A vast sea of mist glowing with a dim green light flooded the girl's vision, instantly giving her a bad feeling. At the same time, her ears seemed to catch some kind of indistinct, muffled sobbing.
She definitely had not run into anything this strange the last time she rolled a die. Was Lucian not "qualified" enough? But her starter character had been Mordekaiser, hadn't it? So why had Mordekaiser not shown her anything weird? Was it because he had been her initial character?
Xingyun Liuge did not know.
What she did know was one thing:
This mist was unmistakably connected to the Ruination, and the champion she had rolled absolutely had deep ties to the Shadow Isles.
At the very least, it had to be someone like Senna, the Redeemer.
But if it really was Senna, then that would be a little troublesome, because that champion's skill set did not seem suited for racing at all.
Stealing part of a target's movement speed through basic attacks?
Was she seriously supposed to elbow little horse girls on the track?
Malicious collision could get you disqualified, you know.
Fortunately, Xingyun Liuge soon heard another sound rising from the Black Mist, and that let her confirm one thing:
The champion she had rolled definitely was not Senna.
Clank… clank…
It was the sound of chains dragging across the ground.
Soon, two ghostly green flames emerged from the mist.
No—those were not lights.
They were soul-fire burning inside a pair of eye sockets.
Thresh, the Chain Warden:
"How shall we begin this delightful torture?"
"…"
Xingyun Liuge fell silent.
She wanted to run little horse girls into tears, sure, but her compatibility with Thresh was definitely not high! No matter how she looked at it, this champion did not have any movement skill, did he?
Well, all right, his Q, Death Sentence, technically counted. But how was she supposed to use that?
Throw a hook during a race?
She would be disqualified on the spot.
But after taking a look at the adjusted skill set, Xingyun Liuge no longer thought that way.
Death Sentence:
Release an invisible mark onto one opponent, marking them for five seconds and slowing them for two seconds. You may reactivate the mark to run to the marked target with no stamina cost. Cooldown: 1 minute.
(Note: maximum cast range is 200 meters.)
So in other words, once per minute she could run a distance at no stamina cost. How far exactly she could go depended on how far the marked target managed to run during those five seconds, though it would be at least 200 meters.
Flay:
All opponents within a 10-meter radius around you are slowed by 40% for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute.
The Box:
Once per race, regardless of stamina or burst power, all contestants other than yourself are slowed by 50% for 10 seconds.
After reading the skill set, Xingyun Liuge found herself at even more of a loss for words.
Was this Thresh not just a little too evil?
Why was his whole kit packed with slows?
Everyone knew that once you got slowed, accelerating again was extremely taxing on stamina. And Thresh had three slowing skills. Was this not basically bullying little horse girls to death?
But Xingyun Liuge also noticed that only The Box carried the special clause regardless of stamina or burst power.
Touching her pale chin, the girl murmured,
"So that means Q and E can probably both be dodged?"
Death Sentence explicitly said it released a mark, but did not say it was guaranteed to hit, which meant it would test the user's judgment. As for Flay, it defined a radius; if a horse girl got outside that range before the skill took effect, then the slow would not land on her.
"But this is all just speculation. Best to run a training race—that way I can understand what the skills actually do in practice."
Right now, she was badly in need of a few helpful little horse girls willing to let her get used to her skills!
Because of her winning streak, Xingyun Liuge's status at Kasamatsu Tracen had skyrocketed. Even the chairwoman treated her with exceptional respect now. But if the topic was a training race, then that was a different matter.
Not even the chairwoman could press other horse girls into being Xingyun Liuge's sparring partners.
This kind of thing depended on mutual willingness. It could not be forced.
Within Kasamatsu Tracen, the best sparring partner was undoubtedly Oguri Cap, with Fujimasa March in second place.
Of course, doing that might expose her hand and let Oguri Cap prepare for it in an actual race—but that was fine.
That was what would make it interesting.
Xingyun Liuge immediately asked Chihaya Yui to contact Kitahara and Shibasaki, the two trainers, because she wanted a training race against both horse girls.
Chihaya Yui gave her a special warning.
"Even if everyone's classmates, doing this could give them data. They might study you and prepare targeted countermeasures."
Xingyun Liuge really was strong, but those two horse girls had excellent foundations too—especially Oguri Cap. If it was Oguri Cap, then maybe she truly did have the potential to catch up to Xingyun Liuge.
"Hm? Studying future Tokai Derby opponents this early already? That sounds pretty fun~"
Xingyun Liuge tilted her head, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
If they really did that, the only thing it would make her think of was a line of pre-match trash talk.
You want to study me? The conclusion you reach had better not be: "The opponent's too strong, so I've decided not to go."
Did they really think opponents at the MSI level were that easy to study?
At the end of it all, the result would probably just become:
proving who the number one horse girl in the Tokai region really was.
After receiving Chihaya Yui's proposal, both trainers and both horse girls were excited. This was a perfect opportunity to observe Xingyun Liuge up close. Maybe they could even find a way to counter her.
[1400-meter dirt training race. Sunny. Good track conditions.]
Although the composition of the dirt was a little different, this distance corresponded to the Junior Crown, which would be the girls' next race. The arrangement practically had we want to study you written all over it.
The two trainers were honestly a little embarrassed, but this was for the sake of helping their horse girls win. Compared to embarrassment, they cared far more about giving everything they had.
Fujimasa March had her own pride. Even though she had lost to Xingyun Liuge in the debut race, she had doubled her efforts afterward, nearly training herself to exhaustion every single day. Defeat was deeply painful to her, so she wanted to work twice as hard and win back everything she had lost.
Xingyun Liuge saw the pride and fighting spirit burning in Fujimasa March's eyes, and it made her happy.
She was already impatient to see the expression on the other girl's face after being raced into tears.
That expression would definitely be delicious.
So Xingyun Liuge took the initiative and said,
"I'm planning to practice a brand-new strategy, so don't get too scared, okay?"
If they still lost after basically being "spoiled" in advance, then the blow would be far worse. They would surely feel especially miserable.
Xingyun Liuge smiled beautifully, looking unusually warm and friendly.
But Fujimasa March and Oguri Cap had no idea what she was really thinking. Instead, they felt the weight of her trust pressing down on them, which only made them want to perform at their absolute best—to live up to that trust, and to surprise Xingyun Liuge properly.
As the whistle blew, the two horse girls started at the same instant, nearly shoulder to shoulder, while Xingyun Liuge set off at a leisurely pace, as relaxed as if she were taking a stroll.
But in truth, Xingyun Liuge was not being casual at all.
She narrowed her eyes, and a dim ghostly green light stirred within her pupils.
In that instant, Oguri Cap's hair stood on end.
She felt a terrifying, intensely dangerous presence rising from directly behind her.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 150)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter100)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 60
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 50
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 50
The Way the Umamusume Look at 31
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 26
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 26
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin