"The race enters the middle leg. Currently leading is still Seiun Sky, second place is Biwa Hayahide! Favorite #1 Tokai Teio is currently here..." As the live commentator finished speaking, the TV camera focused on Tokai Teio. "Tokai Teio is currently in third place, trailing the second place Biwa Hayahide by four body lengths!"
Dressed in her white suit, Tokai Teio ran steadily on the track, her small red cape swaying in the wind behind her. Her elegant posture was like a Prince Charming who had run out of a fairy tale.
And although her position in the race was lagging a bit much now, Tokai Teio's running style wasn't affected in the slightest; it was as perfect as ever. Moreover, her expression was the most composed and confident among all competitors.
That expression seemed to be saying: "It doesn't matter; I'll just let you lead for a while first!"
Thick confidence rushed toward the audience. Unlike those competitors who were gritting their teeth to maintain speed, Tokai Teio's current posture could simply be described by the word "dashing."
Even in the current situation, as long as fans gazed at Tokai Teio's figure, they naturally felt an unparalleled sense of reliability in their hearts. It was a feeling that they absolutely didn't think Tokai Teio would lose. This feeling was truly incredible; perhaps because the strength Tokai Teio displayed in previous races was too astonishing, people even took it for granted that as long as Tokai Teio appeared, she would never lose a race.
The analyst said: "We can see Tokai Teio's expression is unwavering; she is currently still conserving stamina!"
After describing Tokai Teio's situation, she continued analyzing: "Biwa Hayahide is chasing; the leading Seiun Sky seems to have started falling into a decline!"
Seiun Sky's current speed was obviously inferior to the beginning!
Running at full power and full speed—the energy and stamina required weren't just a little more than usual; the burden and consumption on the body must be increasing exponentially.
Currently, the gap between the first place Seiun Sky and the second place Biwa Hayahide was less than five body lengths. At first glance, this distance seemed to have plenty of leeway, but in reality, it didn't hold much advantage. Under normal circumstances, this gap would indeed be very significant, but this track was different. Moreover, Seiun Sky's speed was visibly decreasing, while Biwa Hayahide's speed was rising; the gap between the two was shrinking at an extremely fast rate.
If this were a medium-distance race, then Seiun Sky's current advantage would be terrifyingly secure. But the problem was that today's race was a 3000m long-distance track. Now, Seiun Sky's lead wasn't obvious anymore, and appearing to have lost her explosive power prematurely, it seemed Seiun Sky no longer had the means to turn defeat into victory.
Even if she led momentarily, what was the use?
Horse Girl races are about who crosses the line first.
Many people couldn't understand Seiun Sky's approach. Some even couldn't help suspecting that Seiun Sky never intended to win from the start, but just wanted to run to her heart's content once.
The analyst shouted at this moment: "Competitor Biwa Hayahide has caught up! Can competitor Seiun Sky continue to escape?!"
I want to as well!
Seiun Sky's face was covered in sweat, secretly retorting to the analyst in her heart.
Her body had truly reached its limit.
At this moment, she had no choice but to close her Zone, and even that marvelous state of total concentration (Flow) could no longer be maintained.
For Seiun Sky, shaking off Biwa Hayahide, who was bursting with speed now, was almost an impossible task.
"Damn it, there's still a bit of distance to the 2000m marker!"
Her original explosive power wasn't much greater than Biwa Hayahide and the others.
The reason she could complete the Great Escape tactic was solely because she used it at the start of the race, catching the other competitors off guard, which allowed her to occupy such a big advantage now.
To be serious, her current strength actually couldn't be counted as a powerhouse among the competitors in this race.
Her skill combination wasn't as good as Nice Nature's, and her physical fitness wasn't as good as Biwa Hayahide's!
It could be said that Seiun Sky's failures in the Satsuki Sho and the Japanese Derby were definitely not due to accident or luck; it was simply insufficient strength!
As for why Tokai Teio was omitted?
Because Seiun Sky knew very well that in terms of strength, she was absolutely inferior to Tokai Teio.
To win against this monster, she could only use stratagems, and she also had to rely on luck!
"Too reckless!" an audience member said.
"Using Great Escape tactics in a long-distance race requires considering things that are definitely not that simple. It shows this competitor didn't prepare enough homework beforehand!"
Many people felt that Seiun Sky using the Great Escape tactic in this race was simply too reckless.
The Great Escape tactic, if it cannot display crushing dominance, can easily turn into a self-destructing running style.
It can be said that from the moment you decide to use Great Escape when your strength lags behind your opponents in this race in all aspects, you have thoroughly become a loser!
Reality isn't a game.
Other competitors won't sit by and watch a Great Escape rush out into the lead. Even if they choose to ignore it at first, they will start chasing to interrupt the escape when a certain distance is reached.
Although Seiun Sky's strength was at the upper-middle level among the participating competitors, she still belonged to the category of [Challenger].
But she wanted to become the [Boss]—this was the biggest mistake!
"Don't think about escaping!"
