The race had just passed the halfway point, and the second section was already halfway through.
After passing the slope and coming out of the downhill, the front and rear of the pack had already reconnected. The gap between El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka was no longer so large, especially for El Condor Pasa. Because she lacked enough momentum, she could no longer maintain her position and was about to be caught from behind.
Silence Suzuka was still leading, but with her stamina being consumed rapidly, her current running speed had already reached its limit.
"A chance!"
The eyes of the runners behind lit up. Although this rhythm had been driven by King Halo, after clearly seeing the performances of El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka at the front, they suddenly felt that this rhythm was perfect for a grand fight. Now they had a chance to overtake those two runners.
El Condor Pasa looked at the runners coming up and clenched her teeth tightly.
"Damn it! How could I possibly lose to you all!"
Scarlet lightning was rampaging, but that aura already had the feel of being strong on the outside and hollow on the inside. At this moment, El Condor Pasa had clearly had her rhythm seized.
Having sped up with Silence Suzuka from the very start, then losing the chance to catch her breath in the middle phase, she had no way to sustain herself until the end of the race. With El Condor Pasa's stamina stat, she would not slow to a collapse, but now that she lacked explosive power, she could no longer stop the runners chasing from behind.
Montjeu was at the rear of the pack. Because the rhythm had accelerated, her current position allowed her to clearly see El Condor Pasa's condition. Seeing El Condor Pasa look as if she was holding in a breath of anger with no way to vent it, Montjeu knew that El Condor Pasa's rhythm in this race had already been disrupted.
For a front-runner, rhythm was an extremely important part of the race. No matter how powerful a runner was, once her rhythm was disrupted, her strength would fall.
"Impressive."
Montjeu made that judgment in her heart.
King Halo's move was far too simple.
It could be said that with only this one operation, El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka had already been completely cut off from the championship. Yet this operation had not used any skill at all. It was the superiority of strategy and experience. In control of the race rhythm, King Halo had completely surpassed every runner.
Even Montjeu could not do something like this.
After all, to accomplish this, one had to accurately calculate the conditions of El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka, and also calculate the psychology of the other runners. Montjeu could mark two runners in a single race, but she could not calculate every participant in the race the way King Halo had.
If one had not personally experienced it, one would never dare believe that such a tactic could be realized in reality.
"The world really is vast."
Montjeu's delight grew as she watched.
She had to admit that King Halo had satisfied her expectations, and even exceeded them. This junior sister was exactly the opponent she longed for.
Thinking of this, Montjeu began to release her aura.
Purple lightning split the track. The runners originally blocking the front were pushed aside by that aura against their will. Disbelief appeared on their faces, as if they could not believe they could not even withstand Montjeu's presence.
They were shaken by the strength of the world champion. This was Montjeu's ZONE, a regal racewalk.
"Montjeu!"
"She's starting!"
"No, we can't block her!"
Even if they could grit their teeth against the fear brought by that aura, after sensing the gap in strength between both sides, they still did not dare stand in Montjeu's path. Even if they stood in front, they would not be able to stop Montjeu. They would only be shoved aside by her.
In umamusume races, physical contact was permitted as long as it was not malicious injury. In other words, Montjeu could completely push them away.
And if they knowingly went to block despite being unable to do so, that would be self-destruction. Once they were pressed down by Montjeu, their own aura would be extinguished. It would be difficult to recover their condition afterward.
Of course, it was not that no one could truly contend with Montjeu in power. But doing so would be all cost and no reward. Any runner with that level of strength was definitely aiming for the championship. If she went to repel Montjeu, she would only drag both herself and Montjeu down together.
After all, Montjeu was not the only powerhouse in this race.
Leaving aside others, El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka, who had still not given up, could not be underestimated. What needed to be done now was not to stop Montjeu, but to follow Montjeu and first take down these two Runners, then settle the outcome against Montjeu on the final stretch.
Thus, almost at the same time, not only Montjeu but several other ZONE auras erupted on the field. Those runners who had not awakened ZONE could no longer keep up with the rhythm of the race at that moment. In an instant, these runners caught up to and overtook them.
El Condor Pasa watched Montjeu charge up, her eyes widening.
In the blink of an eye, Montjeu surpassed El Condor Pasa and chased toward Silence Suzuka ahead. El Condor Pasa had no way to respond at this moment.
The more dazzling Great Runner was in the early stage, the more helpless it became in the later stage.
Not to mention, El Condor Pasa's talent as a Runner was not the absolute highest. Yet she happened to like racing at full speed far too early.
