Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

"pause!"

Uyang Shishin suddenly stood up and gestured towards the referee's table. The whistle blew, and the scoreboard showed a glaring 1:4.

Back in the rest area, the atmosphere wasn't as tense as expected. Everyone was simply a little bewildered by that two-meter-tall "physical superpower." When faced with a colossal object that defies common sense, the instinctive reaction of humans is usually to freeze, rather than to think.

"Don't panic. Although that guy is tall, his animation is too outdated." Lu Ren unscrewed the water bottle, tilted his head back and took a swig, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "He's slow to turn around and has a delay in lateral movement. As long as we don't directly confront his attack range, this BOSS is just a tanky training dummy."

"Don't use gaming jargon!" Daichi yelled, but his tense shoulders visibly relaxed a bit. "Anyway, we need to hit the ball where he can't reach it, or use our speed to shake him off. Don't rush the offense, and on defense... try your best to keep up."

"yes!"

The pause has ended.

Kadokawa serves. The ball's trajectory is unremarkable; Nishitani Yu doesn't even need to adjust her footwork, simply turning to the side to deliver a perfect set, the volleyball obediently flying towards the setter's position.

"Tanaka-senpai!"

The moment Kageyama's fingers touched the ball, his body was already poised to pass it to the left. Ryunosuke Tanaka roared, leaping into the air like a wild beast unleashed, his arm flashing out in a blur.

boom!

The spike was powerful, but Kadokawa's libero position was excellent. Although his posture was awkward, he managed to lift the ball up with his chest.

"Baize!"

It's that same move again. No tactics needed, no cover needed, just throw the ball to second-floor height. Bai Zexiong slowly takes a run-up, jumps, and his massive body casts a shadow in front of the net.

On Karasuno's side, the three players in the front row jumped simultaneously. Even so, Hyakusawa's hitting point was still right above their fingertips.

boom.

The volleyball went over the block and plummeted to the floor.

But at that crucial landing point, an orange figure glided along the ground. Nishitani Yu's hand slammed into the ball, causing it to bounce up and, although it flew out of bounds, it didn't touch the ground!

"Well done!"

Tanaka rushed off the court, his back to the net, and hooked the ball back onto the court in an extremely awkward manner.

"Kageyama!"

The ball flew towards the net. Kageyama Tobio stared at the spinning volleyball, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of an orange flash of lightning.

Hinata Shoyo didn't back down because of the block he had just been blocked; instead, he ran even faster. He cut diagonally into the court from the right side, his steps as light as if he were tap dancing.

"It's that short guy again!" Kadokawa's setter shouted.

Taking advantage of his height, Hyakusawa Yuta blocked Hyuga's attack route with just one step. His long arms rose again, like an insurmountable iron gate.

Just when everyone thought that Hinata would be ruthlessly suppressed as before, Hinata in the air suddenly stopped swinging his arm.

He gently lifted the ball with his palm.

The volleyball didn't crash to the floor with the force of a thunderbolt; instead, it floated lightly over Bai Ze's fingertips, like a falling leaf, and drifted leisurely into the open space behind Bai Ze.

Drop ball.

Bai Zexiong's massive body became a hindrance, the momentum preventing him from turning around immediately. Meanwhile, Kadokawa's backcourt defenders, startled by the powerful spike, had positioned themselves far back and could only watch helplessly as the ball hit the ground.

thump.

2: 4.

"Yay—!!" Hinata excitedly clenched her fist after landing, making a face at Hyakusawa. "Looks like the air up there is too thin; my reaction time is slower!"

Rotation. Lu Ren walks towards the service area.

As he passed by Kageyama, the genius setter suddenly stopped and turned to look at Sawamura Daichi.

"Senior Daichi." Kageyama's voice was flat, devoid of any inflection, but something dangerous swirled in his deep blue eyes. "The sensation today... is very clear. May I try that?"

Dadi paused for a moment, then understood what he was talking about. It was a new weapon they had practiced countless times during the training camp, with an extremely high failure rate, but once successful, it was unstoppable.

"...Ah, go for it." Daichi patted Kageyama on the back.

Upon hearing this, Hinata, who was standing next to him, suddenly began to gasp for breath.

"Ha...ha...finally...is it coming...?" He stared at Kageyama's fingers, his whole body trembling like a sieve, a strange blush spreading across his face.

Lu Ren took a step to the side with disdain, looking at Hinata with the eyes of someone looking at trash: "What's with that expression? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were doing some kind of R-rated play. Tone it down, this perverted woman vibe doesn't suit you."

"Shut up! I'm excited! Don't you understand?!" Hinata snapped.

Lu Ren shrugged and walked to the baseline with the ball.

He stroked the rough surface of the volleyball, his gaze passing over the net and landing on the giant named Hyakusawa Yuta.

"Level suppression is indeed annoying, but these beginner monsters usually have a fatal weakness..." Lu Ren muttered to himself, his fingers rhythmically tapping the ball, "That is, the hit detection range is too large, making it easy to get stuck."

The whistle blows.

Lu Ren throws the ball.

He didn't use his signature jump float or his newly mastered powerful jump serve. He simply made a powerful arm swing feint, but at the moment of contact with the ball, he suddenly deflected the force with his wrist, cutting the ball in the lower middle part.

