I Became the Daughter of the Academy’s Villain

<241 - Super Dodgeball>

One-on-one dodgeball is more like a rehearsal for team dodgeball.

Unlike individual dodgeball where only the 1st place can earn up to 10 points, in team competitions, a group can collectively earn up to 100 points.

In every team competition, there’s always some kind of ‘rehearsal event.’

‘If Sing, Hestia, and Uncle Ohchun experience it now, it’ll help in the team competition!’

Choosing a ball that looks as painful as possible is for the same reason!

On top of that, I also became curious about the unfamiliar upperclassman called Deadcat.

‘Characters I’ve never seen in the upperclass usually turn out to be villains!’

A competent villain senior.

In short, it’s the position of Sing or Jiang in the second year.

‘If I fall down with one hit, I might be a bit disappointed?’

Holding the iron ball tightly, I started casting magic repeatedly.

Red, blue, black!

The sight of the ball changing colors made Isabel, who was watching, and Son Ohchun, who was participating, stiffen up.

“Iku-yott!”

Even Sing couldn’t catch this strike.

Unless he hit it, of course.

Hestia found it just as overwhelming.

Trying to catch it with inadequate strength would end with his palm getting scraped raw!

‘Here comes the three-color ball of the first stage!’

It’s not like I can’t even stop basic courtesy!

People often mistakenly believe that knights only do physical attacks while magicians only do magic attacks.

From a master’s perspective, that’s a funny notion.

Knights aim to break through the limits of brute force by clinging onto attribute attack power and focusing on magic attacks.

Magicians, similarly, cling to physical attack power to use the same magic more powerfully and quickly.

It means that a strong knight has high magic attack power, and a strong magician has high physical attack power!

‘That’s a really strong physical magic!’

The iron ball thrown by Oknodie had a horrifying amount of magic attack power even from the sidelines.

The three-color ball glowed with crimson flames, blue something, and swirling black dark mana.

I don’t know what dodgeball is, but if hit, it was something that could even banish demons.

‘Is dodgeball a magical tool used by imperial knights in rituals to exorcise demons?’

What would happen if such a ruthless blow came flying towards me?

Hestia imagined.

First, for sure, her palm would burst.

Next, she would sustain a terrible burn.

During the time to reduce the impact of the iron ball and prepare to throw it, her hand would get severely damaged by the burn.

Unless she enveloped her palm with a significant amount of mana, she couldn’t catch it, let alone throw it back.

Because her palm would stick to the iron ball from the burning.

However, throwing it in a hurry would yield minimal power.

There’s no way a second-year upperclassman would go down easily.

She really needed to charge with determination.

‘The first strike is crucial in this match.’

Hestia realized that.

It’s because she understood why Oknodie occupied the lowest scoring spot.

She knew from the beginning.

In even a first-time competition, without thinking, she instinctively takes the most advantageous positions—such primal instincts!

Just like the beastly instincts of Son Ohchun, the Monkey Humanoid.

Oknodie is just an unggwae (infant), but a wild unggwae.

‘But what’s with that blue thing and dark mana’s effects?’

The scary part of Oknodie’s strike is that one cannot read its depths just by looking at it.

How could the Deadcat senior possibly catch such a ball?

Hestia witnessed that answer.

“!!”

Deadcat got hit with its body!

With a bang, Deadcat’s body sprang out.

‘What? After posing so coolly, you go down with one hit!?’

A shockingly powerless defeat!

However, what was even more surprising happened next.

Just a moment ago, Deadcat’s body, which had flown away vertically, dispersed like an afterimage and reappeared in its original spot.

Floating in the air with reduced impact, Deadcat lightly caught the ball with one hand.

A hint of weariness barely showed in her languid eyes.

“That hurts. Just like Mandela’s.”

“Wow! Senior, that’s a cool technique.”

Deadcat’s gaze landed on the ball rotating in her hand, emitting pure white smoke.

As if questioning, “Are you really talking like that?”

Hestia had one more thing that bothered her, just as much as that weird senior.

“Sing. Why didn’t you ambush?”

He used to act like he would rush in and swing his sword the moment he got a chance.

But he continued to hold his sword, unmoving.

“…I’m dead.”

“Dead?”

“If I had swung my sword just now, I’m confident I would have died instantly.”

“!?”

“That’s a good instinct, junior.”

