Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

After the nuclear bomb, dubbed "Weird Man's Quick Attack," was detonated, Karasuno mysteriously retracted the launch silo.

Kageyama and Hinata seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding, or perhaps they were simply treating the official match as a training session. In the following balls, Kageyama's passes were all accurate, but noticeably slower, typical fast breaks.

Hinata stared wide-eyed, trying to see the ball's trajectory in mid-air. This forced attempt to "play with his eyes open" resulted in somewhat stiff movements, significantly reducing the power of his spikes.

"Hey, is that guy out of power?" someone muttered on Chang Bo's end.

"Don't be careless! It might be bait!"

Although their attack was somewhat inconsistent, Karasuno ultimately had a clear advantage in terms of sheer skill. Tanaka's breakthroughs on the left wing remained sharp, and Higashimine Asahi's occasional powerful shots left Tokino's libero questioning his existence. The scoreline was like a broken faucet, dripping steadily towards Karasuno.

However, Karasuno's weakness was also thoroughly exposed – receiving the ball.

"Bang!"

Hinata caught a soft drop shot from the other side with her face, and the volleyball bounced off the court and landed on a water dispenser bucket.

"Sorry!" Hinata shouted, covering his bright red nose.

Standing in the back row, Lu Ren looked at Hyuga's appalling defensive stats and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. This guy's defensive stats were probably all invested in "thick skin," his physical defense was practically zero. If this were an RPG game, Hyuga would definitely be the kind of berserker with high attack and low defense, easily broken with a single touch.

The scoreboard flips over.

Changbo 14:22 Karasuno.

The first set was drawing to a close. The atmosphere on Chang Bo's side had visibly collapsed. As they looked at the score difference, the light in their eyes that once shone with "fighting spirit" was fading, replaced by a habitual numbness.

It's Karasuno's turn to serve.

Lu Ren took the ball and walked to the end line.

The referee whistle blows.

Unlike Kageyama, Lu Ren didn't retreat to measure the steps, nor did he shout and give himself a buff like Tanaka. He simply took a small step back with his right calf, turned his body to the side, and lowered his center of gravity.

He tossed the ball up lightly with his left hand.

The ball was thrown incredibly low, almost directly above his head.

Chang Bo's back row players were on high alert, ready to receive that powerful overhead serve, but they saw Lu Ren strike the bottom of the volleyball hard from bottom to top, just like playing badminton, with his right fist or the heel of his palm.

"What is this? An underhand serve?" Chang Bo's libero was taken aback.

The next second, everyone had to raise their heads.

The volleyball, spinning wildly, hurtled straight toward the towering dome of the stadium. It flew so high that it passed through the halo of the lights, becoming a tiny black dot, appearing and disappearing against the blinding white background.

"Ceiling serve".

Lu Ren shook his wrist; he was so tired of using this move in training that he was about to throw up.

This is not a contest of strength; it is a deception of perspective.

After reaching its highest point, the volleyball begins to fall rapidly.

For Chang Bo's receiver, it was a nightmare. His vision was filled with blinding headlights, and the spinning ball, with the force of gravity, crashed down, its landing point unpredictable, making it impossible to judge its depth.

"I'll do it!"

Changbo's captain, Ikejiri Hayato, gritted his teeth and charged out. He was the team's only pillar, and he had to hold the line at a time like this.

He stared wide-eyed, trying to find the landing point from the trajectory of the incoming ball.

Nearly.

closer.

"Here!" Ikejiri stretched out her arm.

"Snapped!"

The ball hit the outside of Ikejiri's forearm and, like skipping a stone, flew sideways out of bounds.

"Ah..." Ikejiri remained frozen in place, still in the position of catching the ball.

The referee raises his flag. Karasuno scores.

14: 23.

As Ikejiri watched the volleyball roll away, her heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly by a hand. That feeling of helplessness, that sensation of being unable to reach it no matter how hard she tried, was all too familiar.

Memories are like a flood that has been released.

Junior high school days.

Back then, he and Daichi Sawamura were teammates. Daichi, just like he is now, had a determined gaze, always looking ahead.

"The game isn't over until the ball hits the ground!" That's what I always remember the earth shouting, as it would dive out again and again to save balls that were impossible to reach.

And what about yourself?

"Forget it, Daichi, our opponent is a formidable force."

"We've already tried our best."

"That's the difference in strength, isn't it?"

That was who I used to be, and that's who I am now. I've grown accustomed to failure, accustomed to making excuses for myself, accustomed to condemning myself to death when faced with a formidable opponent.

Volleyball is not a sport for one person.

But back then, only the earth was unwilling to accept it.

"Sorry, Captain..." A teammate walked over and patted Ikejiri's shoulder cautiously. "That ball was too weird. There's nothing we can do if we can't see it clearly."

It's always like this.

It was that same gentle, considerate, and decadent comfort again.

Ikejiri looked up and saw Lu Ren on the service line through the net.

The boy in the Karasuno team uniform had no expression on his face. There was no mockery, no joy, he didn't even look at him. His gaze was like that of someone looking at a minor monster that had to be eliminated, a coldness that sent chills down your spine.

"Sorry." Lu Ren's voice wasn't loud, but it could be heard clearly in the quiet venue.

Ikejiri was stunned.

"Reality is a terrible game; there's no pause button for you to reminisce about the past." Lu Ren twirled a volleyball in his hand. "If you want to move yourself, wait until you lose; you'll have plenty of time then."

The whistle blew again.

Lu Ren tossed the ball again.

It's that despairing height again.

The volleyball pierced the light, then plummeted with a deathly whistle.

This time, another of Chang Bo's teammates tried to catch the ball. But he completely misjudged the speed and force of the ball's descent. The moment his fingers touched the ball, he was deflected by the spin.

