allendalepharm Chapter 92: Rapid Fire, Two-Sword Style
Chapter 92: Rapid Fire, Two-Sword Style
Sanada stood at the front of the crowd, watching the challenge match. His dark eyes, hidden beneath his hat brim, burned with intense fighting spirit, and he leaned forward slightly, eager to get on the field immediately.
Kirihara was so anxious that he jumped around, his black curly hair swaying rapidly. He gripped his racket, stomped his feet, and muttered that he wanted to go on the court.
Wang Yueling stood in the center of the court and gently flicked his wrist. He glanced at the challengers, then at the club members watching from the sidelines, and a smile crept onto his lips.
"You only have five balls left."
His voice wasn't loud, but everyone could hear it clearly.
"Who else wants to come?"
Urayama Shiita weakly raised his hand, his cheeks slightly flushed, and his voice was barely audible, "Coach Ling... is it really okay if more people can join in?"
Wang Yueling gave him a bright smile, her azure eyes sparkling with mischief, and nodded earnestly in promise.
"Of course, you can send as many people as you want. With your current strength, I could handle ten of you together without any problem."
The challengers exchanged glances.
They had already witnessed the effectiveness of singles matches firsthand. Ten players took turns playing, giving it their all, but they couldn't score a single point.
"Puri~" Niou leaned against Yagyu, his braid twirling around his fingertip. "Looks like a one-on-one fight is out of the question."
"We can try a multi-player, multi-ball tactic." Liu opened his notebook. "Although the plot at noon was discovered in advance, the tactical idea itself is feasible."
Atobe crossed his arms, his icy blue eyes narrowing slightly: "Attack from multiple angles simultaneously to increase the probability of him missing the ball. I agree with Oshitari's analysis."
Marui chewed his gum and tilted his head to look at Kuwabara beside him: "Jack, are you still got the stamina?"
"No problem." Kuwabara stretched his shoulders.
Jiro peeked out from behind Marui: "The two of us working together might actually work!"
Shinobu pushed up his glasses, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes behind the lenses: "Two people might not be enough. As it stands, Mochizuki Ryo's single-ball handling ability is flawless, but if multiple balls are attacked simultaneously, his attention will inevitably be diverted."
"Then five people." Atobe snapped his fingers and took a step forward. "This old man, Yanagi, Niou, Marui, and Kuwabara."
Five people stepped into the venue at the same time.
The onlookers on the sidelines gasped.
Kirihara clung to the fence, his eyes wide: "Five, five people?! Vice-Minister, Vice-Minister, is this really allowed? Isn't this a foul?"
Sanada didn't answer. His gaze was fixed on the court, something burning in his dark eyes.
"Ryo himself said it, any number of people are fine." Shishido stood to the side with his arms crossed, his tone calm, but his fingers were unconsciously tapping his racket.
Sunrise jumped around, the redhead swinging happily: "Won't all five of them stand on the same side? Won't they get squeezed?"
"Possibly." Shinobu stood on the sidelines, adjusting his glasses. "But if they coordinate well, five people can cover the entire field."
"Hitting five balls at the same time, flying to the other side from five different angles," Yagyu's voice came from the side. "It's definitely more threatening than a one-on-one fight."
Feng gripped the racket, her palms sweating with nervousness.
Only Kabaji stood there, silently watching Mochizuki Ryou, a faint expectation in his eyes.
The five people took their positions.
Atobe stands in the center of the baseline, as the main attacker. Yanagi stands to his left and slightly behind, responsible for covering and distributing data. Niou is on the right side of the net, ready to volley and feint. Marui guards the left side of the net, responsible for intercepting short balls. Kuwabara retreats to the right side of the baseline, responsible for long-range defense.
This is a meticulously arranged formation that covers all the key points on the field.
Standing opposite, Mochizuki Ryou watched the five people form a formation, and a slow smile crept onto her lips. She didn't speak, nor did she change her position; she simply twirled the racket in her hand.
Five people simultaneously tossed the ball to serve, and five tennis balls rained down on Wangyue Ling's court.
They flew in from five different angles, landing on the baseline, sidelines, net, midfield... Each ball had a different speed, different spin, and different bounce height.
"Wow, five balls at once, that's a bit scary," Wang Yueling exclaimed, her smile growing even wider.