In front of Deadcat’s unfeeling gaze, the tension rose for everyone except Oknodie.

“Now it’s my turn.”

The iron ball held in Deadcat’s hand bounced with a thump like a basketball.

Hestia’s eyes widened.

“Element transformation! Everyone be careful. That senior’s attack…”

That’s as far as she got.

Hestia watched as the bouncing ball seemed to mock the laws of physics, leaping up at a low angle towards her legs.

< Hestia's Hammer Art >
< Swing >

Swinging the hammer like hitting a golf ball, Hestia struck.

The iron ball that had looked light as a bouncy ball impacted with a sound that struck the eardrums, colliding fiercely.

‘Heavy. As expected, this attack is…!’

Category – Transformation Magic
Activation – Elemental Transformation
Specialization – Stealth, Multi-Manifestation, ???

Minimum 4-circle elemental transformation magic.

Not just that, but she’s a tremendous master who can skillfully manipulate continuous transformations and timing.

In a fleeting moment, Deadcat’s ability manifested with incredible speed.

As she smoothly bounced like a bouncy ball, her vision adapted to the up-and-down motion.

Once.

Changing shape for a near-horizontal low angle, making contact with the ground in an instant—twice.

When Hestia’s hammer and the iron ball collided—three times.

As a result, Hestia managed to deflect the iron ball somehow.

But she couldn’t catch it.

Shwoosh

Immediately teleported outside the court, Hestia saw the instructor point to the scoreboard showing the score.

━━━
Hestia
In-court Survival Time: 21 seconds.

Point Assignment: 5 points.
Total: 105 points.
━━━

“Everyone be careful. That senior calculated all the attack timings from long range!”

The farther away magic is from one’s body, the exponentially higher the consumption cost becomes.

Controlling a ball moving that quickly like she just did is impossible even for a second-year upperclassman.

That means it was all calculated for a continuous manifestation from the moment the ball left her hand.

Swish

The attack didn’t even end after just one strike.

The ball ricocheted off the hammer and bounced back, hitting the wall, and returned to Deadcat’s hand.

It was as if she had anticipated the angle at which she would strike.

The fourth manifestation altered the angle as it bounced underwater, changing to the fifth transformation.

From the moment the ball left, she had calculated Hestia’s elimination and the ball’s retrieval.

Hestia felt fear.

If she truly fought against a senior with such design and calculation abilities, she couldn’t confidently say she’d survive.

“Next is you.”

Deadcat’s horrifying iron ball flew towards Son Ohchun this time.

Irregular angles.

Changing properties.

All characteristics were known since Hestia had already experienced it.

But even if she knew, could she stop it…?

To avoid injury, there was no choice but to strike it with a weapon.

Deadcat naturally expected that.

But Son Ohchun rejected common sense.

Instead of holding the long pole, he caught the ball with two hands.

CRACK!!

He made a long groove in the ground as he got pushed back.

Being shoved out of the white line confirmed his elimination.

━━━
Son Ohchun
In-court Survival Time: 30 seconds.
Point Assignment: 5 points.
Total: 150 points.
━━━

“Foolish.”

Deadcat said.

If he was going to get eliminated anyway, was there any reason to endure injuries to the point where blood dripped from his hands?

That was unreasonable.

Son Ohchun did not deny it.

“I know. I did something foolish. But it’s not like what I did was entirely useless.”

Son Ohchun firmly held onto the ball until his last moment of elimination.

To prevent the form change embedded by Deadcat into the ground from bouncing back into her hands.

As a result, the iron ball finished its transformation in Son Ohchun’s hands and couldn’t return to Deadcat.

The ball ended up falling right into Oknodie’s palm, who was closest.

“Uhhaha! Do you see that? The fruits of my great endeavor.”

“That was amazing, Uncle Ohchun!”

What sort of bizarre magic was that?

I’m no longer surprised by Oknodie using magic they’ve never learned.

I can only wish.

“Give it a hit. Teach that cocky senior who bullies us juniors a lesson.”

As if responding to his wish, the ball held in Oknodie’s hand began to shine once more.

From red to blue, to black.

Not stopping at three colors, but even more.

From gray to brown, to purple.

“Now, it’s the two-stage six-color ball!”

Deadcat’s expression finally showed tension with the unusual amount of mana contained in the ball.

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