The American horse girl on the inside lane suddenly felt an inexplicable pressure, as though some terrifying predator had fixed its gaze on her. In her heart, she hastily tried to reassure herself:
It was just her imagination. That girl really was strong, sure, but there were six of them now, and they had already piled on a barrage of gate skills. No matter how strong Xingyun Liuge was, could she really force her way through a gap so narrow it could hardly even be called a path anymore?
Impossible.
The other horse girls were thinking the same thing. She was bluffing, that was all. They could not let themselves be intimidated by something like this.
Faced with the pressure Xingyun Liuge released, their answer was simple: maintain the blockade. Keep suppressing her.
What they did not know was that Xingyun Liuge had used Cleanse, removing every abnormal status affecting her.
It was as though a faint hum rang out, followed by a sharp rushing sound. Special ghostly blue motes flared up around her body, making her look like some supernatural being who commanded the wind itself.
Ghost Step.
Accelerate.
And then—
Ignore collision.
But if she simply slipped through cleanly and unscathed, would that not be rather dull?
The American horse girls were working so hard to pressure her. If she did not prepare an appropriately thoughtful return gift, would that not be terribly rude?
The next instant, an eerie green gleam flashed in the girl's eyes.
"!"
The ground beneath their feet was no longer soft. Had it not still visibly been a dirt track, they might have thought the muddy course had transformed into a field of iron.
That unnaturally hard sensation was only the beginning.
It did not even qualify as an appetizer.
In less than the blink of an eye, the horse girls felt a fearsome tremor, like a dragon coiling beneath the earth and turning over in its sleep.
Visible terror seized their faces, making anyone who saw them want to cry out: What in the world is happening?!
To the horse girls, dark fog shot upward from beneath the track, glowing an eerie green. It swelled high into the air, took the shape of a gigantic claw—
and struck.
…Perhaps it could be called the greeting of the Lord of the Underworld.
With that claw's appearance, even the sky was stained with the hue of hopeless, blood-dark crimson. The green-black mist began to spread outward.
It sounded as though flesh were being torn apart. The horse girls felt that savage, unreasonable power rip through their muscles, leaving them powerless to keep running.
Honestly, no one could keep running while feeling as though blood were pouring out of them.
The six horse girls blocking Xingyun Liuge all lost speed at once. Their carefully constructed formation collapsed in an instant.
With that, Xingyun Liuge could have passed easily between them.
Death Grasp: Xingyun Liuge alters the condition of the track within zero to ten horse-lengths in front of or behind her, while continuously draining the stamina of opponents within that stretch. Every second, it reduces the target's speed by 3%, until the end of the race.
But she did not choose the easy route.
Taking advantage of Ghost Step's ability to ignore collision, she deliberately slipped straight between two horse girls who had angled across each other and were just about to crash together.
To the cameras, and to the spectators, it looked as though Xingyun Liuge had seized upon the tiny opening created by the two girls' loss of speed and, in one clean motion, torn the encirclement apart.
And that was not all.
As she brushed past one of them, Xingyun Liuge smiled.
"You chose an interesting tactic," she said. "But unfortunately, it seems I was just a bit better. Next time, remember to make things more entertaining for me."
Her smile was sweet, impossibly sweet.
It was very hard to imagine that a girl like this had just forced six horse girls to lose speed all at once.
But in the eyes of the girls who had been disrupted, Xingyun Liuge looked nothing like a gentle girl anymore.
They saw this instead:
The rising green-black mist coiled around her body, changing the very look of her racing outfit. It was no longer a dress woven for the pursuit of dreams. It had become cold armor, forged for the shattering of other girls' dreams.
Though her eyes were half-lidded, the murderous green glow swimming within them could not be concealed. Even the soft lines of her face had turned sharper. Her pale skin took on a sickly pallor that made legs want to tremble.
A cloak woven from black mist streamed behind her, snapping in the wind.
The black fog spread in all directions, flaring now and then with dangerous green light, making the horse girls feel as though they were sinking into a swamp, about to be swallowed by a deadly bog.
That dreadful mist, streaked with green radiance, wrapped around their entire bodies. It nearly robbed them of breath.
Their bodies grew incomparably heavy. Every swing of the arms, every lift of the legs, felt agonizingly difficult. It was as though each small movement required the strength of a lifetime. Otherwise, they could not move at all.
The Netherworld Rises:
For every opponent Xingyun Liuge overtakes, she gains a 3% movement speed boost for 4 seconds. This effect stacks.
Whenever Xingyun Liuge's skills affect an opponent, each affected target grants her a 1% increase to all attributes.
If more than three opponents are affected, a negative-energy field with a capture radius of five horse-lengths unfolds and follows Xingyun Liuge as she moves. Any opponent within that field suffers increasingly severe stamina drain until they are fully exhausted or leave the field.
This time, what rang out was no cry of "impossible."
The six horse girls simply slumped to a halt.
Their stamina had been drained dry. They could not run anymore.
They were out of the race.
As they sat or sprawled there, unable to continue, little points of green light peeled away from their bodies and flew into Xingyun Liuge.
Perhaps because of that, even the visual effect of Ghost Step had turned an eerie green.
Indestructible Body: Whenever Xingyun Liuge reduces an opponent's stamina or causes stamina loss, she absorbs the full amount. If she reaches maximum stamina, she may either store the excess or convert it into a shield that resists further stamina-reduction effects.
Looking at the horse girls who had effectively abandoned themselves on the track, even the endlessly talkative host faltered for a moment. His voice trembled slightly.
"Is this… the strength of an absolute powerhouse? Under Xingyun Liuge's overwhelming pressure, a near-perfect encirclement was shattered in an instant! And the horse girls lost the will to fight because of it! What terrifying strength!"
Then excitement returned to his voice, though it was excitement that trembled all the way through him. His whole body shook.
Xingyun Liuge effortlessly blew past the mid-pack, nearly making them lose speed as well. Then she closed in on the front-runners, and the loyal negative-energy field began gnawing away at their stamina.
For a moment, the horse girls wore all sorts of expressions.
Xingyun Liuge, on the other hand, looked at them and smiled in delight.
Xingyun Liuge: "Before me, before all of you, stands fate itself."
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 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 139)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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