His movements were so fast they blurred into a blur, the racket flying through his hands as he alternated between striking the ball. Every ball was caught with precision, and the return shot flew into the gap between the five players.
The opposing team clearly didn't expect him to be able to return five balls at the same time, and they even used a two-way approach.
The five of them ended up in complete chaos.
There were too many balls and too many people. Some people almost bumped into each other, some didn't have time to get back into position, and some got hit on the foot by a ball.
In the end, Kuwabara managed to receive a ball, but the return shot flew weakly over the net and was easily scored by Mochizuki Ryo with a gentle push.
"Game over."
"Two-...two-sword style?!" Kirihara's voice shrill and cracked, his seaweed-like hair standing on end. "He can play tennis with both hands at the same time?!"
"You really caught it?" Marui almost swallowed his chewing gum. "Ryo is left-handed too."
Shinobu pushed up his glasses, his Adam's apple bobbing. The dual-wielding style—this style is extremely rare even in professional tennis, representing the ultimate combination of talent and rigorous training.
The last time it appeared was when Echizen Nanjiro used it.
Atobe looked at Mochizuki Ryo, his eyes changing. It wasn't fear, but a sudden realization of "I see," followed by a sigh of wonder at just how many tricks this guy had up his sleeve.
Liu had already taken out his notebook from his bag on the sidelines and started taking notes. The pen tip flew across the paper: "Dual-wielding. Alternating between left and right hands to hit the ball, handling balls coming from two directions simultaneously. Theoretically, the defensive coverage area doubles, and the ability to handle multiple balls increases exponentially."
"Renji, now is not the time for data analysis." Niou's voice came from the net, his lazy tone gone, replaced by seriousness. "We need to change our tactics."
They tried two more shots, but still failed to score a single point.
Wang Yueling sighed, looking at the five shocked people opposite her, and suddenly remembered that when she watched the Prince of Tennis DVD in her previous life, it seemed that Phoenix and the others in the U-17 training camp could receive ten balls at once.
He'd been wanting to try something so cool for a long time, and today's challenge was the perfect opportunity to have his fill.
"Five people with no teamwork crammed into one half of the court, having to serve and receive the ball, it was definitely too much of a stretch."
He tilted his head, deliberately drawing out his words in a smug tone, "Do you guys want to adjust your positions? For example, have two people on the baseline, two at the net, and one in the middle to cover? Otherwise, like before, you collide with each other before you even get the ball."
"Otherwise, you and the other five can come together, only serving and not receiving. I'm bound to miss one out of ten balls, and that would count as a win for you."
These words sound like advice, but coming from his mouth, they sound like he's stirring up trouble.
On the sidelines, Sanada stood with his arms crossed, his brow furrowed, his tone disapproving. "That's too reckless. The time difference between ten balls won't exceed 0.3 seconds. Human reaction speed simply can't keep up, let alone make a precise return."
Kirihara clenched his fists, his eyes blazing with fury: "But Vice-Captain, look at Senpai's expression, he doesn't seem flustered at all!"
Marui gritted his teeth inwardly, silently admitting to himself that their positioning on that last ball was indeed problematic. Five people serving was manageable, but with limited space on the receiving court, it was indeed difficult to receive.
"Do as he says." Atobe lowered his voice and quickly assigned the tasks, "Everyone, go together, only serve, don't receive."
Ten people throw a ball at the same time, and the sunlight is cut into fragments by the ten raised arms.
The next second, the sound of ten racket swings almost overlapped, making people's eardrums vibrate.
The first ball to come was Feng's powerful serve, which was over 200 kilometers per hour and slammed into Wangyue Ling's right outside corner with a whistling sound. The ball's trajectory was so tricky that it almost touched the sideline.
Following closely behind is Liu's powerful topspin shot, aimed at the left inner corner, which bounces up more than a meter high after landing, heading straight for the face.
Atobe's cutting ball was slightly slower, but it spun extremely hard. After landing, it suddenly changed direction laterally and flew past Mochizuki Ryo's waist and abdomen.
Standing on the far left, Shinobu delivered a bizarre, side-spinning cross-court shot. The ball traced an exaggerated arc in the air, heading straight for the right corner of the baseline.
The remaining six players also had their own set of techniques for serving.
Short ball, deep ball, smash...
