Black Badger

If an ordinary person got hit by this, they’d die instantly.

That was the rational thought that crossed my mind as I watched the power of the dodgeball.

Well, I’m confident I could throw a ball hard enough to take down a pig myself.

But still... does it really need to go this far...?

The one who caught the dodgeball after it tore into the ground was Yoshika Shastel.

Dodgeball was said to be the most popular event in the sports festival. Traditionally, the participants were either highly senior Badgers or those with exceptional skill.

Our team’s participants: Jason Trevain, Yoshika Shastel, Ruta Ayer, Gregory, Carl Dow, and others.

The opposing team’s participants: Choi Yun, Ricardo Sordi, Sophia Kalak, Asil Fiscer, and others.

Basketball and volleyball had both ended in victories for the Snake-Eagle team.

Both sports had actual club circles, so they had essentially become matches between club members.

That probably made them even more fun to watch. Everyone was ridiculously good.

In basketball, Hesh had definitely been the MVP.

I knew he’d be good, but I hadn’t expected him to be that good.

I should tell him later that I really saw his skill.

I had just been thinking that when the match started and the ball came flying.

It was the kind of strike that instantly dragged wandering thoughts back into reality.

“Wake up.”

My partner, Jason Trevain, snapped irritably.

“That was your ball to block.”

“Ah.”

I came back to my senses and looked into his blue eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

So this was how pair dodgeball worked.

Pairs were assigned within the same team, and each person received either a red or blue bracelet. Those with red bracelets could only eliminate opponents wearing the same color. In other words, even if I got hit by a ball thrown by someone wearing a blue bracelet, it didn’t matter at all since I was red.

Jason had the blue bracelet, and I had the red one.

And because we were partners, we couldn’t move farther than a certain radius apart.

Apparently, it used to be tracked with warning beeps.

But because the sound got drowned out by dodgeballs and cheering, the pair-dodgeball format had changed. The red and blue bracelets were now connected by something elastic made from the material of a slime Creature.

It only stretched so far, but if we got close together, it automatically retracted tight enough that it didn’t drag on the floor.

Very convenient.

Yoshika Shastel smiled brightly.

“So it’s your first sports festival~. Makes sense if you’re startled, right?”

She had apparently transferred from Core 2 to Center Core not long ago, and as she spun the dodgeball on one finger, she looked at me.

Then when our eyes met, she winked.

PAAANG!

Without the slightest restraint, she threw the dodgeball.

Sophia caught it.

Her black hair fluttered behind her.

She was wearing the same blue bracelet as Yoshika.

PAANG! PABABANG! PAANG!

In an instant, the rally happened three times.

Ruta Ayer caught the ball Sophia threw, then the ball he threw was caught by Asil. The ball thrown by blue-bracelet Asil was one I caught cleanly.

“Oh...”

The people across the line curled their lips.

More specifically, Yun and Ricardo, who were both wearing red bracelets like me.

“You dare catch a senior’s throw?”

Yun, Asil’s partner, said as the corner of his mouth lifted.

I stared blankly at him, and Ricardo added with a /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ faint laugh,

“That’s scary~. No sense of hierarchy at all....”

“Please stop teasing.”

I grumbled while holding the ball.

Ricardo’s partner was Sophia.

She stepped forward in front of him. Narrowing my eyes, I scanned the people on the other side.

There was no way I could immediately land a meaningful hit on Yun or Ricardo.

Even while smirking and teasing me, both of them hadn’t taken their eyes off the ball in my hand. Unless luck was on my side, it wouldn’t be easy.

But just like us, they had five pairs.

I flicked the ball.

PAANG!

BEEEEEP!

“Waaah!”

Got one!

I straightened with a grin.

The throw I had intentionally sent lighter than everyone else’s flew toward the calf of a senior standing farther in the back.

They had been slightly relaxed because they were positioned behind the Yun–Ricardo pair.

The senior looked down blankly at where he’d been hit.

Then he let out a hollow laugh, shook his head, and stepped outside the court.

“Good!”

Ruta Ayer smacked my shoulder.

“Let’s keep this up!”

“Maybe I worried too much.”

Carl Dow commented as he looked at me.

“You really do seem much better.”

“Ah!”

I couldn’t even answer Carl.

Yun was just about to throw.

“Senior! Senior!”

Shouting that, I dashed straight to Trevain’s side—

WHOOOOSH!

A terrifying sound ripped past right beside my ear.

The ball cutting through the air.

BOOOOM!

“Ah!”

