Chapter 171: Event No. 5 Dimension Run Part 3

Now then, with the runners exiting the tropical rainforest area, it’s finally time to pass the baton to the last runners. The runners are all practically parallel to each other, with Suzy just a tad bit behind, but it’s barely significant of a gap. The fact that the race is so close is a surprise, but I guess the obstacles for the third runners disturbed them more than I anticipated, so it can’t be helped.

『And now! The long race is finally at its final quarter! The third runners are passing to the final runners… now! All at the same time!! Baton!! Pass!! ……… Whaa-!? Team A drop-…… they did not! Team A’s baton looked like it fell just now but it’s safely in Jassie’s hand! Oh? What’s wrong? Jassie is frozen sti-…… She’s off! Amazing! The speed is incredible!! It’s as if she’s trying to escape from something! With incredible speed, she overtakes the three teams ahead of her and jumps into first place!』

The last runners for Dimension Run are Jassie, Sola, Joaquin, and Urania from teams A, B, C, and D respectively. Suzy is part of team A, so Jassie ended up receiving her baton a bit later than the other runners and seemed to be feeling pressure from this, as she dropped the baton from her hand.

However, the baton was then suddenly on Jassie’s hand. This is because a kind soul picked up the baton and returned it to her hand. Of course, since the other teams have already gone ahead, the only people there should be Suzy and Jassie.

That’s probably part of why Jassie was surprised. Who might this kind soul be, Jassie froze for a moment wondering this before noticing something on her hand. Yep, it’s the mini-Shoggo that Suzy brought along.

After that, everything was quick. Jassie immediately cast magic against the mini-Shoggo1 entwined on her hand before putting all of her magic power on her board and dashing at full speed. Speaking of speed, did she just go faster than everybody has gone up until now?

『Jassie! Fast! Simply fast! What awoke the slumbering lion!? The full power that Jassie has kept hidden is now revealed here today!!』

Jassie has been earnest during the training sessions and mock battles up until now but as expected, she really was hiding her full strength and I finally have the chance to see it now. Just as I imagined, both her magic and aether manipulation is at quite a high level. From what I see, she probably doesn’t even need to study at this academy at her level. Who the heck did she study under? I’m a bit curious about this.

『Jassie’s leading the race with amazing speed! Were the other teams too late to react!? She’s now leading by a large-…… She is not! Incredible! Sola of team B! Urania of team D! It seemed as if they were late to react to this, but they’ve already caught up with her! What incredible reaction speed! What a brilliant acceleration!! The three teams are now locked in a three-way dead heat!!』

While the tentacle surprising her caused Jassie to suddenly accelerate at full power, following hot on her heels are Sola and Urania. Unfortunately, Joaquin only awakened to the use of magic recently and his reaction speed and board acceleration speed are both still lacking. Team C planned to have Hermie and Mahara gain distance to lead the whole race but the moment this failed, there’s nothing else that can be done. Team A similarly planned to win by maintaining the lead, so seeing Jassie have this much power must be a happy miscalculation for them.

As the three are locked in a dead heat, Dimension Run shows its true face. The Sci-Fi area. If you can imagine the stage where a certain fire-punching captain2 raced at, then you have the rough idea.

A brightly shimmering tube-like course running between tall buildings and the surrounding areas. In this world, there aren’t many large architectural structures other than the chalk-white castle, so the audiences are overwhelmed by the sight.

However, the three focusing on the race are different. With no time to watch the surrounding scenery, these three are having a never-ending fierce exchange for the lead. Perhaps concluding that hiding her power is no longer necessary, or perhaps she’s just more competitive than she seems, Jassie is going in with full strength.

It appears that Jassie can use darkness attribute magic, as she seems to be manipulating attractive and repulsive forces to accelerate herself. While star attribute magic is also capable of manipulating gravity, the darkness attribute probably has better utility since it can both attract and repel.

