Ch.246246 – The Four Heavenly Kings of the School Year

<246 – The Four Heavenly Kings of Each Grade>

If you’re an upperclassman in the inter-grade competition, you need to watch out for suicide attackers who try to grab your limbs and drag you outside the line.

If your strength is weak, you’ll be helplessly dragged away, and if your magic resistance is insufficient, you’ll get hit by spells, roll around, and be eliminated.

Don’t underestimate Production Department students either—you might slip on their slick lotions and fall outside the line, or face threats from Administrative Department seniors who claim to be princes or princesses of some country.

How to overcome this?

All your specs must be above the basic threshold.

Enough to withstand multiple students hanging on you, magic being fired at you, potions being splashed, and authority being wielded against you!

What next?

It depends on your preference.

Throwing back the students who rush at you.

Deflecting magic to knock down surrounding sophomores.

Stomping the ground to prevent lotion from approaching.

Grabbing those chatty princes and princesses and threatening them for points in exchange for not eliminating them!

Simply put, it’s like this:

“Let’s play ball, senior. You’re the target.”

“Don’t like being the target? Then you be the ball.”

“Seems you don’t understand the situation. If you don’t like being either the target or the ball, just forfeit.”

This was the strategy from when Oknodie was known as <ILoveOneHitStrengthCharacters> during her 2m 30cm days!

‘While I miss my 2m 30cm days’ strategy, a proper strategy must reflect all conditions of the current situation with specific and vivid planning!’

A 1m 33cm baby needs a strategy suitable for a baby.

How bewildered would people be if suddenly a baby went crazy, throwing people around, deflecting magic, tearing up the ground like a berserker, and threatening seniors!

So let the baby choose a strategy fitting for a baby.

“No! Don’t touch me! What are you trying to do to meee?!”

The name of this strategy is Baby Alarm Bell.

Screaming to apply an area-of-effect debuff.

Touch me and you’re a sex offender!

“Huh! M-misunderstanding! We haven’t even touched you… wait, why does that sound so wrong? That’s not what I meant, so stop looking at me like that!”

“This is so unfair. What is there to touch on a baby like that! Though she does have promising future… No, honestly, you all thought the same thing! Why am I the only one being looked at like trash!”

Unable to watch anymore, a female sophomore stepped forward with a click of her tongue.

“Men, step back. Even in a competition, men shouldn’t handle a girl. It’s just a sports festival weekly event, not an actual war. There might really be someone with inappropriate thoughts.”

“That’s unfair! Just because you’re the same gender as Oknodie doesn’t mean only you get to touch her!”

“?”

The sophomore students grabbed one of the male students.

“So it was this bastard.”

“Looks like he really touched Oknodie.”

“Did he touch somewhere inappropriate?”

“Drag him out!”

“There are things you should and shouldn’t do to a baby. How can you call yourself human, you trash!”

Huh.

I was surprised too.

There was a real sex offender among the sophomores.

With so many people, I guess there are adults with desires that shouldn’t exist.

After the situation calmed down, the female sophomore who had stepped in to resolve things apologized first.

“I don’t particularly want to be treated like that idiot, but since a fellow sophomore did this, I’ll apologize on his behalf. I’m sorry for giving you a bad memory during a fun school event.”

So this is what they call an angle?

“I hate seniors!”

“Ah, no, the bad senior has already been eliminated by us, and the seniors here have nothing to do with it.”

“*Sniff*!”

“D-don’t cry! Don’t look at me with those eyes trying to cry! Someone, is there anyone who’s taken care of children before?!”

“Quickly, is there a sophomore who’s good at comforting little sisters?!”

The seniors urgently exchanged glances and asked each other.

“Are you good with them?”

“With that gorilla girl at my house? Me?”

“Sorry.”

“What about you? You have a little sister.”

“The thief who makes money disappear from my desk, snacks vanish from the table, and clothes constantly go missing only to find them all stuffed in her closet? Me?”

“Sorry.”

A big brother who’s good at comforting his crying little sister? Such a thing couldn’t possibly exist!

“Everyone, please calm down. I have three younger sisters, so please leave this to me.”

The rare <Big Brother Who’s Good at Comforting Little Sisters> volunteered, parting the crowd like a hero ending the chaos, splitting the wide 1-point zone in half.

Like Moses’ miracle of parting the Red Sea, a man approached through the waves of people.

Meeting his eyes, I felt my tears drying up from the unusually gentle aura emanating from him.

‘This person’s big brother energy is too high!’

This feeling of wanting to be embraced by those naturally open arms, having my back patted, and hearing “There, there, our Oknodie, were you scared?”!

No.

I don’t like it.

Don’t come closer.

I mustn’t allow the sophomore’s secret weapon, the named NPC <Astray of Baby Corruption>, who turns even peers into whiny babies, to approach me!

But I’ve already made eye contact, and I don’t want to be a naughty child who disappoints big brother…

“Gack!”

“What are you standing there blankly for? I was watching because it was amusing, but you were completely zoned out.”

“Zhang! Thank you so much. I thought I was going to be helplessly defeated just now!”