The volleyball, with intense frontal spin, hurtled towards the net at incredible speed.

"A mistake?" Kadokawa's coach was just about to breathe a sigh of relief.

Snapped.

The volleyball slammed into the white stripe of the net.

It didn't bounce back, nor did it land directly. The ball seemed to come alive, crawling along the net with extreme difficulty for a moment, then losing all momentum and sliding straight down the net into Kadokawa's court.

Right under Bai Zexiong's nose.

The giant clumsily reached out to grab it, but his immense body momentum made it impossible for him to handle the ball that was right at his feet.

thump.

3: 4.

"Luck is also a kind of strength, this is called critical hit judgment." Lu Ren gave the other side a thumbs up without any shame, although that smile looked utterly irritating.

Serve again.

"One more shot?" Lu Ren tossed the ball in his hand.

Now that a "vulnerability" has been discovered in the system, there's no reason not to exploit it and take advantage of it.

This time, Lu Ren used the same trick again. The volleyball grazed the net again, and although it wasn't as close to the target as before, it still changed its trajectory and landed uncertainly towards Bai Ze's chest.

Baize instinctively raised his hand to block.

Bang!

The ball hit his wrist, bounced off, flew high over the net, and returned to Karasuno's side.

"An opportunity ball!"

Without even moving, the ball fell straight into his control. He steadily raised the ball high.

"Give it to me if you want!" Tanaka shouted from the left.

"Back row!" Dong Fengxu was also ready.

But Tobio Kageyama didn't look at anyone.

He jumped along the trajectory of the ball, his body extended, and his hands raised above his head.

As he leaped, an orange blur surged up from the back row. Without any signal, without any eye contact, Hyuga Shoyo was like a launched missile, hurtling towards the net at full speed.

"Too fast! There's simply no time to coordinate!" someone in the audience exclaimed.

Logically, with a run-up of this speed, it would be impossible for the setter to deliver the ball to the attacker's most comfortable position.

Unless... the ball stops on its own.

Kageyama's fingers touched the volleyball. In that instant, instead of using the elasticity of his wrist to push the ball out as usual, he gently but firmly wrapped the ball with his fingertips, adding a strong reverse spin.

Go ahead.

The ball slipped from my hand.

It flew very fast, but the moment it reached Hyuga's hitting point, that strange reverse spin suddenly took effect. The volleyball seemed to have hit an invisible wall of air, and it abruptly stopped in mid-air.

That is, this meal that defies the common sense of physics.

Hinata Shoyo's hand arrived.

"Waaaaaahh ...

With a roar of catharsis, Hyuga slammed his hand hard against the stationary volleyball.

boom!

The volleyball turned into a white streak and slammed into the floor at Bai Zexiongda's feet before he could even raise his arm, bouncing into the second-floor stands.

4: 4.

Dead silence.

The entire stadium seemed to have been muted.

Kadokawa's team members stared wide-eyed at the still-smoking floor, then at the small guy excitedly high-fiving Kageyama.

What just happened?

The ball... has stopped?

"Is this... the power of the new patch?" Lu Ren whistled, looking at the giant opposite him who looked like he was questioning his existence. "Sorry, even though you're a pay-to-win player, someone on our side is using a script."

Lu Ren stepped up to serve again.

Now that the score is tied, there's no need to resort to underhanded tactics anymore.

"Although the ball possession rate still needs to be improved, at a time like this, how can we not go all out for the audience?"

Throw the ball, take a running start, and jump.

Lu Ren's body arched in mid-air like a taut bow, his core strength exploding instantly.

boom!

The ball was powerful and heavy, heading straight for Kadokawa's backcourt corner.

"I'll do it!" Kadokawa's libero scrambled over and managed to scoop the ball up with one hand.

The ball wasn't passed properly and flew directly towards the net.

"Baize! Get rid of him!"

Since we can't organize an attack, we should give the ball to those with absolute height.

Bai Zexiong didn't need a running start; he jumped from the spot and slammed the ball down the half-high ball.

"Don't expect to score easily!"

west Gu Xi's figure reappeared at the landing point. He was like a tireless sweeping robot, always appearing there the moment the ball landed, no matter where it landed.

Bang.

The ball was lifted high.

"Counterattack!" Daichi Sawamura roared.

Kageyama Tobio quickly moved under the ball.

After landing, Hinata Shoyo immediately turned around and took another full-speed run-up.

Watching that tireless little guy jump at full speed again and again, Bai Zexiong felt lost for the first time.

How can someone who is so short jump so high after running so many steps?

Kageyama delivered another pass.

This time, Hyuga spiked the ball, making a pull-back motion in the air to avoid Hyakusawa's belated block, and smashed the ball hard into a wide cross-court line.

Snapped!

The volleyball landed precisely on the sideline.

5: 4.

Karasuno overtook them.

Hyuga landed, panting heavily, but his eyes shone with an eerie light. He looked up at the stunned giant before him, a wide smile spreading across his face.

"Hey, big guy."

"You lost this point."

Lu Ren shook his head as he watched this scene, but a smile remained on his lips.

"A height of two meters is indeed a cheat code, but unfortunately..." He dusted off his hands, his eyes playful, "In the game volleyball, an assassin with maxed-out agility is specifically designed to counter a clumsy tank."