“Go, Blue Team! Faster!”
“I’m almost catching up! Kim Kang-min, fighting!”
As the race reached its halfway point, a 3rd grader passed the baton to a 4th grader.
‘The gap is about half a lap, right?’
Observing the runners, I looked into the conditions for activating the magic tools and their subsequent effects.
It seems that speed isn’t really a big factor.
The mini parachutes expanded and retracted behind their backs, depending on the density of the aura being used.
Fundamentally, using the aura is beneficial, but if I keep it up, I’ll end up exhausted in no time.
Moreover, since I have to run 600m, I had to be careful about my stamina management.
“Waaaah!”
The second-to-last runner of the Blue Team receives the baton.
Moments later, the White Team’s 6th-grade ace handed the baton off, then collapsed onto the track.
“Haah, haah… I can’t catch up! Too fast!”
As a 3rd grader, I fell to the very last position.
So our White Team should have had the upper hand as the older students pulled ahead, but…
The Blue Team was still half a lap ahead of us.
It seems the initial stumble of the 1st grader was quite detrimental.
“Sniff… S-sorry…!”
A 1st grader next to me was sobbing like they lost the world.
I could see their knees were still covered in wounds from how hard they fell.
While the Health Teacher treated them, the participating students comforted her.
Before entering the track, I pinched the cheek of the girl who was sniffling.
“Eh?”
“We haven’t lost yet. Don’t cry.”
It’s too harsh for only one person to carry the burden of defeat.
I have to make sure that doesn’t happen.
At the starting line, a notably tall senior was waiting.
“Na-me, junior.”
“Yes?”
“The outcome seems pretty much decided, but let’s not give up and run to the end.”
“Umm… okay.”
“Then I’ll go first! I’m sorry about the outcome!”
His rough voice really made him sound like a middle-aged man.
Is he really in 6th grade?
Before I could think, the Blue Team’s runner dashed into the straight course.
Clack-clack-
The giant senior opened five parachutes, revving up his speed.
With legs 40cm longer than mine, he galloped past the starting line.
As soon as he got the baton, he used explosive leg power to push off the ground and kicked up a cloud of sand.
Boom-!
I closed my eyes against the billowing dust, waiting endlessly for the baton.
Ten seconds to go.
These ten seconds felt painfully long.
Theoretically, the maximum speed of a human is said to be 60km/h.
The ability to cover 100 meters in just 6 seconds.
The key point is to shorten the time your foot remains on the ground by contracting muscles to their limit.
But with my short stride and the hindering magic tools hanging on me, 30km/h feels even too much right now.
‘72 seconds to finish? That’s too long. I need to come in under 50 seconds at most.’
Even focusing all my aura to activate all the hindering magic tools feels insufficient.
So there’s only one answer.
“Na-me, receive the baton here!”
If I can’t avoid it, I’ll smash through it.
[Nebulous: Medusa – Trait Change]
The moment a solid plastic baton entered my hand, I released all my aura, focusing it on my legs.
Puh-puh-puh-puh-pow-!
Forty golden ring cases tore open at once, and the etherophobic parachutes crafted from magic unfurled behind me.
At the same time, green sparks ignited, steadily darkening the once transparent parachute.
“Huuaaaah!”
With a battle cry, my body shot forward rapidly.
My once heavy limbs felt lighter.
The parachute, now resonating with my affinity for magic, tangled and formed a hard ball.
With the surface area drastically reduced, I no longer had to consider any resistance.
“Waaaaah!”
The cheers and roars of students filled the large sports field.
At the end of the straight stretch, the beginning of the first corner.
Should I reduce speed and continue on the inside, or maintain my speed for an out-in-out maneuver?
‘The answer is to stick to the inside at this speed.’
The external manifestation of aura.
I strapped an artificial leg only on my right leg, increasing its length by 10cm.
Sharp spikes dug deep into the ground.
Simultaneously, I leaned sharply to the left and exited the corner without losing speed.
I could see the 6th grader already entering the second corner far down the straight.
I was still quite a distance away.
‘This won’t do… I need to go faster, faster!’
[Appetite: Erichiton – Metabolism Control]
An intense hunger and fatigue hit me hard.
Above all, my heart felt like it was going to explode.
Having already reached my maximum heart rate, I squeezed my heart with a surge of aura, forcing blood flow to increase.
I’d only managed half a lap, but my entire body felt as if it were in a furnace, with sweat pouring down like a waterfall.