The ball I barely dodged exploded with a roar, then ricocheted into another senior.

THUD!

The rebounding ball slammed savagely into the senior’s face.

His head whipped violently to the side.

But he quickly regained himself and caught the ball before it could leave the court.

Then he spat blood onto the ground.

“I’m sorry!”

“Watch the front.”

When I apologized, the senior holding the ball stepped forward and muttered darkly,

“It was a grounder, and it hit the face, so it’s invalid.”

I know that.

I turned to my mentor in horror.

He hit someone in the face?

Of course, in that senior’s case it wasn’t intentional—but if I had tilted my head even one second later, it would’ve hit my face!

“Face shots are fouls!”

I snapped irritably as I looked at my mentor raising a brow.

“Didn’t the Personnel Director explain the rules?”

“Sorry.”

Yun shamelessly answered in a tone that wasn’t sorry at all.

“My hand slipped.”

“You sociopathic bastard.”

That curse hadn’t come from me. It came from Trevain.

He held out his hand for the ball.

“Give it.”

The senior who had walked out handed the ball over without another word.

BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!

The rally resumed with absolutely no restraint.

Asil barely dodged the ball Trevain threw. A senior who had already been eliminated by Yun caught the rebound and threw it back in. Ricardo caught that. The ball Ricardo threw was caught solidly by Ruta, and the one Ruta hurled smashed brutally into an opposing senior—

but the bracelet color didn’t match.

The Snake-Eagle senior who caught it threw it like a shot put.

Everyone, including me, moved out of its trajectory.

CRASH!

And it shattered the scoreboard screen behind us.

“Ooooh!”

The crowd erupted with a mix of excitement and shock.

Is Yehyeon okay?

I reflexively turned my head toward the other side—

and nearly got hit by an incoming ball.

If Trevain hadn’t violently yanked me, it would’ve grazed my arm.

“Wake up!”

“S-sorry.”

I answered as I stepped sharply in front of the Trevain who was yelling at me.

PAAANG!

And I repaid the debt by catching the ball Sophia threw.

“Go!”

I heard Ro shouting.

Then Chen’s voice followed.

“Throw it and kill them!”

I threw the ball at Ricardo’s left leg.

Low enough to be hard to catch!

PAANG!

“Strong throw~.”

But Ricardo snatched it with feline agility.

And before I could even respond, the ball came flying back.

TAANG!

“Ah!”

Trevain thrust out a hand in front of me and deflected it.

I could’ve caught that one.

Of course, I didn’t complain. The situation moved too fast. Before the deflected ball crossed the line, Carl snatched it up.

And immediately threw it to Sophia.

PANG, PAAANG!

“Good!”

BEEEEEP!

Ah!

Looks like a senior behind us got hit.

PAAANG!

But before I could even regret it, Ruta Ayer had already grabbed the ball and hurled it at the opposing team.

It struck an opposing senior’s ankle directly.

BEEEEEP!

“Good!”

For a while, that chaos just kept repeating.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the ball for even a second. Their throws were terrifyingly fast.

THUD!

“Hey, nosebleed!”

“Isn’t the face invalid?”

Yun and Trevain got along shockingly well when it came to making their juniors’ noses bleed.

But because nosebleeds healed within ten seconds, the match didn’t even stop.

“Ball!”

RATATATAT!

The balls gouged into the ground, constantly leaving fresh craters.

Two seniors failed to notice one of them, stepped wrong, and got eliminated.

Both were on our team, which made it strange enough that I began watching the ball trajectories.

That was when I realized Yun was strategically herding people toward the cratered side.

The moment I understood, I shouted.

“Yun!”

Yun twisted his body aside to dodge a flying ball and answered,

“What.”

“What if someone really falls hard doing that?!”

“Why don’t you try saying that in front of a Creature?”

With a faint sneer, Yun caught the ball thrown by our eliminated teammate.

Then he fired it at Carl.

BOOOOM!

“Catch it.”

Trevain ordered as he looked at the ball that had bounced skyward.

“Throw it here.”

Carl handed the ball to Trevain.

After that, another rally began where speaking even once was difficult.

This time, opposing pairs began dropping one after another.

And I realized Trevain was now using the exact same strategy as Yun.

I shouldn’t have said anything.

Now Trevain copied it too!

Still, none of the Badgers who stepped into the craters fell badly enough to break their noses.

Some did fall, but they caught themselves with their arms and rolled up skillfully. Even so, some crossed the line or got hit by balls in the process.

Honestly, it was a miracle no one got a concussion.

