I, Nice Nature, Am an Umamusume and a Shrine Maiden! [5]

In the racecourse’s connections’ seats, Symboli Rudolf, who had always practically raised Tokai Teio like her own child, could not judge just how much hidden strength Neicha, this sudden dark horse in the ongoing Debut Race, possessed. Because of that, she could not help breaking into a cold sweat inwardly for Tokai Teio, who had been forced by her to start her final spurt early.

However, what Rudolf, who was worried that Neicha might be a Long-distance-specialized Umamusume like Mejiro McQueen, did not know was that Neicha, who had only gotten serious when the phantom Umamusume appeared as the race entered its final eight hundred meters, had merely been warming up her body so far.

That was right. In the eyes of everyone present, including Symboli Rudolf and Spica’s Trainer, Ryu Nishizaki, Neicha must have started her “final spurt” to unleash such astonishing speed, but in reality, she had not started her final spurt at all.

The speed she was currently displaying, enough to force Tokai Teio running ahead of her to start her own final spurt just to barely maintain her lead, was only Neicha’s normal performance after switching from slacking mode to serious mode.

“GWAH!”

“This is it! This is exactly what I wanted to see!!!”

“So intense! Neicha, who was totally unknown before the race, is going to beat Central’s genius Umamusume Tokai Teio to her knees!”

“Pass her! Pass her! Pass herrrrr!!!”

“Yeah! Races are only interesting when there’s actual competition. That one-superstrong-versus-a-bunch-of-weaklings situation in the first half was so boring it felt like listening to Grandma Susan next door sing lullabies to get her grandson to sleep!”

In the ordinary spectator stands, among the thousands of spectators who had come to watch today, the minority who were not Tokai Teio fans immediately erupted into cheers that swept across the venue the moment they recovered from the shock Neicha’s sudden, terrifying “final spurt” had given them.

Their cheers reignited the rest of the audience’s passion for this race that had suddenly become exciting, after most of the spectators had been so stunned by Neicha’s sudden burst that they had fallen into an eerie collective silence.

However, Neicha, who had single-handedly driven several thousand spectators at Chukyo Racecourse into cheers that rang through the entire venue, said nothing. She simply kept releasing debuff skills.

[TETHER]
[INTENSE GAZE]
[WITH ALL MY SOUL]
[INTIMIDATE]

One red skill after another, specially modified for the purpose of exorcism, was released with Neicha the exorcist shrine maiden at their center.

Within a radius of three lengths around her, they formed an absolute forbidden zone where any evil spirit, demon, or living person who stepped inside would find it as difficult to move as if they had sunk into a swamp.

Tokai Teio, who had previously been so frightened by the Elder God-like form Neicha had unconsciously revealed that she had no choice but to start her final spurt early on the spot, was naturally now caught within the strike range of that forbidden zone Neicha had created specifically to deal with demons and monsters—a zone so dense it was as though her entire body had been immersed in viscous blood plasma, thick enough that any living person or dead thing within it would be unable to lift their legs.

The reason was that the phantom Umamusume, invisible to ordinary people and essentially a “rules-based urban legend,” had appeared in this race and therefore been targeted by Neicha as an exorcist. At this moment, it was running directly in front of Neicha, who was one length behind Tokai Teio on her left rear.

It was trailing Tokai Teio, who had started her final spurt early and was still firmly holding first place in the field, by less than half a length.

Suddenly, the phantom Umamusume being relentlessly pursued from behind by Neicha, who had fully entered exorcist shrine maiden mode, accelerated sharply.

Then, as if using Flash, it shot from half a length behind Tokai Teio to first place in the field in a single instant, while rapidly escaping the three-length radius strike range of Neicha’s forbidden zone.

Seeing this, Neicha, whose body had more or less finished warming up over those three hundred-plus meters and who had thrown herself entirely into this duel with the phantom Umamusume ahead, hurried to follow.

She abruptly lowered her upper body, then once again kicked hard into the turf beneath her with her right foot.

After that, she passed Tokai Teio in the blink of an eye, as effortlessly as a 300-kilometer-per-hour bullet train overtaking cars on a highway capped at 120. Teio was still panicking from fright and blindly charging ahead with her head down. And in the eyes of everyone else, Nice Nature had moved into first place.

“SHE’S OVERTAKEN HER!”

“TODAY’S 3RD FAVORITE, NICE NATURE, HAS SUCCESSFULLY OVERTAKEN TOKAI TEIO, WHO HAD ALREADY STARTED HER FINAL SPURT AND ACCELERATED AHEAD OF HER!”

“SO FAST, SO FAST! IT’S A SECOND-STAGE FINAL SPURT! IT’S ACTUALLY A SECOND-STAGE FINAL SPURT!”

“COULD IT BE THAT WHEN NICE NATURE STARTED HER FINAL SPURT WITH EIGHT HUNDRED METERS LEFT AND ACCOMPLISHED THE SHOCKING FEAT OF OVERTAKING SIX RUNNERS IN JUST TWO HUNDRED METERS, SHE STILL WASN’T GOING ALL OUT!?”

“ONE LENGTH, TWO LENGTHS, THREE LENGTHS!”

“THE 400-METER MARKER HAS BEEN PASSED! ARE WE TRULY GOING TO WITNESS THE FALL OF CENTRAL’S GENIUS TODAY!?”

This is bad!