Biwa Hayahide chased up calmly; the distance between the two was closing bit by bit.
Seiun Sky looked as if she truly had no options left.
"As expected, she couldn't hold on, this competitor."
A fan shook his head and sighed.
The running style chosen by Seiun Sky in this race couldn't be said to be unexciting.
Even though he came for Tokai Teio's name at first, he was momentarily attracted by Seiun Sky's Great Escape.
But by the middle leg of the race, Seiun Sky's explosive power began to weaken almost visibly to the naked eye.
Looking at this situation, it seemed impossible to win this race. At this time, not many people were optimistic about Seiun Sky's outcome anymore.
"Damn it, not enough yet! Hold on for me a bit longer!"
But Seiun Sky herself hadn't given up yet!
Ahead was the 2000m marker. As long as she could arrive there in the lead, her first stage plan would be considered a success.
Although Biwa Hayahide's uprising was somewhat outside her expectations, if it was just one person, it was still within her budget range.
And the two competitors she was most wary of hadn't rushed out—this was the best news for her!
And merely a Biwa Hayahide—how could she let a competitor outside the plan affect her layout!
The competitor Seiun Sky feared most in this race was firstly Nice Nature; that demonic skill was too threatening for her as a Runner. Then the competitor she was most wary of was Tokai Teio, because Tokai Teio's strength was too unfathomable. Even after running two races with Tokai Teio, she still couldn't see how strong Tokai Teio really was.
If these two competitors had reacted from the start and wanted to stop her Great Escape, Seiun Sky would have felt very troubled, possibly even falling into an extremely desperate situation.
But Biwa Hayahide wasn't one of these two.
Even though she was also a competitor mastering demonic skills, Biwa Hayahide's debuff skills were different from Nice Nature's debuff skills.
"Except for underestimating Biwa Hayahide's decisiveness and explosive power, everything is the same as I expected. This error is still within an acceptable range!"
A successful smile appeared on Seiun Sky's sweat-covered face.
She knew that with Tokai Teio's conceited personality, she wouldn't change her own rhythm because of Seiun Sky's running style. And if Nice Nature and the others wanted to win, the priority they needed to pay attention to was Tokai Teio's position. That meant she had now completely escaped Nice Nature's skill range. As for Biwa Hayahide's demonic skill, she was still holding a recovery skill unused!
She was currently at least eight body lengths away from Tokai Teio's position, and the gap with Nice Nature and the others was even larger.
Ahead was the 2000-meter marker; the final track wasn't far away!
That meant Tokai Teio and the others only had a buffer of about less than 500m.
Even if she started resting here, Tokai Teio and the others absolutely couldn't recover this huge gap so quickly!
"The only problem now is Biwa Hayahide."
Even if she had to slow down, Seiun Sky didn't want to actually be overtaken by Biwa Hayahide.
Although Biwa Hayahide's threat level wasn't as high as Tokai Teio and Nice Nature, she was still a formidable opponent!
Biwa Hayahide watched Seiun Sky enter the "zone," decisively used a demonic skill, and a red light flashed through her eyes.
"Here it comes!"
Feeling that heaviness (gravity), Seiun Sky's spirit shook. Blue light lit up in her eyes, and light spots like stardust fragments appeared on her body.
That was an advanced-level recovery skill!
Biwa Hayahide frowned tightly.
She hadn't expected Seiun Sky to grow to this extent in just a few short months, even learning an advanced-level recovery skill!
But—
"I've already seen through your weakness!"
Biwa Hayahide held nothing back anymore. Deep blue flames bloomed—Zone outbreak!
In that instant, her speed rose significantly again.
The remaining gap was recovered almost in the blink of an eye.
Currently, the gap between Seiun Sky and Biwa Hayahide was only half a body length!
Seiun Sky, who had lost all status buffs and skill effects, wasn't enough to look at in front of the exploding Biwa Hayahide.
Seiun Sky couldn't help wanting to curse.
"Biwa Hayahide has caught up! The race is about to enter the final corner!"
Right before the corner entrance, Seiun Sky watched helplessly as Biwa Hayahide rushed up from the outer lane, running to a position on the same line as herself.
"Bad, I didn't expect there to be absolutely no chance to rest!"
Seiun Sky broke out in cold sweat.
Even with an advanced-level recovery skill giving a heal, in her current state, she couldn't continue to open the Zone's explosive mode again!
"Does this guy not worry about Tokai Teio and the others behind?!"
Aunque Seiun Sky knew Biwa Hayahide had also stepped into this realm, she originally thought the other party would save this move to deal with Tokai Teio. She never expected the other party to use this move so early!
Terrible, too terrible. Her tactical layout was completely disrupted by this step.
Biwa Hayahide's mouth corner raised slightly.
"This is your flaw. You end here!"
She hadn't expected Seiun Sky to dare pull this kind of petty calculation in front of her.
One must know she was very good at mathematics and had calculated Seiun Sky's stamina value early on.
