Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

It was Lu Ren's turn to serve.

He stood behind the baseline, twirling the volleyball in his hand, not retreating several meters away for a running start like last time. Although the tendon in the back of his right thigh no longer hurt, the terrifying sensation of it almost snapping still lingered in his mind. Now, although his health bar was fully restored, the psychological trauma he suffered was roughly the size of the entire half-court.

"Aren't you going to stop posting?"

Seeing that Lu Ren was just standing still, Tanaka Ryunosuke on the opposite side subconsciously took two steps forward and stood near the three-meter line. Kageyama Tobio also moved forward, clearly both of them believing that Lu Ren, the novice, would choose the most conservative underhand serve after his painful lesson last time.

This is commonly known as a "giveaway ball".

Looking at the positions of the two people opposite him, Lu Ren found it hard to suppress the corners of his mouth.

"You guessed right, it really is an underhand serve," Lu Ren muttered to himself. "But who says an underhand serve has to be a soft, weak ball?"

He looked up at the stadium's dome. Although Karasuno's stadium was old, its ceiling height was indeed impressive, with rows of large lights at least ten meters above the ground.

For gamers, utilizing the map environment is a basic skill. Since you can't compete on speed on a flat surface, try a different dimension.

Lu Ren turned to the side, gently tossing the ball up with his left hand, no higher than his head. Just as the ball was about to fall, he suddenly lowered his body, clenched his right fist, and used the twisting force of his waist and abdomen to deliver a powerful punch, striking the ball directly beneath him.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud.

This isn't the sound of striking the center of the ball; it's pure, violent upward force.

The volleyball seemed to be equipped with a vertical thruster, shooting straight up towards the ceiling without any forward arc.

"Huh? It flew out of the air?" Tanaka was stunned for a moment and looked up.

The ball flew higher and higher, disappearing directly into the blinding halo of the headlights and vanishing from everyone's sight for a second.

"No, it's still in bounds!" Daichi Sawamura shouted from the sidelines.

After reaching its highest point, the ball finally began to fall.

Because of the great height, the falling speed increased rapidly due to gravity. Moreover, because the contact surface when Lu Ren hit the ball was uneven, the ball had a strange spin.

Ryunosuke Tanaka stood near the landing point, his head tilted back, his vision momentarily blinded by the overhead light. By the time he caught sight of the ball again, it had already crashed down like a meteorite.

"I'll do it!"

Tanaka shouted and brought his hands together to catch the ball. In his opinion, this kind of ball that went straight up and down was the easiest to catch; he just had to wait for it to fall.

But he overlooked one thing.

Objects falling from a height of several meters travel much faster than the human eye can estimate when they approach the ground. Moreover, when a person looks up at a falling object, their sense of balance and distance are severely distorted.

The ball is here.

Tanaka confidently extended his hand.

"Whoosh—"

The volleyball grazed his fingertips, whistling through the air, and slipped right between his hands.

"Snapped!"

The ball slammed heavily onto the floor, less than five centimeters from Tanaka's heel.

The entire room fell silent.

Tanaka remained frozen in place, still in the position of catching the ball, like a character model stuck in a broken network.

"Out of bounds? No... it's inside the boundary." Kageyama Tobio stared at the landing point, his face grim.

The scoreboard flips over. 6:1.

"Nice!!"

Lu Ren jumped up excitedly at the bottom line, clenching his fist and waving it, "The physics engine really didn't lie to me! Throwing objects from high altitudes is indeed a deadly weapon!"

He had seen this "high serve" in the highlights of the Spring High School Games. At the time, he thought it was tailor-made for lazy people who didn't want to run, as it didn't require a strenuous run-up and could use the stadium lights to apply a "blinding" debuff to the opponent.

I didn't expect to get a critical hit on my first try.

"Is this what they mean by 'as long as you read enough guides, no boss is insurmountable'?" Lu Ren looked at his fist, feeling as if he had opened the door to a new world.

On the sidelines, Daichi Sawamura stroked his chin, his eyes becoming deep.

"This kid..." Sugawara Koji stood to the side, unable to help but sigh, "Although his movements are ugly and all amateurish, he seems to have a natural talent for making people uncomfortable. If I had seen that serve for the first time, I might have misjudged it too."

"The key point is that he dares to use it," Daichi Sawamura said in a deep voice. "An ordinary beginner would have panicked at this point and just wanted to get the ball over the net, but he was thinking about how to use the lights and height to outmaneuver his opponent. This guy doesn't have volleyball in his head, he has a tactics board."

In the following matches, the situation completely shifted in favor of Team B.

Although Lu Ren's physical fitness was lacking, he was very clear about his role—in this dungeon, he didn't need to be the main DPS, but only a support who didn't make mistakes, and incidentally throw a few debuffs at the enemy.

The true main DPS is Tsukishima Hotaru.

This tall, bespectacled guy may have a terrible temper, but his talent at blocking is simply enviable.

"One Touch!"

Tsukishima once again accurately predicted Kageyama's passing intention, his finger brushing against Tanaka Ryunosuke's spike. The ball's speed slowed, and it was barely managed to be deflected by Yamaguchi Tadashi in the back row.

"Make amends!" Yamaguchi shouted.

Lu Ren didn't need to think; his body was already positioned where the ball was about to land. Instead of passing to Tsukishima, he directly cushioned the ball towards the corner of the opponent's court.

Although they didn't score, they disrupted the opponent's rhythm.

