Mud splashed everywhere, instantly speckling the horse girls' shoes, socks, and pant legs, but no one cared about something so trivial. All they cared about was keeping a close eye on Xingyun Liuge.
Based on what had happened in the Two Thousand Guineas, she ought to use a deep-closing strategy again. But the Guineas had been on turf, while the Kentucky Derby was on dirt, and the distances were different too.
This was Xingyun Liuge's first time setting foot on Churchill Downs. Surely she would adopt a different approach here.
Unless you were a world-class champion like Secretariat or Eclipse, someone with the kind of overwhelming strength to steamroll everything in sight, using multiple tactics was the normal thing.
All of them wanted a good look at Xingyun Liuge's racecraft in the moment, to the point that several horse girls even bumped into one another.
Still, they were long used to collisions while fighting for position. As long as nobody was deliberately ramming them, no one would say a word.
That was simply how fierce competition in American dirt racing was.
But after that brief yet intense scramble for position, the American horse girls stared in disbelief.
At the very front of the pack was a small figure they found strangely familiar.
And she was accelerating.
For an instant, more than a few of them felt the sight was absurd.
The track condition was atrocious, practically bordering on a swamp. No matter how fiercely they fought, all they wanted was a good position. No one wanted the lead.
The reason was simple: the condition of the track was too bad.
The leader had to face the greatest wind resistance and endure pressure from all the horse girls running behind her. It was absolutely not a "good job."
Sure, the leader had the advantage of controlling the rhythm of the pack, but on a track like this, that advantage was drastically weakened.
Push the pace too hard? With the wind and the mud dragging at your feet, you would probably lose speed halfway through and vanish into the pack.
Hold a slow pace? Then the other girls could all conserve stamina and explode either on the final straight or even as they came off the last turn, which made fighting for the lead even less worthwhile.
In other words, if this had only been a slightly heavy dirt track, the kind of surface where horse girls could still properly unleash their strength, the American runners would have happily fought over the lead. Quite a few of them had the confidence to wire the field from start to finish.
But what they had now was a poor track that devoured stamina every second. To seize the lead on your own and then try to quicken the tempo on top of that was the sort of thing that made it very easy to burn out. And once you lost speed, that meant defeat.
Or was Xingyun Liuge simply treating this as an ordinary training match, not worth taking too seriously, and that was why she was doing this on purpose?
If that was the case, then was she not looking down on them a little too much?
The American horse girls bristled with indignation. In their minds, treating a training race like a real race was the natural thing to do. Xingyun Liuge's approach was far too reckless.
Yet once the field passed through the first turn and entered the straight again, they realized something else:
Xingyun Liuge's speed had not dropped in the slightest. Her breathing was not even remotely disordered.
Outside the track, the trainers all glanced at their stopwatches, and their breathing caught.
On a track in such horrible condition, Xingyun Liuge had run the first thousand meters in fifty-five seconds. The pace was obviously too fast.
True, not a single horse girl had been willing to follow her, which made her move look a little foolish, but she showed no sign of weakening and no intention of slowing down.
That was rather outrageous. No matter what, she ought to ease off and conserve her stamina. Otherwise, how was she supposed to deal with the others' charge in the final stretch? Or did she truly not care about losing speed at all?
The trainers could not understand it.
Even Chihaya Yui, Xingyun Liuge's own trainer, could not make sense of it.
At that moment, a dim light gleamed in Xingyun Liuge's eyes.
Gravity Field:
Passive: When the track is in any condition worse than fast, Xingyun Liuge's stamina consumption is reduced by one-third.
Active: She may designate a circular area with a radius of three horse-lengths. All opponents inside that area are slowed by 20%. If an opponent remains inside the area for more than three seconds, all of their skills are sealed for three seconds.
The second turn was directly ahead.
Xingyun Liuge had no intention of slowing down. She stepped straight into a puddle.
Gravity Field, deployed.
The track condition was already dreadful to begin with. Horse girls would instinctively slow when entering the turn. Combined with the built-in slow from Gravity Field, that made sealing their skills practically guaranteed.
It was as though there came a faint, low hum.
An invisible field of gravity spread soundlessly. The pull it released was so subtle that it did not even send ripples through the muddy water.
Yet the horse girls who stepped into it immediately felt a distinct drag on their bodies.
It was as though they had wandered into a treacherous swamp. Some invisible, unknown force tugged at their legs, trying to drag them into another world.
In the first second, their knees bent uncontrollably downward, and they simply could not lift them properly again.
In the second second, they could almost hear every bone in their bodies creaking, as though some unseen force were about to grind them to pieces.
Fortunately, before the third second arrived, the horse girls—one after another, straining with all their strength—forced their way out of that silent, invisible zone of terror.
Only a very few failed to escape in time, their thoughts plunging into chaos.
Running in second, Winning Colors was nearly drenched in sweat. She sucked in great gulps of air, feeling as though she might lose speed at any moment.
Xingyun Liuge was already seven lengths ahead.
Was it already impossible to catch her?
Even if this was just a training race, it still felt bitterly frustrating. So should she push a little harder here? Should she use that power now?
A trace of hesitation flashed through Winning Colors' eyes.
And just then, the horse girl right beside her let out a shout and abruptly accelerated.
Seeing that odd miner's helmet, Winning Colors immediately knew who she was.
Seeking the Gold.
That girl clearly refused to accept defeat like this. After all, everyone here longed for an exhilarating clash and a hard-fought victory.
Thinking that, Winning Colors drew a deep breath and slammed her right foot into the mud, sending a spray almost half a meter high.
The straight was just ahead.
If she wanted to win, then she had to use that power.
But at that exact moment, the muddy spray surged toward Winning Colors.
Then she heard a spirited voice cry out:
"Now!"
At that instant, starlight flared.
Winning Colors let out a baffled sound.
"Risen… Star?"
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 126)
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 (Chapter130)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter89)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter157)
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 133
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 125
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 84
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 143
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 115
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 99
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 75
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 75
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 52
Uma Musume: I Want All 51
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
A Guide to Aid in the Underwor 26
Summoning an Evil God, but the 27
Supernatural Multiverse 27
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