuno's half of the court.

Nishitani's judgment was extremely accurate; he glided to the landing point and raised both arms.

"Bang!"

The ball is too heavy.

Even Nishitani, with his top-notch first pass technique, struggled to receive such a powerful serve. Although the ball rose very high, it didn't fly towards Kageyama's position, but instead flew towards Rikuin's side.

This is a semi-corrected sphere.

Kageyama was distracted by the previous defense and couldn't get there in time.

"Lu Ren!" Nishitani shouted.

Lu Ren watched the ball fly towards him, his mind racing. In this situation, the conventional approach is to set the ball for the attacker to adjust their attack, but that's too easy for the opponent to block.

Since it's a game, you have to use cheats occasionally.

He stepped forward two steps, raised his hands above his head, and made the gesture of setting the second pass.

Dong Fengxu has already started his run-up on the left.

"Senior Xu!"

Lu Ren's fingers touched the volleyball. In that instant, instead of using the elasticity of his fingers to quickly flick the ball out like a typical setter, he subtly lowered his wrist, as if trying to suck the ball in, pausing for an extremely small moment.

This is similar to a delayed attack in a fighting game that takes advantage of the frame rate difference.

The ball left his hand, not very fast, even a little floaty, but it landed right in front of Dong Fengxu.

Dong Fengxu jumped.

He was used to quick passes, but the rhythm of the ball's flight gave him a strange feeling—it seemed as if the ball paused in mid-air.

This single move caused the blocker from Aoba City West to misjudge the situation and jump half a beat too early.

As Dong Fengxu swung his arm, the opposing net had already begun to fall.

Time difference!

"Thump!"

Dong Fengxu's spike wasn't delivered with full force, but its accuracy was crucial. The ball cleared the block and hurtled towards the backcourt.

"Crossing!"

The free agent from the west side of Aoba Castle reacted quickly, making a perfect diving save and using one hand to push the ball up.

But the catch was too difficult, and the ball flew directly over the top of the net.

A chance ball? No, it's a contest for the ball!

Kageyama Tobio and Oikawa Tetsu, this fated master and disciple pair, appeared at the net gate almost simultaneously.

The two jumped at the same time.

Four hands were pressed tightly together above the net.

A contest of power.

Oikawa Tetsu, being a third-year student, held a slight advantage in physical confrontation. He gritted his teeth, exerted force with his wrist, and forcefully slammed the ball into Karasuno's field.

"You lost?"

Kageyama's pupils contracted, and he lost his balance and fell.

The volleyball was plummeting downwards, about to hit the ground.

A dark shadow slid across the floor.

It's Lu Ren.

As if he had anticipated Kageyama's loss, he had already started his attack the instant the two jumped to contest the ball. He landed completely on the ground, his arms outstretched, the back of his hand slamming into the ball.

"rise!"

The volleyball was rescued and flew high into the air.

"Kageyama!" Lu Ren shouted, lying on the ground.

As soon as Kageyama landed, without even adjusting his balance, he charged straight towards where the ball had landed. He jumped while running, his obsession with the ball was simply outrageous.

Second pass in mid-air.

The ball was accurately delivered to the right side.

There, the land of Sawamura was undefended.

"Great news!"

The ground didn't waste the opportunity, delivering a powerful straight smash that nailed the ball to the floor.

The whistle blows.

2: 5.

Lu Ren lay on the ground, feeling as if the air in his lungs had been squeezed out by that dive. He rolled over, looked up at the ceiling of the gymnasium, and let out a long breath.

"This is exhausting... Can you lower the difficulty of this game?"

He grumbled as he got up, just in time to see Kageyama looking at him. There was no gratitude in his eyes, only an almost obsessive fanaticism.

"Again," Kageyama said.

Lu Ren rolled his eyes: "Are you the devil?"

The game continues.

From this point onward, the game completely turned into a meat grinder.

Neither side conceded points easily. Aoba Johsai displayed the terrifying strength of a top-tier school, sticking to Karasuno's attacks like glue. On the Karasuno side, everyone was playing with a fierce, burning desire to win.