Sola seems to be accelerating herself with lightning attribute magic similar to how a linear induction motor works. She should have no idea of how electromagnets work, but since magic seems to prioritize imagination above everything else, even the simplistic idea Lightning = Super duper fast can make the magic work.

Urania is using her usual wind attribute acceleration method. She minimizes the air resistance of the board and herself while using wind as a propellant as well. Her earth attribute based acceleration via “Wall” would exhaust the durability of her board with repeated use, so it’s sealed right now. Still, thanks to her ability to create slipstreams, she can accelerate unrestrictedly.

While the three of them are using completely different methods, Sola has the advantage when accelerating on a straight line, Jassie can do perfectly angled curves on the corners, and Urania performs stably in both situations, so she takes the lead with a steady run between the two.

The three of them continue their amazing accelerations, but they’re finally entering the final area.

The last stage is… my very own hometown. From Tokyo to Kanagawa then to Shizuoka, via the national highway. This is the final course. Both the house I was born and raised in and the place when I was living alone are along the path of the course. This was only made possible because I have a magic that can recreate dreams but looking now, it’s making me feel nostalgic. Should I feel glad to see it one more time? Or should I grieve the fact that I’ll never be there ever again?

I know I was the one that made this myself, but it seems like I’m getting a bit sentimental. I definitely do have some desire to go back home and I absolutely feel guilty for causing sadness for my parents, siblings, and friends.

But still, I don’t have a strong lingering attachment to return. Part of it is because of my embarrassing death of dying from overworking on a doujin and when I think of the fact that they might have seen the contents of my computer’s hard drives and my online purchase history, I’ll never be able to look them in the face ever again.3

But the number one reason is that I’ve found my precious someone here. Besides, I’m not the doujin author from that world anymore, I’m the succubus Lily. We’re completely different individuals now, and my old self probably wouldn’t be able to recognize us as the same people anymore and I wouldn’t be able to as well.

『Now! This three-way struggle is also nearing its end! To the final tunnel, there! The three of them have entered! Upon exiting this tunnel, the first to pass through the goal line will be the grand victor of this event! Now, what sort of battle is unfolding within the tunnel!?』

Whoops, it seems like the race is finally nearing its end while I was drowned in my own thoughts. When they exit the long tunnel, it’ll finally be the last run to the goal. The goal is about a few hundred meters from the tunnel’s exit. If they get a good position while in the tunnel, that might just decide the race but………..

『They’re out! The three of them! All lined up!! Jassie seems to be ahead a bit? Wait! Sola! She’s going faster! It’s a straight line to the finish! And Sola is fast! Just fast! She’s overtaking! Overtaking! Overtaking! And she did it! At this rate, Sola wi-…… Wait! She’s done it! Urania! Urania suddenly jumped ahead! Her “wall” acceleration is no issue with the goal just right before her! She’s now leading! Wait! Sola is still faster! And Jassie is putting in her all! She’s still accelerating! Even faster! And she’s caught up! But Sola is still getting faster!! The long long race…… Has been won by team B! Sola!』 「「「Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!」」」

The last dead heat was intense. First, the one at the lead when they exited the tunnel was undoubtedly Jassie. In a closed space such as that tunnel, her ability to control attractive and repulsive forces apparently gave her a slight advantage against the other two. However, the last few meters are a straight path. The straight path that Sola’s superconductive acceleration is best at. She quickly sped up and lined parallel to Jassie who had gained distance from her tunnel advantage.

The instant everybody thought that it would be a one-on-one between the two, Urania closed the distance. She used the “Wall” acceleration she sealed prior to maintain the board’s durability and sprung up to the lead. It was the perfect timing, if she hadn’t used it there, she likely would’ve lost all chances for catching up to the two. However, that one burst of acceleration was just a bit too short.

Her lead was insignificant against Sola’s superconductive acceleration and Jassie’s attraction-repulsion acceleration. While Jassie put her all in, she could only keep up for a while before Sola won the long race.