The instant Tokai Teio was thrown three lengths behind Neicha, who had charged ahead following the suddenly accelerating phantom Umamusume, and successfully escaped the strike range of Neicha’s “anti-demon forbidden zone”—Tokai Teio, finally recovering from her panic, realized that the “Elder God” that had scared her into starting her final spurt and entering escape mode had actually run ahead of her!?

And through Misato Akasaka’s explanation of the race situation over the racecourse broadcast, she finally remembered that the other girl was not some Elder God from the Cthulhu Mythos at all, but a contestant just like her in this Debut Race being held at Chukyo Racecourse in Aichi Prefecture, central Honshu, Japan!

In that moment, before the panic from being frightened out of her wits had fully dispersed, the emotion called anxiety began to grow in Tokai Teio’s heart as she had just broken free from that terrified daze.

It left her, having only just escaped the strike range of the “anti-demon forbidden zone” Neicha had created for exorcism, with no room to care about fear anymore, even though she had instinctively slowed down and stopped maintaining her previous final-spurt sprint.

Clenching her teeth, she forced down the lingering fear in her heart of the Elder God-like form Neicha displayed ahead—a form terrifying enough to make anyone feel their SAN value instantly emptied—and started her final spurt once again.

“Are you kidding me!? I’m an Umamusume who’s sworn to become an undefeated Triple Crown winner like the Prez—!!!”

[SKY-HIGH TEIO STEP LV. 1]

“ONLY THREE HUNDRED METERS REMAIN BEFORE THE FINISH!”

“TEIO STEP! IT’S THE TEIO STEP!”

“IN ORDER NOT TO HAND OVER THE FINAL VICTORY, TOKAI TEIO HAS USED HER STRONGEST WEAPON, THE TEIO STEP! JUST LIKE NICE NATURE EARLIER, SHE IS SHOWING AN ASTONISHING SECOND ACCELERATION!”

“CAN SHE OVERTAKE NICE NATURE, WHO HAS PASSED HER, IN THE LESS THAN THREE HUNDRED METERS REMAINING!?”

Three lengths!

“ONLY TWO HUNDRED METERS REMAIN BEFORE THE FINISH!”

Having started her final spurt again, and supported by the conviction that she did not want to lose, Tokai Teio used her Unique Skill, [SKY-HIGH TEIO STEP], for the first time in an official race. This time, she took the initiative to charge into the “anti-demon forbidden zone” with a maximum capture range of three lengths, which the shrine maiden named Nice Nature had expanded to deal with the phantom Umamusume that had appeared on the racecourse.

Two lengths!

“ONLY ONE HUNDRED FIFTY METERS REMAIN BEFORE THE FINISH!”

Under the pressure of the continuous debuff skills released by Neicha ahead, one wave after another, faintly carrying the smell of blood as they manifested in the form of aura, Tokai Teio, the genius Umamusume, twisted her face again in ferocious effort.

One length!

Faster. Faster!

“ONLY ONE HUNDRED METERS REMAIN BEFORE THE FINISH!”

With the dual support of her final spurt and Teio Step, Tokai Teio had only one thought left in her mind: faster. Forcing her way through Neicha’s “anti-demon forbidden zone,” straining so hard her face twisted, her teeth clenched so tightly that threads of crimson began to seep from her gums, she finally caught up from behind to within one length of the twin-tailed shrine maiden ahead, who appeared in the form of an Elder God.

“ONLY FIFTY METERS REMAIN BEFORE THE FINISH!”

As long as I can pass her. As long as I can pass her!

And yet, at that moment, Tokai Teio—who wanted to fulfill the promise she had made with her most respected President, Symboli Rudolf, to become Japan’s second undefeated Triple Crown Umamusume—In order to win this Debut Race, she had already thrown aside every messy thought, including whether pushing her body to such an extreme, squeezing out every last bit with no strength spared, might leave hidden injuries after the race.

She wanted only victory, and after exhausting every ounce of strength, she had finally reached the point where she was about to come abreast of Neicha ahead.

“THIRD-STAGE FINAL SPURT—!!!”

“AN UNPRECEDENTED THIRD-STAGE FINAL SPURT—!!!”

“ONE LENGTH, TWO LENGTHS, THREE LENGTHS—!!!”

“SHE CROSSES THE FINISH—!!!”

“UNBELIEVABLE. THIS IS TRULY UNBELIEVABLE. I FEEL AS THOUGH I HAVE JUST WITNESSED THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND!”

“CONGRATULATIONS TO NUMBER THREE, NICE NATURE!”

“THIS UMAMUSUME, WHO REMAINED UTTERLY UNKNOWN BEFORE THE RACE BEGAN, HAS NOW, IN THE FINAL STRETCH OF THIS RACE, MIRACULOUSLY SHOT DOWN TODAY’S 1ST FAVORITE, TOKAI TEIO, THE GENIUS UMAMUSUME FROM CENTRAL TRACEN ACADEMY JUST LIKE HER!”

“WITH UNQUESTIONABLE ABSOLUTE STRENGTH, SHE CROSSES THE FINISH LINE WITH A MASSIVE THREE-LENGTH LEAD OVER SECOND-PLACE TOKAI TEIO, SUCCESSFULLY CLAIMING THE FINAL VICTORY IN THIS DEBUT RACE!”

T/N: damn bro…… poor teio anyway time to vote!!!!!!!

This is a fan translation of 我，优秀素质，是赛马娘也是巫女 by 百景绘 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!