The score went back and forth.

10:14. Karasuno leads by four points.

The situation seemed very favorable, but Lu Ren knew very well that if he relaxed even slightly, that monster Oikawa Tetsu could wipe out the point difference at any time.

It's Hyuga's turn to serve.

"Don't make a mistake, little one," Lu Ren prayed silently in his heart.

Hyuga took a deep breath and served a fairly standard overhand shot.

The ball goes over the net.

Guo Jianying stood in the back row, looking like he hadn't woken up yet, but his movements were extremely precise. He easily set up the ball and made a perfect first pass.

Oikawa Tetsu organized another attack.

"Matsukawa!"

Matsukawa Kazushige jumped from position three.

At the same time, a barrier wall composed of Hinata, Higashimine Asahi, and Tanaka also rose from the ground.

"One touch!"

The volleyball hit Tanaka's hand and bounced upwards, reducing the force of the impact.

The ball flew towards the backcourt.

Lu Ren was already in position. This kind of shot was a piece of cake for him. He steadily raised the ball high and sent it to the three-meter line in front of the net.

"Kageyama!"

Shadow Mountain is in place.

Hyuga had already started darting around the net, drawing the defense. But Kageyama's intention was clear; he made a back-to-the-back pass, sending the ball to the left wing.

That's the battlefield for the elite.

Dong Fengxu took a running start and jumped. Facing the double block from Qingye Chengxi, he showed no fear. By now, his touch was completely on fire.

"Break through it!"

With a roar, Dongfeng Xu made a heavy strike.

The volleyball was like a cannonball, blasting through the blocker's defense and landing in bounds.

The whistle blows.

10: 15.

"Well done, Da Xu!" Nishitani jumped excitedly onto Higashimine Asahi's back.

The crowd cheered.

Kageyama watched as Higashimine Asahi celebrated, and his expression suddenly became somewhat strange. He seemed to be thinking about something, then stiffly turned around and walked towards Higashimine Asahi.

Lu Ren was about to take a sip of water when he saw Ying Shan's appearance, and an ominous premonition immediately rose in his heart.

Kageyama walked up to Higashimine Asahi, took a deep breath, as if he were about to make some important announcement.

Then, he forced a smile that looked worse than a grimace, and in an extremely unnatural way.

"Good...good shot, Asahi...senpai."

After saying that, he stiffly raised his hands, making a gesture as if asking for a high five.

The air suddenly became quiet.

Dong Fengxu froze when he saw Ying Shan's face, which looked like it was about to devour him. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

"Uh... th, thank you?"

Dongfeng Xu cautiously reached out and gently patted Ying Shan's palm. The movement was so careful, as if he were patting a bomb that could explode at any moment, not a hand.

The rest of Karasuno were all dumbfounded.

Tanaka's mouth dropped open, and Hinata hid behind Tsukishima in fright.

Lu Ren almost spat out his water.

He walked over and looked at Kageyama with disdain: "What are you doing? Cosplaying a serial killer from a horror movie?"

Kageyama's "smile" instantly collapsed, replaced by a flushed face full of shame and indignation.

"I...I'm trying to boost morale like Sugawara-senpai!" he argued through gritted teeth.

"Forget it," Lu Ren said mercilessly, patting Ying Shan's stiff shoulder. "It's like asking a berserker to learn how to heal as a priest. Not only will it fail to heal, it will also scare your teammates into having heart attacks. You should just stick to being your tyrant; that way, everyone will feel safer."

"Stop nagging!" Kageyama roared angrily. "I'm trying to fit in too!"

"Alright, alright, don't scare Senior Xu to death." Lu Ren waved his hand and pointed to the opposite side, "The competition isn't over yet, don't embarrass yourself here."

Kageyama glared at Lu Ren, then turned and walked back to his seat, his back looking somewhat exasperated.

Lu Ren watched his retreating figure and couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips into a smile.

Although he's a clumsy guy, this team is definitely becoming more interesting little by little.

"Alright, just a few points left."

Lu Ren turned around, his gaze sharpening once more.

"Let's take down that big boss completely."