Ten balls, ten completely different landing points.
From front to back and from left to right, it covered the entire area on Wang Yueling's side without any gaps, like an all-encompassing net that instantly enveloped him.
The scattered chatter around the field abruptly ceased, and everyone held their breath, not daring to even breathe loudly.
Just then, Wangyue Ling moved.
His steps were so fast that they almost left afterimages; his gray-white tracksuit cast a blurry shadow in the sunlight.
With his left hand, he swung the racket first, then with a slight flick of his wrist, he accurately caught Liu's topspin ball to the left inside corner, using the ball's force against it, and returned it along the same path with even stronger spin.
Almost instantly.
He switched the racket to his right hand, and with lightning speed, swiftly intercepted Atobe's outside flat shot. Without the slightest hesitation, the ball shot back to the opposite baseline corner like a bullet.
Immediately afterwards, he took a half step to the side, and with a gentle flick of his left racket, he removed all the spin from the slice shot. The ball floated lightly to the opposite service line, just barely grazing the net.
As Shinobu's sidespin cross-court shot arrived, he touched the ground with his right foot, instantly shifting his body half a meter to the side. He then swung his right racket upwards, perfectly catching the ball's sidespin and accurately returning it to Shinobu's feet.
The remaining balls followed one after another.
Wang Yueling's left and right hands seemed to have independent consciousness, with clear division of labor and seamless cooperation.
With his left hand, he controlled all the balls coming from the left half of the court, while his right hand took over the right half. He moved nimbly around the baseline, without a trace of panic.
The racket flew through his hands, tracing smooth arcs.
Every swing hits the ball precisely in the center, with the power and angle perfectly controlled.
"Bang! Bang! Bang..."
Ten crisp, consecutive strikes echoed like a rapid drumbeat, striking the hearts of everyone present.
It only took a few seconds.
Ten balls, not one missing, all were returned to the opposing half.
They all landed precisely within the boundary.
Some landed on the baseline white line; some grazed the sideline; and some landed exactly on the T point of the service line.
Not a single ball went out of bounds, not a single mistake was made.
The entire venue was deathly silent.
The sunlight was still blinding, and the wind rustled through the grass, but no one spoke.
The ten people opposite them all froze in place, as if they had been frozen in place by a spell.
Marui's mouth gaped open, unable to close it for a long time. The racket in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter, but he didn't even notice. Shinobu's glasses slipped down to the tip of his nose, and he stared blankly at Mochizuki Ryo, his mind a complete blank. Yanagi's face darkened slightly, and he trembled as he gripped his racket. The smile on Niou's face had vanished without a trace, replaced by a deep-seated disbelief...
A full three seconds passed before a collective gasp of astonishment erupted from the crowd.
"I...I didn't see wrong, did I?"
"My God, is it really that strong?"
"One against ten...that's beyond the realm of normal human capabilities, isn't it?"
Everyone stared blankly at Mochizuki Ryo on the court, their eyes filled with shock.
They had never seen anyone so powerful.
Kirihara, standing on the sidelines, suddenly jumped up, his face flushed with excitement, shouting, "That was amazing! Senpai was so cool! That was incredible!"
Sanada clenched his fists, his eyes filled with unprecedented shock and an unprecedented burning passion.
This is no longer simply about playing with both hands. It's about being able to handle multiple balls simultaneously and maximizing the advantages of both hands.
Wang Yueling... is truly unfathomable.
He is now absolutely certain of one thing: even if he were on the court right now, the outcome would not change in the slightest.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't want to try.
Quite the opposite.
His body leaned slightly forward, like a compressed spring.
Ten men stood on the field, each panting and sweating. Their expressions weren't of frustration, but rather a strange kind of excitement.
Even without scoring, playing against such an opponent is a gain in itself.
Wang Yueling stood in the center of the court, glanced at the ten panting players opposite her, and slung her racket over her shoulder.
He turned around, walked to the giant peach on the coach's bench, and placed his racket on the table.
Under everyone's gaze, he picked up the peach and walked to the center of the field.
then……
Lower your head.
I took a big bite.
The crisp "click" sound echoed throughout the entire stadium.
A little sweet peach juice trickled down the corner of his mouth. He elegantly wiped it with a handkerchief, squinted his eyes, and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Mmm...so sweet. No wonder it's called the Peach King."
