Black Iron Magician

Just before the game started, Zex raised his hand with strange laughter. Hmm, that full-body armor, not only it’s hot with just looking at it in this scorching hell, but it also has nothing to do with the beach. Could you at least make it look somewhat summer-like…?

Setting Zex’s appearance aside, it seems that the ball used this time is a product of Made in Zex that they made with their best technology. It seems that it’s made to be extremely sturdy as requested by Alezel with the mysterious catchphrase, ‘Even the Great Eight Demons can enjoy the beach volleyball’. The feel of the ball is the same as the normal one, but it’s designed to withstand most impacts. Hey, what kind of material did you use?

「However, there’s one thing you should note. Beach volleyball is supposed to be a fun game for everyone, and it shouldn’t be life-threatening. Therefore, if the impact you give to this ball is too strong, it will explode at that moment.」

「Wait, I feel like there’s a terrible contradiction there.」

「Fuhaha! Hund-dono, you’re saying something interesting there! It’s a reasonable measure to prevent people from surpassing the limit!」

「That’s right, it’s a reasonable measure!」

「I-I see….?」

Zex and Zeta make a forcible explanation to the bewildered Hund-kun. Setting aside that measure, they haven’t explained the important point yet.

「So, how much is the limit? It’s good that even the Great Eight Demons can enjoy it, but if it’s going to explode and we don’t know the limit, that’s troubling and scary….」

「You have a point. But don’t worry, it’s strong enough. Let’s see―― Hund-han, can you hit this ball with all your strength?」

「Me? … Wait, it’s going to explode, isn’t it!?」

「Don’t worry~. Just believe in me~」

While showing the most untrustworthy face in the world, Alezel approached Hund with the ball. Then, he reluctantly, very reluctantly, received the ball.

「I guess it’s a kind of test of courage. Very well, I will do it! Daaaah!」

In an instant, one of Hund-kun’s arms swelled up and hit the ball violently. It’s his full power attack, which is not inferior to the attack he showed when he fought against Haru and the others before. Although the shape of the ball distorted, it didn’t explode and it flew far away―― or not, Nell jumped and caught it before that.

「As expected of Zex-sama’s volleyball, it didn’t explode at all!」

「Fuhahahaha! FUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!」

「I see, it can withstand that much without any problems, huh.」

「That’s right. I can’t guarantee it if it’s two or three levels higher than that, though. Well, it won’t explode even with Hund-han’s power, so it’s okay for the girls and the powerless me to give our all.」

「Okay! We will give our all usual!」

「Haruna, you always give your all in the first place.」

「Well, it’s a good rule for us. After all, Shishō and the others have to hold back their power.」

「………」

「You guys, you should be a little more considerate of Hund-kun’s feelings….」

The ball wasn’t destroyed even though he hit it with all his might, and the ball was caught easily by Nell, so he was shocked two times there….

「…… No, don’t worry about me. It’s already known that I’m inexperienced among the Great Eight Demons. I will just follow the example of Haruna and the others.」

「That’s right, Hund-san! We are a team now, so let’s climb to a higher place together!」

「Yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend…. Very well, let’s do this with all our might!」

Haru’s abnormally high aspiration helped Hund-kun to recover. Well, in Haru’s case, today’s friend can become tomorrow’s enemy. She’s so quick to change that even after this kind of youthful scene, she can mercilessly beat up her opponent as soon as the team changes. Hund-kun needs to learn that ruthless a little more… wait, now is not the time to be thinking about Hund-kun. I have to focus on the match now.

「As explained before, we’ll judge it ourselves. Let’s play the game with the spirit of a gentleman! Cheating is absolutely a no!」

「Also, attacking without going through the ball is prohibited~. Then, Haru-chan, please do it!」

「Yes!」

Fire blood (beach) volleyball, begins…!]

「Here I go!」

Haru was quite far from the court when she shouted so. Then, she skillfully tossed the ball and began to run to chase after it. When the ball began to fall, Haru jumped vigorously and her small body bent like a bow. And then, she swung her arm and hit the ball. It was the so-called jump server.

「――!?」

The ball becomes an arrow and it goes straight toward the opponent’s court. It’s fast, and it’s on a perfect course, right on the edge of the line that marks the outside and inside of the court. If it’s just avoiding it, the Great Eight Demons can do it easily, but it’s extremely difficult to judge the falling point in this moment. Moreover, the one who’s on the right side of the rear guard of the Nell team is Lilyvia, who clearly has no motivation. Haru is seriously going to win.

「Lily, it’s going your way! Look at the line―― hueh!?」

Nell was giving instructions, but her words turned into a strange shout halfway. After all, Lily isn’t looking at the ball, and her gaze isn’t moving from the front at all.

――――BAAAAM!

With no one blocking it, the ball collided with the ground and created a super-gravity space around it the moment it touched the hot sand. Maybe you can imagine it as a contact-type gravity bomb. The landing site was gouged out in a circular shape, the sand was pressed down, and a poisonous swamp was formed at the bottom.

「Uwaah, it’s also treated as a throwing, huh….」

The serve, which was loaded with the usual extreme set, stopped exactly in the corner of the court. It’s a brilliant service ace.

「I did it!」

「Ooh, we got the first point! As expected of my rival, you’re amazing, Haruna!」

「Whoa~, I didn’t know it could be done beautifully. And the course was amazing~.」

「Physical strength alone can’t do something like that, huh. Unfortunately, I can’t imitate it.」

「It was a perfect serve. Well done, Haru.」

「Ehehe~」

Haru was pleased when everyone praised her. However, Lily is a little suspicious. She wasn’t looking at the ball at all, but was that simply because she wasn’t motivated?

「… No, setting aside the lazy Lily, the perfect Lily wouldn’t do something like that.」

If I think about where she was looking before, I can somehow guess the reason.

「Fuhaha! Lilyvia, don’t worry about it! After all, that serve was quite hard to judge whether to receive it or let it go!

「That’s right. But I think it was a calm decision to go through with a wait-and-see approach without doing anything careless.」

「No, Lily, you weren’t looking at the ball, right? Explain yourself.」

「Nell, don’t raise the temperature of the court while making a scary face. Don’t worry, It’s not that I wasn’t motivated or anything. I was just looking at the example.」

「Example?」

「I mean, I’ve never seen beach volleyball before. You see, I can’t use my 『Acting』 if I don’t know about it. Well, I will master it in the next round, though.」

See? It has become a troublesome development.