“What a strange game. With your skills, there’s no way you’d lose to such a mediocre man, right?”

Breaking free from the status effect of Baby Corruption, my mind cleared.

Voluntary baby mode and involuntary baby mode are clearly different.

The feeling of becoming a baby regardless of my will wasn’t particularly unpleasant—rather, it felt good, but that’s why it was scarier!

“What should we do about the remaining seniors?”

“If we ask politely and respectfully, wouldn’t they leave?”

“How?”

“Seniors. Could you please leave before I catch the ball? I may be a nice baby now, but I don’t know what might happen once I get the ball… Please help me not hurt you seniors…”

The seniors walked out of the line, laughing cheerfully.

“The baby speaks so cutely.”

“I don’t understand why the freshmen are so serious about this child being scary.”

“I should scold my younger sibling. Avoiding such a strong yet respectful child with a playful spirit and good heart—I’ll ask if their eyes are just for decoration.”

These seniors don’t take me seriously at all!

That’s actually fortunate.

They have no idea they could have really been hit by the ball and eliminated!

“Sigh. We came in here to eliminate you, but after what happened, it feels wrong to keep fighting, so we’ll just leave… but in exchange, you have to survive for a long time, okay?”

“Of course!”

“Here, eat this and do your best.”

A female sophomore placed a candy in my palm before leaving, and with that, all the seniors voluntarily vacated the largest 1-point zone.

Compared to Irene, who created a slippery downhill ice slope to eliminate seniors in the same zone, or Reph CharcoalBBQ, who turned the floor into a hot iron plate to drive seniors away, this was a truly gentle and peaceful resolution.

Experienced players should use their brains!

“Are you going to eat that candy?”

“Hm? They gave it to me, so I should.”

“That senior gave it with such expectant eyes. They definitely put something in it.”

That won’t do any good.

“I’ve eaten many candies with things mixed in before!”

My resistance training is well-developed.

Don’t underestimate my stomach, which has been trained by Leaf’s candies!

* * *

The time limit for this inter-grade dodgeball competition was 1 hour.

Within the first 10 minutes, each zone found peace in its own way—excluding other grades, confronting them, or engaging in battles.

The Massgakki Princess, looking at the remaining freshmen in her zone and the opposite zone, pouted her lips.

“Pathetic♡ Incompetent♡ You couldn’t protect our people as well as the hero did♡”

“Please don’t blame yourself too much, Princess. We have the children of the empire’s three great merit families. We’ll show the sophomores the true power of distinguished families… Gack!”

Unlike the jealous and arrogant Honer FriedChicken or the excessively energetic Reph CharcoalBBQ, Cheddar PotatoPizza was calculating and cold.

Due to his cold personality, the Massgakki Princess had considered Cheddar the least unreliable of the disappointing trio, but now he fell outside the line with an unseemly scream.

Swoosh

Cheddar, who was eliminated with a single hit, was teleported across the court and sent to the waiting healer.

The owner of the ball that eliminated him picked up the rolling ball and narrowed his eyes coldly.

“It seems the juniors lack knowledge and haven’t heard of my name. How dare you have the leisure to be distracted in my presence.”

“So violent♡ How serious are you planning to be against freshmen, senior~? Don’t you think it looks ugly~~?”

“I don’t. Especially not when facing the Massgakki Princess, counted among the Four Heavenly Kings of the freshman advanced class.”

Four Heavenly Kings of the freshman class?

The Massgakki Princess blinked blankly, wondering if they had such a thing.

The man, seeing the princess’s honest reaction despite her amusing speech pattern, rattled his armor and gripped the ball with renewed strength.

“Class valedictorian Oknodie. New hero Ishtar. Imperial Second Princess Massgakki. Ominous Cassia. You four are counted among the strongest in your grade, just as we have our Four Heavenly Kings among the sophomores. That means you’re the primary targets for us, the sophomore Four Heavenly Kings.”

“P-Princess! It’s dangerous!”

He threw the ball.

By the time they realized it, the white trajectory had already sent Honer FriedChicken flying outside the line for over 30 meters.

The ball, following the exact reverse path of Honer’s teleportation trajectory, returned to the armored male student’s hand.

“…I’m not that strong♡”

“Pretending won’t help. I, Roo the White Knight, with the power of faith that believes in three gods simultaneously and denies all vices, can tell.”

Behind him, as he took another full-power throwing stance, white energy welled up.

“That you are actually as bad as class valedictorian Oknodie. That ominous power may fool others’ eyes, but it cannot deceive the eyes of faith.”

The Massgakki Princess replaced her innocent girl’s smile with a cruel villain’s sneer.

“I’m surprised♡ The seniors know so much♡”

“Will you forfeit, or shall we continue?”

“Forfeit~? There’s no such word in my dictionary♡”

Black energy began to rise from the Massgakki Princess’s body.

It was energy identical to the <Dark Mana> that Oknodie had shown at the beginning of the semester.

“This new power I’ve gained, it’s a perfect opportunity to test it in actual combat♡”

A change brought about by Oknodie’s school life.

The princess, now obsessed with dark mana, revealed her true colors.