"Bang!"

The ball hit the edge of his palm and bounced directly into the stands.

A point is scored from a serve.

14:24. Karasuno set point.

"Damn it..." Ikejiri tried to leap over to save the ball, but his body felt as heavy as lead. He collapsed onto the floor, his fingers leaving a red mark, but he couldn't even touch the ball.

"Are you alright, Captain?"

"That serve was so unfair!"

His teammates gathered around.

Ikejiri pushed herself up from the floor and shook her head: "I'm fine."

He said he was fine, but he knew that the balance of the game had already been completely tipped when that "weirdo fast break" appeared, or even when they saw Karasuno's invincible aura.

The last goal.

Lu Ren showed no mercy.

The serve was still from the ceiling. This time, the ball landed near the sideline, and Chang Bo's two teammates hesitated for a moment before watching the ball bounce inside the boundary.

"Beep—!"

The first game is over.

The two sides exchanged venues.

Lu Ren picked up the water bottle, but didn't show the excitement of winning a crucial point. He glanced at Chang Bo, who was walking towards the other side with his head down.

That was a team that had been tamed by "losing".

Failure, once you get used to it, becomes ingrained in your DNA like a gene. When faced with difficulties, you first think of an escape route; when confronted with a formidable enemy, you first think of excuses. It's not that they don't want to win, but that they've lost the imagination to think, "I can win."

This is very similar to the previous Karasuno incident.

If it weren't for Hinata and Kageyama, those two unreasonable "outsiders," forcibly tearing open this cocoon, and if it weren't for Nishiya and Asahi's return completing the puzzle, Karasuno would probably have rotted away in that quagmire called "fallen tycoons," just like Tokina.

"Lu Ren! That serve was so cool! Teach me!" Hinata leaned closer, her eyes sparkling.

"You can't learn that." Lu Ren screwed the bottle cap on. "Your skill tree is focused on agility and jumping. These are intelligence-based skills that require precise calculations of wind resistance and light refraction, which will burn out your CPU."

"Huh? What's a CPU? Is it tasty?"

Rest time passes in the blink of an eye.

The second game begins.

Karasuno's turn shifted to Kageyama's serve.

Standing at the net, Lu Ren looked at the Chang Bo players who hadn't yet emerged from the shadows of the ceiling serving, and a feeling of pity welled up inside him.

Having just been cut by that soft, high-arc-shaped blade, they immediately had to face Kageyama's heavy cannon.

This game has a terrible experience.

"It's like killing someone by breaking their spirit." Lu Ren shook his head.

Kageyama stood at the baseline, spinning the ball in his hand, his handsome face filled with the desire to score. He tossed the ball high into the air, took a running start, jumped, and his body arched like a bow in mid-air.

"Bang!"

The sound of the ball hitting the ground was dull and thunderous.

The volleyball was like a white laser, instantly piercing through Chang Bo's half of the court and hitting the bottom corner.

"nice shot!!!"

Chang Bo's people didn't even have time to react.

What followed was Kageyama's solo show. Or rather, a one-sided massacre.

The second ball bounced off my hand.

The third ball, a direct score.

The fourth ball landed on the line.

On the fifth ball, Changbo, the libero, caught it.

They scored five points in a row.

The score was now 5-0.

Kageyama treated this like a practice match for serving. Every shot he took was harder and at a more difficult angle than the last.

If no one steps up to break this rhythm, the game will probably end in ten minutes.

The sixth goal.

Kageyama jumped again to spike the ball.

This time, Chang Bo's front-row teammates seemed to be going all out, extending their arms with their eyes closed.

"Bang!"

The ball hit his arm, and although the posture was extremely awkward and the ball flew crookedly, it did not land on the ground, but instead wobbled and flew towards the net.

"Make amends! Make amends!"

Chang Bo's setter scrambled over and awkwardly set the ball to the left wing.

"Ikejiri!"

The pass was of poor quality; it was too close to the net.

But for Chang Bo, this was his only lifeline in this game.

Hayato Ikejiri looked at the ball, and the image of the man desperately trying to save the ball when he was in junior high school flashed through his mind.

It can't end like this.

We must at least... at least get one point!

He roared and jumped.

At the same time, Daichi Sawamura on the other side of the net also jumped up.

"Don't even think about going there!" Da Di's eyes were sharp as knives.

The two players' hands met directly above the net.

This was a battle of strength and will. The volleyball was squeezed and deformed by both hands, rubbing wildly against the net.

"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!" Ikejiri gritted her teeth and put all her strength into it.

At this moment, he didn't want to lose to the teammate he had once wanted to win with.

The ball hovered on the net for about 0.5 seconds before slowly and laboriously rolling down toward Karasuno's side of the court.

The earth's pupils contracted, and it instinctively reached out to grab it.

"Beep!"

The referee blew the whistle, pointed to the ground, and then made a gesture of touching the net.

During the struggle just now, Dadi leaned forward too much in order to suppress his opponent, and his arm brushed against the marker pole.

"Chang Bo scores!"

The score was 1-5.

At that moment, the entire Changbo half of the stadium erupted in an astonishing cheer.

"Yay!!!"

"I got it! I got the points!"

"The captain is amazing!"

They hugged each other and shouted loudly, their excitement as if they had just won not just the first point of the game, but the championship trophy for the entire match.

Lu Ren stood aside, looking at the group of ecstatic people opposite him, and then glanced at Da Di, who remained calm despite losing points.

"Is this the struggle of mortals...?"

Lu Ren scratched his head. Although as an opponent he wanted to complain about this kind of behavior of celebrating even when scoring, he had to admit that this near-death comeback did add a little bit of "excitement" to this boring dungeon.

Although, it was only a tiny bit.