But as I burned calories and aura, my thin legs would harden like steel springs.
I tackled the second corner with the same method at breakneck speed.
Expressions of shock on the teachers’ faces flashed past like a panorama.
Swish-
Back into the straight stretch again.
But now the situation had flipped.
My stride and airborne time were overwhelmingly longer than theirs.
“How is she already there!”
The 6th grader turned quickly, shaking his arms even more desperately.
‘Looks like my presence made him panic? He’s clearly overextending himself.’
Now for the final, third corner.
The student, squeezing out every last bit of strength, dashed through the curve.
But with every step, I controlled my blood flow, and with each two steps, I burned every last bit of aura.
Finally, his shadow loomed directly in front of me.
The shadow before moved beside me,
The shadow beside shifted behind me again.
As I exited the corner, he was already behind me.
The finish line was now truly within reach.
‘Alright, I’ve won…!’
In that moment.
My vision went dark, blocking out everything.
Transient amaurosis, a phenomenon where blood temporarily does not flow to the retinal artery.
In a moment of distraction, I made an uncharacteristic mistake.
I didn’t even have the luxury of sensing my surroundings with my aura.
I just needed to run straight in the same posture.
In the straight stretch, approximately 30m left.
My average stride is 2.8 meters.
Just 11 steps.
So… 2 seconds.
‘One… two… now!’
As my eleventh step left the ground, my legs became weightless, and I was flying through the air.
Please let me have crossed the finish line already.
[Conjuration: Barrier Setting]
[Cast: Double Air Layer Barrier]
While casting the magic I had thought up in my mind, I wrapped my body with a large plastic ball.
The ball bounced a few times before rolling away.
I rolled around inside the ball.
Then I came to a halt in a spot where I could feel a lot of people’s presence.
“KYAAAAAA!”
Delayed cheers and screams reached my ears.
“Oh man… that was tough.”
Opening my eyes slowly, I saw fluffy clouds and a high sky.
I raised my wrist and checked my watch.
[200m – Laptime]
[1: 00:13:857]
[2: 00:13:104]
[3: 00:12:905]
[Total: 00:39.866 s]
A puff of air escaped my lips.
“Haha, Na-me, you really crushed it. If you can’t even beat a cheetah, what are you good for?”
I spoke with a self-deprecating laugh, gasping for breath.
Was it me disappointed in myself, or the lingering thoughts of erosion mocking me? I couldn’t quite tell.
*
The academy’s sports day began and ended with Na-me’s performance.
“The MVP of Sephiron Academy Sports Day is… the 3rd Grade A Class’s Na-me! Please come up to the stage.”
Having worn down the soles of my shoes during the relay, Na-me ascended the stone steps barefoot.
Principal Gu On-yu handed Na-me a trophy and bluntly said,
“Do you even know what moderation is?”
If Na-me hadn’t created that bouncy ball-like barrier at the last moment, it could have led to a major injury.
Taking a picture, Na-me turned back and click.
Na-me smiled back at her.
“We should make the rules a bit stricter next time.”
“I’m considering it. I’m even thinking of banning you from participating in the sports day from next year.”
“Isn’t that a bit too much?”
“Taking another picture, Na-me, look ahead. Alright, everyone say kimchi!”
“…”
True to her fondness for the old ways, Principal Gu On-yu’s Polaroid clicked and developed immediately.
As Na-me received the photo, trophy, and prize, her classmates welcomed her back.
“Na-me, you don’t have any shoes now, do you?”
“Nope. I don’t mind walking around barefoot.”
“Mmm-mmm! We’ll carry you on our shoulders to class!”
“What?”
Na-me’s body was lifted in the air.
Resting awkwardly on the children’s hands, Na-me looked around anxiously.
“Okay, I’m good now, so please put me down—”
“The strongest animal on Earth approaches! Everyone, clear a path!”
“Eh? Isn’t it ‘the fastest’ instead of ‘the strongest’? Na-me is the speedy one, right?”
“Yup, ‘strongest’ is right too. Na-me can even rip a polar bear apart.”
“Gasp, is that really true?”
“Guys, quit the fabrication.”
As Na-me chimed in, the kids’ expressions fell, and they relaxed their hold.
“Na-me can’t rip a polar bear apart?”
At a friend’s innocent remark, Na-me let out a chuckle and shrugged.
“Why would I rip apart a cute polar bear? Maybe if it were a dragon.”