Although it did prove El Condor Pasa's talent was extremely high, what meaning did that have? El Condor Pasa looked down on King Halo for being rigidly confined to one running style, but what use was it for El to be proficient in everything while unable to reach the peak in any one thing?
"The race has reached the second turn. At this moment, Montjeu has burst out from the rear in one move. What terrifying explosive power. As expected of this year's world champion. Silence Suzuka is still in the lead for now, but Montjeu is closing in. Can you keep running, Silence Suzuka?!"
However, even if the commentator favored Silence Suzuka, the race situation would not improve. Montjeu's footsteps were closing in rapidly, while Silence Suzuka's speed had already reached its limit.
And from how much she was sweating, it was clear she was now forcing herself.
"This is bad, Suzuka!"
Nishizaki Ryuya, in the stands, was full of unease.
He could see Silence Suzuka's current situation. Although Silence Suzuka had held on until the third turn without slowing down, in reality, this had already surpassed her usual training records.
For Silence Suzuka's stamina, this was already an exceptional performance. Because of King Halo's rhythm shift just now, Silence Suzuka had not had any chance to rest in this race.
Recovery skills could barely support her for a while, but if she did not release her burst state, the effects of recovery skills would be weakened to the greatest extent. Silence Suzuka could no longer hold on. Even El Condor Pasa was currently in better condition than Silence Suzuka.
"You are quite good, but still not strong enough."
Montjeu smiled as she caught up directly to Silence Suzuka. Her confident expression formed the strongest contrast with Silence Suzuka, whose face was covered in sweat.
Even after giving everything, Silence Suzuka still could not defeat this world champion. King Halo's move had only accelerated the speed of Silence Suzuka's defeat. Even if King Halo had not made a move, the current Silence Suzuka would absolutely not be Montjeu's opponent.
The instant Montjeu caught up, Silence Suzuka slowed with a pained expression. Her spirit began to fall. Earlier, she had been holding on entirely with a single breath of will. Now that Montjeu had caught up, her will wavered, and Silence Suzuka, who had long since reached her limit, could no longer endure.
"Silence Suzuka is losing speed at this moment!"
Silence Suzuka's fans were immediately full of regret when they saw this.
But Silence Suzuka's performance in this race had already been excellent enough. After all, this was a battle of the century where the strong had gathered.
A front-runner was already at a disadvantage in a race of this level. If not for Silence Suzuka being a Great Runner, she should long since have been pressed down by her opponents' blocking skills, and it would have been impossible for her to deliver such a brilliant performance.
So although her fans felt regret, they did not feel disappointed. Because Silence Suzuka had run with the brilliance that belonged to her.
And as Silence Suzuka fell, a pink aura suddenly surged from behind. A clear voice suddenly appeared in the ears of every runner. Special Week burst out of the pack in a running posture similar to Silence Suzuka's, low to the ground.
"Now!"
Montjeu's previous burst had begun to settle after she claimed the lead, because she still had to conserve some strength to guard against King Halo. Under ordinary circumstances, most umamusume would choose at this point to push toward the finish line in one breath.
But Montjeu was no ordinary umamusume. She had the confidence to suppress the other opponents even while maintaining her current state. Therefore, she wanted to preserve some strength as a follow-up move against King Halo.
But she did not expect Special Week to seize this timing and run out now, disrupting her arrangement.
"You are...?"
Montjeu had not paid attention to Special Week at all.
After all, although Special Week's aura was dazzling in Japan, her actual race results had more losses than wins. Special Week's previous strength had also clearly lagged behind El Condor Pasa and Silence Suzuka, so naturally, Montjeu had no mind to focus on such a minor character.
But now that she saw Special Week's ZONE, which did not conform to common sense, Montjeu finally discovered something wrong with Special Week. This one was not an ordinary minor character.
"Special Week!"
The commentator shouted excitedly.
"It's Special Week at full power!"
At the beginning, almost no one had thought highly of Special Week's performance in today's race. After all, Special Week's strength had long since been judged to be below Silence Suzuka's. That was even before comparing her to King Halo, Japan's strongest, El Condor Pasa, the world's number two, and Montjeu, the world's number one.
But now, when Montjeu had charged into first place, Special Week had unexpectedly rushed out.
Dark horse.
She was absolutely the dark horse of this race.
"Spe-chan..."
Even Nishizaki Ryuya, Special Week's Trainer, was somewhat shocked.
She could actually catch up to that Montjeu?