The entire room fell silent.
He stood there amidst everyone, slowly and deliberately munching on a peach that was bigger than a basketball. He chewed each bite with great force, as if he were eating some kind of delicacy.
"Oh dear, this peach flesh..."
He took a big bite, puffed out his cheeks, and chewed several times, exclaiming in an incredibly smug tone, "So sweet and juicy, with a honey-like aroma. Hundreds of times better than those peaches we got this morning..."
Everyone was watching him eat.
Marui swallowed hard, and Jiro's greedy eyes were already turning red.
"Would you like a bite?" Wang Yueling held up a peach in front of them, her smile radiant. "Oh, I forgot. You didn't win."
That tone, that expression, that smug, infuriating manner.
If someone were to punch him right now, no one in the entire arena would stop him.
Even Atobe would say... he didn't see it.
"Fifteen balls."
Wang Yueling chewed on a peach, her voice muffled, and raised an eyebrow at the dejected crowd.
"I gave you so many chances. One by one, five by five, ten by ten... and you didn't seize them. You can't blame me for not giving you chances."
He paused, then deliberately took another bite of the peach, the sound of him chewing unusually loud in the otherwise quiet stadium.
"This peach could have been shared among all of you." He tilted his head, looking completely innocent. "What a pity..."
"Ring." Renji pushed up his glasses, stood in front of the net, and said in a muffled voice, "Could you swallow that peach in your mouth before you speak?"
Wang Yueling swallowed the peach and smiled at him: "Oh... no. The fruits of victory should be eaten while they're hot."
There's an old saying: "The winners feast, the losers wash the dishes."
"Oh no, I mean vegetables. Tonight, you all have to eat boiled broccoli."
"Ryo, that's enough." Atobe raised his hand and rubbed his temples, feeling quite helpless about his antics.
"I haven't had enough yet." Wang Yueling took another bite of the peach. "This peach is absolutely delicious. The juice explodes in my mouth with every bite, it's as sweet as victory itself."
He closed his eyes, feigning ecstasy, then opened one eye to peek at their reactions.
Marui's chewing gum had lost its flavor. Jiro's face was completely scrunched up. Kuwabara smiled helplessly. Urayama lay on the net, his two rosy cheeks sunken.
Kirihara rushed over from the sidelines, grabbed Mochizuki Ryo's hand that wasn't holding the peach, looked up at him, his black curly hair swaying in the wind.
"Senior! Senior! I want to try too! Please give me a chance!"
Mochizuki Ryou looked down at the little seaweed with its bright, sparkling eyes, switched the peach to her other hand, and used her free hand to tap Kirihara's forehead.
With a crisp, clear "thump," the sound was loud and clear.
"What did I tell you this morning?"
He held the peach high so Kirihara couldn't touch it, saying, "You'll only have a chance to challenge if you train hard. Finish your training this afternoon first, and then I'll consider whether to add you to the list."
"But right now I just want to..."
"Akaya." Sanada's deep voice came from the sidelines, "Stop fooling around."
Kirihara pouted, released Mochizuki Ryo's hand, and took a step back. His eyes were still glued to the peach, and his Adam's apple bobbed several times.
"Good boy." Wang Yueling reached out and ruffled his head, making his curly hair even more messy. "I'll decide based on your performance before the training camp ends. As for you two now..."
He turned around and scanned everyone present.
"Just as I expected, they're all too weak... so weak it's unbearable to look at."
His voice wasn't loud, but every word pierced the ears of everyone present with precision.
"Rikkai is even worse. I thought the reigning champions, Rikkai, a two-time national champion team, would surprise me." He tilted his head. "But it was a shock. Half of their regular players came to challenge them, and they still didn't score a single point."
"King? I think he's more like a dead man."
The faces of the Rikkai University students turned red from the criticism; some clenched their fists, some bit their lips, and some lowered their heads.
"Being this weak will make you a laughing stock."
Wang Yueling's tone was nonchalant, but every word was like a whip dipped in chili oil, striking their hearts. "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at the entire Rikkai University. Do you really think someone with this level of skill can win three consecutive championships? Dream on."
He said this with a smile on his face, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
Then he took another bite of the peach.
"Ah, these peaches are so delicious."