246 – Four Kings of Class
If you’re an upper class student in the class competition, you need to be wary of self-destructing maniacs trying to drag you outside the lines using all their limbs.
If you’re weak, you’ll be helplessly pulled in, and if you lack magic resistance, you might get hit with magic and roll out like a ball, roll roll roll.
Don’t underestimate the Production Department students; they might slip on some greasy lotion and find themselves out of bounds, or face threats from second-year seniors claiming to be princes or princesses from some royal nation in the Administration Department.
How to overcome it?
All specs must be above basic levels.
You need enough power to withstand a crowd of students throwing magic, splashing potions, and pushing you with authority!
Next?
It depends on personal preference.
You could grab the students who charge at you and throw them.
You could reflect magic back and take down the surrounding second-years.
You could stomp the ground to make sure the lotion can’t come near.
Or threaten the prince and princess with points if they’re not eliminated!
In simple words, it’s like this:
– “Let’s play ball, seniors. You’re the target.”
– “Don’t like being the target? Then be the ball, senior.”
– “Not catching on? If you don’t like being a target or a ball, then forfeit.”
The strategy from the 2m 30cm days, known as “I love strength-all-in-one builds!”
Even if I miss those days a bit, strategies should always be specific and vivid, reflecting the current situation’s conditions!
A strategy fitting for a 1m 33cm goo is needed.
Imagine if that goo suddenly goes crazy, throws people, bounces magic everywhere, uproots the ground like a Berserker, and threatens seniors! How bewildered would everyone be?
So let’s pick a strategy that fits the goo.
“No! Don’t touch me! What are you planning to do to me!!”
This strategy is called the Goo Anti-Crime Bell.
Yell to cast a wide-area debuff.
If you touch me, you’re a criminal!
“Gasp! Oh, that’s a misunderstanding! We haven’t touched… Wait, why does that sound so wrong? That’s not what I mean, so don’t look at me like that!”
“I’m really innocent. Where could I touch something like that goo! It has potential, sure… but honestly, you all thought the same, didn’t you? Why’s only me being treated like trash?!”
A second-year senior, unable to take it anymore, clicked her tongue and stepped in.
“Guys, step back. Even if it’s a competition, you shouldn’t touch a girl. It’s not like we’re in a real war; it’s just a weekly event for sports day. Who knows if someone might actually think something inappropriate?”
“That’s unfair! Just because you share the same gender as Oknodie doesn’t mean only you can touch Oknodie!”
“?”
The second-year seniors grabbed a male student.
“Ah, it was you.”
“I think that guy really touched Oknodie.”
“Touching in inappropriate places, huh?”
“Get him out!”
“There are things you can and can’t do to goo! Are you even human? You trash!”
Gasp.
I was surprised too.
There really was a perpetrator among the second years.
With so many people around, looks like there are indeed adults with desires that shouldn’t exist!
Once things calmed down, the second-year senior who set out to clean up started by apologizing.
“I don’t want to be treated like that idiot, but since a fellow second-year did this, I’ll apologize on their behalf. I’m sorry for ruining your fun school event with bad memories.”
So, this is what it means to be ‘in the know’?
“Seniors, I hate you!”
“Ugh, no, the bad seniors are the ones we’ve already eliminated, the ones here aren’t involved!”
Sniffle!
“Don’t cry! Don’t look like you’re about to cry! Can someone, anyone, who’s ever taken care of a child please come out!?”
“Second-year, hurry out if you’re good at calming your little sister down!!”
The seniors exchanged urgent glances.
“Can you take care of her well?”
“Me? With my gorilla sister?”
“Sorry.”
“How about you? You have a little sister.”
“She just takes whatever I leave on my desk, and snacks from the table, and when I look for my clothes, they all end up in her closet! She’s a thief!?”
“Sorry.”
An older brother who’s good at calming down his little sister? That doesn’t exist!
“Everyone, calm down. I have three little sisters, so leave it to me.”
This rare Older Brother Who Calms Little Sisters stepped forward, like a hero destined to end the chaos, driving through the crowd and parting the wide area.
Approaching like Moses parting the Red Sea, a man came forth, radiating an unusual gentle energy that made me feel my tears dry up.
‘This person has such high brother vibes!’
Being cuddled and patted on the back, wanting to hear “Oh, our Oknodie was so scared, huh?” felt overwhelmingly tempting!
No way.
I don’t want that.
Come no closer.
I can’t let the second-year, a troublesome ambush, named NPC Goo Corrupted Astrey, get near me!
But I already made eye contact, and I don’t want to be the naughty child disappointing my brother…
“Cough!”
“What are you standing there for? I thought you were having fun, but you’ve spaced out.”
“Jiang! Thank you so much. I thought I’d be done for!”