Was this really the Spe-chan he knew?
"That fighting spirit..."
Montjeu felt Special Week's ZONE. In that contact between hearts and souls, she clearly sensed Special Week's desire to win.
Even facing her, that feeling was so strong.
"Wonderful. Although I don't know who you are, very well. I accept your challenge!"
Montjeu felt that coming to Japan this time had truly been the right decision. This was the kind of race she wanted. Not unchanging victory, but one surprise after another.
"What is that girl? Why can she run side by side with Montjeu?!"
Another runner was stunned at this moment. This was the first time she had seen another runner able to contend with Montjeu to this degree. Although Montjeu was not truly going all out, in her understanding, there was no one who could compete side by side with Montjeu during a race.
But this umamusume called Special Week could actually match that Montjeu?
That was too absurd.
Not only the runners in the race, even audiences from various countries watching the broadcast were dumbfounded. Montjeu could not take down a minor character who had not achieved much even in Japan? Had something gone wrong somewhere?
"This really is a pleasant surprise!"
Montjeu's expression was complicated, both delighted and a little irritated.
If she had met Special Week earlier, she definitely would have been happy to have such an opponent. But now, no. She had to suppress Special Week's momentum as soon as possible, or that girl's plan would succeed. Thinking of this, she became somewhat anxious.
"King Halo, is this also your calculation?!"
Damn it. What exactly was this ZONE?
Montjeu looked at this ZONE that grew stronger and erupted again every time it had just been broken and pressed down. For a moment, her mood became extremely unpleasant.
This was the first time she had encountered someone this tenacious.
She did not know that today's venue, and her race against Special Week, were already part of fate. Special Week had clearly lost more than she had won before, but under King Halo's suppression, her experience points had long since been filled. All she lacked was a place to erupt and level up.
And while these two were restraining each other, a flash of light stretched across the turf toward the finish line.
It was an anomaly that appeared on a wide-open route along the outside. By the time some runners noticed it, it was already too late. A figure in a magnificent dress had already charged through that side from the crowded pack. Despite having no powerful aura at all, she was rapidly chasing the runners ahead.
"That is..."
"King Halo?!"
"As expected, this was all her tactic!"
"Damn it!"
Some runners tried to use blocking skills to interfere, but it was meaningless. Against King Halo, whose condition was basically intact, the interference from blocking skills was negligible.
Not to mention, in her current state, she could already suppress the effect of blocking skills to the minimum. Some blocking skills did not even hit her. And once she accelerated and charged out, they could not even lock onto her, let alone deploy blocking skills.
A full-field hard-control blocking skill, in the end, did not appear in this race.
Expressionless, King Halo caught up behind those two.
Montjeu, whose vigilance was at its maximum, reacted first.
But it was too late.
Along with the roar of the azure dragon, King Halo's speed rose again. The fully stacked skill effects even surpassed the explosive power of ZONE. She easily overtook Montjeu and Special Week.
"Rest!"
Red light flickered in Montjeu's eyes.
The next instant, a Flash-level blocking skill activated.
Special Week and King Halo both felt their bodies sink.
Montjeu also took this opportunity to break away from the pack.
Special Week looked forward with unfocused eyes. In the next moment, the flames of her ZONE surged again. A powerful aura broke through the blocking skill's control. Her lowered speed rose back up with the eruption.
Montjeu looked back with an ugly expression at Special Week, who was clinging on relentlessly. What was wrong with this girl? She was practically designed to counter her. But don't think this is enough to defeat Montjeu.
"I am the world's number one!"
Montjeu caught up to King Halo, and Special Week followed close behind.
King Halo watched this scene with a calm expression.
Everything was within expectation.
In the next moment, Montjeu saw seven-colored rainbow light erupt from King Halo's body. And that light was not only a single beam.
Skill stacking?!
What kind of joke was this? At a time like this, she could still...
No.
This girl?!
Montjeu realized it. King Halo had been holding back all along. Therefore, even using skill stacking at this moment was no problem for King Halo.
"Could everything really be going according to your calculations?!"
Montjeu was somewhat mentally shaken.
She, the world's number one, had actually been completely dominated. She had even fallen before seeing King Halo's full power.
King Halo paid no attention to Montjeu, whose composure had broken.
She merely executed her own tactic meticulously.
Until victory.
In the silence of the entire venue, King Halo began to accelerate. Then, as if flying, she took the lead and charged toward the finish line. That speed had long since exceeded the world record. Under everyone's shocked gazes, she crossed the line by a huge margin.
...
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