Kageyama Tobio began to get impatient.

As a "genius setter," he couldn't stand being dominated by a group of "rookies." He desperately wanted to score, to tear apart that damned block with a perfect attack.

"Hurry up! Run faster!" Kageyama yelled at Hinata, "Is this all the speed you can do?"

Hyuga Shoyo, panting heavily, nodded frantically and turned to sprint again.

Kageyama passed the ball out.

Quick, accurate, ruthless.

But it was too fast.

Hinata jumped and swung his arm, but his palm only grazed the bottom edge of the ball. The volleyball hit the net softly and landed.

mistake.

"What are you doing?!" Kageyama roared. "You could have easily hit him from that spot!"

On the other side of the net, Tsukishima Kei pushed up her glasses, a smug, infuriating smile playing on her lips.

"Is this the 'king' of Kitagawa No. 1 Middle School?" Tsukishima's voice wasn't loud, but it was particularly jarring in the quiet gymnasium. "If your teammates can't keep up with your pace, they'll be abandoned. It's really terrifying, this kind of dictatorial dominance."

Kageyama's body stiffened abruptly.

"King".

This word was like a sharp knife, precisely piercing his most painful scar. The scene from the junior high finals reappeared before his eyes—he passed the ball, but there was no one behind him. No one was willing to spike his ball, no one could keep up with his shot.

"Stop talking, Tsukishima." Yamaguchi tugged at Tsukishima's sleeve, sensing that something was off.

"That's true," Tsukishima shrugged, looking down at Kageyama. "A setter who'll do anything to win, even push her teammates to the brink. Who would want to play with a setter like that?"

Kageyama lowered his head, his bangs obscuring his eyes, his hands clenched into fists so tightly his knuckles turned white. In that instant, he seemed to be back on that isolated basketball court, surrounded by indifferent figures.

Lu Ren stood in the back row, watching this scene, and sighed inwardly.

This triggers the "flashback" and "inner demons" storylines? Isn't the game's pace a bit too fast? According to the script, a hot-blooded idiot should appear at this point to break the deadlock...

"Feed".

A blunt voice rang out.

Hinata Shoyo walked to the net, pointed at Tsukishima through the net, and then turned to look at Kageyama.

"Even though that guy said some really nasty things, I'm still here."

Hinata's voice contained no complex emotions, only a kind of straightforwardness that was almost like that of a wild beast.

"As long as you pass the ball to me, I can jump. No matter what kind of ball it is, as long as it's on my target spot, I'll hit it for you."

Kageyama looked up at the orange-haired man covered in sweat.

"But your technique is terrible," Kageyama said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, that's why I need your pass!" Hinata shouted back confidently. "I don't have the skills, I don't have the height, but I can run, I can jump! Give me the ball, and I can score! Isn't that enough?"

There was no comforting words, no grand principles, only the purest needs.

I am the strongest spear, you are the most accurate gun. To win, we must cooperate.

Kageyama was stunned. Looking into Hinata's pure and innocent eyes, he suddenly felt that all his previous struggles were a joke.

"...Okay." Kageyama took a deep breath, turned around to face Tanaka, and said, "Tanaka-senpai, please let me handle the catching now."

"Huh? You brat..." Tanaka was about to explode, but seeing Kageyama's frighteningly focused gaze, he swallowed his words. "Fine, as long as we can win."

Kageyama turned towards Hyuga again.

"Listen up, you idiot." Kageyama's tone changed; it was no longer the anxious command, but a calm madness. "I don't need you to watch the game, and I don't need you to follow my rhythm."

"Use your fastest speed, rush towards the area without a net, and jump with all your might."

"The ball will pass."

Hinata blinked, then flashed a big smile: "Oh!"

The game continues.

The scoreboard now reads 22:12. Team B is far ahead.

Lu Ren serves. This is a standard overhand serve.

Tanaka receives the ball and makes a perfect pass.

Kageyama quickly moved under the ball.

At the same time, Hyuga made a move.

The speed at which he started sent a chill down Lu Ren's spine. It wasn't positioning at all; it was using the floor as a starting block.

"This is too reckless." Tsukishima frowned. "At this speed, it's impossible to watch the game."

Hinata Shoyo really wasn't watching the ball. He was like an out-of-control missile, rushing straight towards the open space on the right wing, and then jumping with all his might without any ball in sight.

He waved his arms in mid-air with his eyes closed.

This is practically a suicide attack.

However, just as he swung his hand...

A volleyball, as if precisely guided, struck his palm perfectly, neither too early nor too late.

"Bang!!!"

A loud bang.

The ball hit the floor near Lu Ren's feet and bounced into the second-floor stands.

Lu Ren didn't even have time to get into a defensive stance.

He stiffly turned his head, looking at the volleyball still rolling on the ground, and then at Hinata, who had landed from the air and was staring blankly at his palm.

What just happened?

That wasn't a passing combination with a spike.

The ball came to me of its own accord.

Is this guy using an aimbot?!

Lu Ren swallowed hard, feeling a cold sweat break out on his back.

This isn't a volleyball match; it's clearly two monsters that have just merged and evolved.

22: 13.

Although the score difference was still huge, Lu Ren keenly sensed that the difficulty level of the dungeon had jumped directly from "normal" to "hell" at this moment.

"Is this... what they call a weirdo's fast attack?" Lu Ren muttered to himself.

Kageyama Tobio clenched his fists, a hint of excitement on his face.

The boss has entered the second phase.