“That’s a weird game. Someone like you shouldn’t be bullied by some loser.”
Once I broke free from the status abnormality of goo corruption, my mind cleared up.
Voluntary goo and involuntary goo are indeed different.
I didn’t dislike feeling like goo against my will; in fact, I actually liked it, but it was scarier now!
“What about the remaining seniors?”
“How about we politely ask them to leave?”
“How?”
“Seniors, could you leave before I catch the ball? Right now, I’m a good goo, but who knows what will happen once I grab it! Please help me not to hurt you seniors…”
The seniors laughed, walking off outside the lines.
“That little one sure speaks cutely.”
“I don’t understand why first-years are so terrified of a kid like that.”
“I need to tell my little sister firmly. Why avoid a playful child with a strong spirit that respects seniors? Do you think the eyes are just for decoration or something?”
The seniors, who didn’t take any of this seriously!
At least it’s a relief.
They have no idea they could’ve really gotten hit and kicked out!
“Sigh. We came to eliminate you, but with everything that happened, it feels wrong to fight again, so let’s just leave… but instead, we have to live a long life?”
“Of course!”
“Alright, eat this and work hard.”
A second-year senior placed a candy on her palm and, with that, all the seniors voluntarily vacated the widest area of the 1-point zone.
Far away, Irene made a slippery ice slope to knock her fellow seniors out, and Leff Iron Charcoal Barbecue heated the ground to chase away seniors; compared to those, this was a rather gentle and peaceful resolution.
The veterans are truly clever!
“Should I eat that candy?”
“Huh? Since she gave it to you, you should eat it.”
“That senior seemed to expect something when giving it. She must have done something to it!”
That wouldn’t matter at all.
“I’ve eaten tons of candies with stuff in them till now!”
My body trained on Leff’s candy is no joke!
*
This class competition dodgeball has a time limit of one hour.
In the first ten minutes, each zone excluded or faced off other grades, fighting and finding their own way to peace.
The Masugaki Princess pouted her lips as she observed the remaining first-year students opposite her zone.
“Useless♡ Incompetent♡ Can’t even protect our kids as well as a warrior♡”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Your Highness. Our Three Great Meritorious Families’ young heirs are here, right? We’ll show the second years the prowess of nobility… cough!”
Unlike the jealous and arrogant Honor Fried Chicken, or the overly energetic Leff Iron Charcoal Barbecue, the calm and calculated Cheddar Potato Pizza stood out among Masugaki’s dubious trio.
Thanks to that calculated temperament, Cheddar was the most reliable of the group, but he fell out of bounds with an unsightly scream.
Swish
Summoned and lying still while waiting for treatment, Cheddar was taken away.
The one who knocked Cheddar out picked up the ball rolling on the ground, narrowed his eyes coldly, and said,
“Looks like the juniors haven’t heard my name before. You seem to have the luxury to fool around in my presence.”
“I’m ruthless♡ How sincere are you planning to be against a first-year? Don’t you think it looks ugly~~?”
“I won’t. Especially against Masugaki Princess, one of the top four of the first-year upper class.”
One of the top four of the first-year upper class?
Did we even have such a thing? The Masugaki Princess blinked, surprised.
Seeing her funny mannerisms did not match her skills, the man tightened his grip on the ball, armor rattling.
“Top Student Oknodie. New Warrior Ishtar. Second Princess Masugaki. Dubious Kasia. You four are known as the strongest four in grade, just like our second-year four kings. This means you are our priority targets.”
“Your Highness! It’s dangerous!”
He threw the ball.
By the time I realized it, the white trajectory had already knocked Honor Fried Chicken outside!
He flew over 30m, and as the trajectory returned to him, the ball landed cleanly back into the armored boy’s hands.
“… I’m not that strong though♡”
“No use pretending. I’m the White Sacred Knight Lu. The power of the faith that denies all evil, believing in all three benevolent deities speaks through me.”
With the aura of white energy surging behind him, he resumed his offensive pose.
“The truth that you are just as bad as Top Student Oknodie. Even if you can deceive others’ eyes with that sinister power, you cannot fool the eyes of faith.”
Instead of a naive girl’s smile, the Masugaki Princess wore a cruel villainess’s grin.
“Impressive♡ Seniors sure know a lot♡”
“Will you forfeit, or do you want to keep going?”
“Forfeit~? That word doesn’t exist in my vocabulary♡”
Black energy began to rise over the Masugaki Princess.
It was energy indistinguishable from Dark Mana that Oknodie had shown at the start of the term.
“This new power is a rare opportunity to test in a real situation♡”
The beginning of Oknodie’s school life brought about a change.
The princess, intoxicated by dark mana, revealed her true colors.