Although Biwa Hayahide didn't know what final leg burst skills Seiun Sky had, she knew that as long as she didn't give Seiun Sky a chance to rest, a Seiun Sky with exhausted stamina couldn't turn the tables!
"What to do? Should I give up first place for now?"
Seiun Sky's brain spun rapidly, but her body had already subconsciously given the answer: she yielded the first position.
Because if she didn't do this, then later, with her stamina exhausted, she would have absolutely no chance of winning no matter what.
"No problem! I still have a gap of eight body lengths with Tokai Teio and the others. At least in this corner, I can—"
Seiun Sky's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from behind.
She subconsciously turned her head to look, only to see Tokai Teio's figure suddenly dart past her side.
"Your layout is still too shallow. No, should I say your horizon is still too small."
There was a smile in Tokai Teio's eyes.
Eight body lengths gap.
Was that a lot?
At this moment, let alone Seiun Sky, even Biwa Hayahide in front had a frightened expression.
"How can this be? What about Nice Nature and the others!"
Even if Tokai Teio's explosive power was truly this terrifying, weren't the competitors behind marking her? How could they let her break through here so easily!
But at this moment, let alone Nice Nature and the others.
Even the audience watching the race was frightened by Tokai Teio's explosion.
Just in that instant just now, Tokai Teio briefly used that Hyper-Acceleration move from the Japanese Derby again, and terrifyingly, she used skill buffs while in that state!
That could almost be called a "Flash" (teleportation) running style!
Even if Nice Nature and Special Week marked her tightly, it was useless in front of that move.
By the time Nice Nature subconsciously used a debuff skill, Tokai Teio had already run out of her skill release range.
"Sorry, if you want to blame someone, go blame Nice Nature. If she hadn't been marking me constantly, I wouldn't have thought of using this move again."
Tokai Teio easily passed Seiun Sky and Biwa Hayahide, burying her head and charging straight ahead without looking back.
She actually really disliked pulling a "Great Distance."
But facing a "Nature Horse Girl" like Nice Nature, she had to escape.
Those who have tasted the feeling of being debuffed know what it's like.
"Tokai Teio has broken out! Now leading is Tokai Teio!"
Although surprised, the live commentator reacted quickly.
Biwa Hayahide's face darkened.
"Fine then, let me challenge you head-on, Tokai Teio!"
Unique Skill erupted, plus the buff of the Zone—Biwa Hayahide chased fiercely behind Tokai Teio.
"Interesting, then keep up!"
Tokai Teio's expression remained unchanged.
She didn't have the special effects of the Zone, just plainly opening a tide/momentum, but her speed didn't lag behind the fully exploding Biwa Hayahide at all.
The two-body-length gap between them showed no sign of shrinking.
"...Impossible! Does your body have no limits?! Tokai Teio!"
Biwa Hayahide was shocked.
She never expected that without using any ultimate moves, merely entering a state, Tokai Teio could maintain the distance with the current her!
"Passing the final corner, currently leading is still Tokai Teio, followed by Biwa Hayahide and Seiun Sky. Behind them, Special Week and Nice Nature are chasing. Is there still hope?!"
Nice Nature and Special Week's feelings right now were indescribable.
Because they watched helplessly as Tokai Teio escaped. Although they had been alert before, they never expected Tokai Teio could still increase her speed under that move's state.
Although this time that move lasted less than a second in reality, shorter than in the Japanese Derby.
But the problem was, with the addition of the skill burst, the distance Tokai Teio ran was too different.
Damn it, should have thought of it!
That move was obviously in an imperfect state before.
After several months, how could Tokai Teio still be marching in place!
"OhhhhAAAAHHHH!!!"
Special Week burst with pink flames all over her body, chasing fiercely from behind.
Nice Nature also gave up debuffing and activated all her burst skills, similarly chasing with all her might.
Because in this situation, there was nothing good left to debuff.
Sensing Nice Nature's gaze, Tokai Teio's steps quickened a bit again.
"No chance! Final 200m, Tokai Teio's speed hasn't diminished at all! Amazing, truly amazing! The competitors behind can't catch up at all!"
"Can't do it!"
Biwa Hayahide gritted her teeth.
The distance couldn't be shortened at all!
Is this Tokai Teio's bottomless strength?
Damn it, truly strong like a monster!
Perhaps she should rejoice now that she exploded early; otherwise, maybe she wouldn't even be able to follow behind Tokai Teio.
Now Nice Nature and Special Week must feel the same way.
The distance to the front couldn't be shortened at all!
Seiun Sky lost speed before the finish line.
Although she forced herself to keep up, originally having little stamina left, she indeed couldn't run this final stretch at full speed.
At the same time she dropped back, Tokai Teio completed the line crossing!
Immediately following was Biwa Hayahide, two horse lengths behind.
Third and fourth were Nice Nature and Special Week.
"Crossed the line!"
"The winner of this Kikuka Sho, the winner is Tokai Teio!"
"The Undefeated King has achieved the honor of the Undefeated Triple Crown here, creating a new legend!"
"Now—a new legend is born here!!!"
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"