"Dammit, how did I become the finish line?!"
At the finish line, Hishi Amazon stood holding a sign.
She'd accepted Barbatos's invitation to act as the finish line for this race—originally just wanting to say hello to Barbatos and the others—so how did it end up like this?! All she felt now was deep regret!
How in the world did she, the great Hishi Amazon, end up being equated with the finish line?!
She'd have to find a way to fix that later.
As she took her position at the finish…
Over at the starting line, Minamizaka and Urara stood to one side, stopwatches in hand.
"On your marks… go!"
At the command—
Twin Turbo, Nice Nature, and Ikuno Dictus shot forward instantly—a very smooth start.
Minamizaka couldn't help but think that even though they'd spent most of their training time in meetings, these Uma Musumes truly were gifted.
Wait, did Barbatos just stumble out of the gate?
No, the gate burst open cleanly—they should have started together, otherwise he wouldn't have missed it.
That slightly awkward running form… maybe Barbatos isn't good on turf tracks?
The thought crossed Minamizaka's mind.
Just as she'd claimed, Twin Turbo was leading with everything she had, not sparing a single thought for those behind her before reaching the finish.
Ikuno Dictus and Nice Nature hadn't gone all out yet, and they kept an eye on Barbatos lagging behind. "Is that all?"
This is the Barbatos who wants to enter the debut race? Seriously?
That can't be right—did something happen to Barbatos just now?
Though they wanted to ask, now that the race had started, even if it wasn't official, they'd run it through to the end.
Just as the gap between Ikuno Dictus, Nice Nature, and Barbatos was about to widen further—
Barbatos's stride shifted subtly. Her earlier discomfort with the turf track vanished in an instant as [Ghost] activated, briefly granting her the effect of "ignoring unit collision."
The grass underfoot no longer seemed to hinder her at all. The speed boost from [Ghost] let her begin closing in on Nice Nature and the others.
But that alone wasn't enough!
If [Ghost] couldn't get refreshed by overtaking other Uma Musumes, the effect would only last a short while.
So she had to quickly buy Kassadin to maintain the "ignoring unit collision" effect, but before that—[Highlander], activate!
[Ghost] alone wouldn't be enough to catch up to and pass Ikuno Dictus and Nice Nature.
Ending it like this would waste the [Ghost] effect. The moment [Highlander] activated, her speed kicked up another notch.
At the same time, she split her focus slightly to open the system screen.
--+--
Dual-Bloom System
Name: Barbatos
Gender: Uma Musume
Summoner Spells: [Heal], [Ghost (Cooldown)]
Innate Talent: Unlock after obtaining 5 champions
Champions Owned: Hecarim, Teemo, Master Yi, Janna
Equipped Skills:
Passive: [Path to War]
Skills: [Devastating Charge], [Move Quick], [Zephyr], [Highlander (Cooldown)]
--+--
[Champion Store (Purchase with Blue Essence)]
[Item Store (Purchase with Gold)]
Current Blue Essence: 3157 (PC), 301 (Mobile)
Current Gold: 100
--+--
Opening the PC Champion Store, [[Kassadin (3150 Blue Essence)]. Purchase?]
"Yes!"
After purchasing Kassadin, she equipped the champion's passive [Voidstone] into her skill slot, allowing her to instinctively ignore the turf track's hindering effects.
Before entering Tracen Academy, Barbatos had been grinding Blue Essence in the PC version nonstop. It wasn't as intense as Seven's 50 high-tier ranked matches a day, but she still managed thirty or forty matches daily.
(T/N: Finally found out that Seven is referencing Clearlove from EDG)
Before enrollment, she'd already bought "Master Yi" and "Janna"—one providing a burst speed skill, the other granting passive movement speed.
Originally, she planned to save up 3150 Blue Essence for "Miss Fortune," whose passive movement speed bonus was quite substantial.
Stacking enough passive movement speed bonuses would let her avoid having to run last just to refresh skills and win races. With enough passive speed boosts, she could even try the front-running style Twin Turbo mentioned, leading from start to finish.
Right now, Twin Turbo was in the lead, still setting the pace up front.
She'd already opened a gap of more than five lengths over the Uma Musume behind.
Ikuno Dictus and Nice Nature held second and third place, respectively, and were also starting to push, closing the distance to Twin Turbo.
They'd originally planned to save their energy for the final turn to try overtaking Twin Turbo, but…
The pressure from Barbatos behind them was just too intense!
She must have been holding back on purpose earlier—she must have deliberately started slow, because her speed now was more than double what it was at the beginning!
Even for a closer, this kind of running feels way too deliberate. Barbatos looks so pure and innocent, yet she's actually a tactical mastermind!
If Barbatos had run this fast from the start, it wouldn't have been a big deal. But falling behind and then suddenly kicking into high gear to chase them down created a completely different feeling—the pressure of her closing in from behind was intense, forcing them to push now.
"So fast!"
Barbatos couldn't help but murmur in admiration. Team Canopus, which she'd joined originally just to slack off more easily, was clearly no simple team.
At the very least, they were several tiers stronger than the Uma Musumes she'd faced during her academy entrance test.
With her stacked passive movement speed and active skills [Ghost] + [Highlander] active, she was closing the gap, but she couldn't pass them in one go.
If this kept up, both skills would wear off in just a few seconds.
There was another problem, too—if she caught up and passed Ikuno Dictus and Nice Nature now, would they grant her an "overtake"? They didn't seem like ordinary Uma Musumes.
Thinking that, she selected the only item in her equipment slot and activated [Boots of Swiftness · Righteous Glory]!
As she chased Nice Nature and Ikuno Dictus, she instantly gained a movement speed bonus, increased by 75%!
The sudden burst of speed made the air currents whistle around her. The wind seemed to part visibly on either side of Barbatos as she blew past Nice Nature and Ikuno Dictus with absolute velocity.
That terrifying burst only lasted four seconds, but for those four seconds, she felt she could match any triple crown Uma Musume!
"Overtake~" *2
[[Boots of Swiftness · Righteous Glory] entered cooldown. [Ghost] and [Highlander] durations refreshed.]
Even without the 75% speed boost, Barbatos rapidly closed in on Twin Turbo, then passed her.
No 75% boost, no overwhelming speed—this time, she didn't get an "overtake" from Twin Turbo, so [Ghost] and [Highlander] didn't refresh again. But the race was already decided.
Barbatos shot past Hishi Amazon first, leading Twin Turbo by two lengths!
Just as she turned, about to flash a victory sign toward Urara, she heard a thud from the side as someone tumbled to the ground, and a shoe flew past, nearly hitting her face.
"Twin Turbo, are you okay?!"
As she and the others rushed over to check if Twin Turbo was hurt, a distant Uma Musume's pained cry echoed from farther away.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.