On both sides, someone spat blood onto the court.

Two people lost fingernails.

One had a finger broken.

Because everyone knew how quickly they healed, no one held back.

Thankfully, as the one with the slowest recovery, I somehow managed to keep barely dodging every ball.

But is it normal for a match to become this bloody?

Now I understood why they formed teams centered around the most skilled players...

As time passed, only people I knew remained on the court.

Choi Yun and Asil.

Ricardo and Sophia.

On our side, only Trevain and I, plus Carl and Ruta Ayer remained.

PAAANG!

This time, I succeeded in catching the incoming ball.

At the moment, the only people I could eliminate with my color were Ricardo and Yun.

I’ll personally knock at least one of them out.

With that grand ambition, I grinned.

The seniors across from me gave me a look at this brat expression.

I chuckled at the seniors I knew well.

“I’ll let you rest now.”

“That’s terrifying.”

Yun said flatly.

“I’m going to dream about this.”

“The intention is admirable~.”

Ricardo replied easily as well.

Holding the ball, my eyes rolled quickly.

I knew if I threw it honestly, it would never hit them.

My strength still hadn’t fully returned either, so I couldn’t overpower them with force.

So I had to throw it fast—and in a way they couldn’t predict.

Fortunately, the opposing court was also full of holes now.

If I use the holes in the ground well...

Thump.

Suddenly my heart throbbed.

At the same time, my vision shook.

It wasn’t because my body staggered.

It felt like static had invaded part of my sight.

What is that?

I panicked at the way one corner of my vision looked cracked, like a broken monitor.

At the same time, the pain startled me too.

Thump-thump-thump-thump.

The sound of my heartbeat grew so loud it seemed to swallow all outside noise.

It felt like someone was gripping my heart in a fist and squeezing.

I’m used to heart pain, but...

This feels different from usual.

Normally, only my heart should hurt.

It had never been so loud that it drowned out people’s voices.

And what’s wrong with my eyes?

My heart was damaged, and I’d lost a huge amount of muscle, but my vision had been fine.

I lowered my head and tried to steady my ragged breathing.

It vaguely felt like someone was calling my name, but the sensations inside me were too overwhelming to clearly sense anything outside.

Pass.

I thought while gripping the ball.

I don’t know if this is a seizure or what, but I wish it had come later.

Pass.

Go away.

Go away!

“Hildebert!”

It passed.

Suddenly my vision cleared, and the sound opened back up.

The pounding heartbeat vanished completely, and a senior’s voice came through clearly.

My senses sharpened, just like when Jaeyeon had injected me.

Right.

I was in the middle of dodgeball.

THUD!

Before even lifting my head, I lightly threw the ball.

The ball I threw bounced off the top of someone’s foot standing near the dividing line.

Everyone’s feet froze for an instant.

Only after confirming the ball had hit someone did I lift my head to check the owner of the foot.

The one who got hit was Ricardo.

Ricardo was looking at me from strangely close range, letting out a hollow laugh.

Sophia and Asil’s eyes were wide.

Ah.

Ricardo had stepped close to the line to check my condition.

Only then did I fully understand what had happened.

And I realized what kind of dirty trick I had just used to eliminate a green-eyed senior.

This is bad.

The moment cold sweat broke out, the noise exploded.

BEEEEEP!

“WAAAAAH!”

Both teams erupted.

“That’s underhanded! I didn’t know you had something that underhanded in you, Taleb!”

“Good! Now we just need to eliminate your mentor! Let’s go!”

“To think you’d use fake illness to lower their guard—what a vile strategy, even Choi Yun’s brain couldn’t come up with something that filthy!”

“Hilde! How could you!”

“Woooooo!”

“Don’t lose heart, Taleb! We’re proud of you!”

“Ah. No...”

I trembled in fear as I looked at Ricardo smiling brightly at me.

“Ric. I didn’t do that on purpose, it was just—”

“Looks like you really wanted to win~.”

Ricardo chuckled, took off his bracelet, and walked out of the court.

“Survive until the end....”

As he headed out, he placed a hand on my shoulder once.

I flinched and could only stare blankly at him.

If I explained, it would just make them worry. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

If I didn’t explain, this misunderstanding was enormous...

While I was agonizing, the situation was already reorganizing.

Ricardo moved outside the court, preparing to attack with the eliminated players.

Yun slowly lifted the ball, one brow raised.

I’m doomed.

I swallowed hard.

Now I really couldn’t joke about asking him to go easy on me.

My mentor smirked.

And then he fired the ball.