Sadist Balls [C79]

Knowing what the test is about, Shu Himo stared intensely at the red ball, ready to dodge any attack from it.

Suddenly, the ball moved toward Shu Himo; it began moving slowly, gradually increasing its speed.

Its speed startled Shu Himo, isn't this way too slow? The ball is moving barely a meter per second, how can this even be considered as a test to reach S class?

Puzzled, he finally noticed that the ball is slowly increasing its size, is it going to occupy all the arena? Alarmed, Shu Himo promptly backed away from the ball, but what he did not expect would it be suddenly exploding!

*Pop*

With his mind blanking out due to the weird behavior of the test, Shu Himo suddenly felt a cold shiver behind his back and abruptly used [Hopper] out of reflex, jumping forward.

*Fiuu*

A moment later a spiked metal ball passed quickly at the place he was located before jumping away.

Looking toward it, Shu Himo's face immediately paled, so this is what the real test is about!

While the spiked metal ball is enough to send shivers on anyone's back, what Shu Himo is looking at is another thing: more than a hundred spiked metal balls are floating silently at a side of the arena, appearing to be waiting for their turn!

Not having time to bother about it, Shu Himo noticed that the spiked metal ball is coming again toward him, reaching a speed of 50m/s! Immediately using [Hopper] toward the right, he dodged it again with not too high difficulty, but a second mechanical voice resounded the arena, giving him chills, "30 seconds are passed. Introducing the second ball."

Suddenly, a spiked metal ball from the side moved, aiming for Shu Himo! Now aimed by two balls that are going at 50m/s each, Shu Himo continued using [Hopper] to dodge them for about ten seconds, but he abruptly had a crazy idea: 'What if I use this test as a training?'

Lately, when fighting against weak opponents Shu Himo was able to dodge barely their slashes, offsetting their attacks, but this is something he could only use against opponents a lot slower than him. Maybe he could increase his ability on dodging here? The more he thought to train here, the more the idea became a conviction, and right now Shu Himo felt to not be anymore inside a test, but inside a training room!

Now not using [Hopper] anymore, Shu Himo focused on the movements of the spiked metal balls, trying to predict where they will attack him from. He stared straight at one of them, guessing where its trajectory will go.

Suddenly, the spiked metal ball reached him, but Shu Himo simply stepped back with the right foot, modifying the balance of his body. Surprisingly, the spiked metal ball passed slightly at his right, almost touching his torso but staying at least a centimeter from it. This means that Shu Himo successfully evaded its attack!

Not making the happiness from this success get into his head, Shu Himo calmed quickly, as the next ball is about to come. Staring at it intensely, he then jumped back a single meter, and the spiked metal ball that was about to hit him barely missed him again!

This continued for multiple times until a mechanic voice introduced the next ball, "1 minute passed, introducing the third ball."

Once again, a new spiked metal ball from the side of the arena started moving, this means that now Shu Himo has to dodge contemporarily the attacks from three balls moving at 50m/s!

Staring at the spiked metal balls, Shu Himo continued to do his best at predicting their trajectories, but with the increased number it slowly became harder.

Suddenly, the three spiked metal balls changed completely their trajectory, seemingly starting to cooperate: one is aiming at his head, one at the legs and one at the torso. Falling into this dangerous situation, Shu Himo used the weirdest solution, by spreading his legs, and bending his back as if he were trying to tie his shoes.

Surprisingly, one ball passed between his legs, one behind his back, and one completely missed by passing too high.

[A lame way to dodge for a User that always try to act cool.]

'Shut up, it was the only way!'

[What about using Hopper?]

'This is training! Hopper is not allowed!'

While continuing with his weird ideas, Shu Himo continued to dodge everything until he heard another mechanical voice, "1 minute and 30 seconds passed, introducing the fourth ball."

With the fourth spiked metal ball attacking him, Shu Himo started having difficulties, but he immediately encouraged himself, 'This won't do, what kind of person would I be if I did not manage to reach at least fifty balls?'

[Having problems at the fourth ball and wanting to play with fifty, the User is a bit overestimating himself.]

Ignoring the system, Shu Himo focused on the four balls, trying to discern if there is a particular pattern. A moment later, while having a smile on his face, he finally found it, 'I just need to believe that those balls are all sadists!'

[How does that even make sense?]

'It does to me!'

Now looking at the spiked metal balls as if they were his biggest enemies, Shu Himo immediately discerned their trajectory: one is aiming at his face, one at his belly, one at his legs and lastly, one is aiming at his back! Truly a sadistic formation!

Knowing where they are aiming, it became easier to dodge, so Shu Himo simply dived in the middle of the one which is aiming at his legs and the one toward his back!

*Fiuu*

Evading all of them, Shu Himo then stood up, raised his hand covering half of his face, but still paying attention to show his eye, making a perfect chuunibyou pose, "I'm sorry to all these balls, but there is nothing in this world that can stop me."