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Chapter 513: Racetrack (3)

‘Pick your first attack target and don’t say it out loud, huh…’

Anyone could tell — with as many as seven people gathered in the rearguard group — that was going to turn into a mud fight.

So the ones who bet on Jeong Yeongwoo, who was part of the rearguard group in all this, weren’t your average gamblers.

‘They don’t know a thing about me, yet they put money on me getting through this mess?’

It was ridiculous, and yet… he felt oddly grateful.

But the soft sentiment didn’t last long.

Thud!

A large presence suddenly rammed into Yeongwoo’s shoulder as it barged past.

— Whoops, sorry.

“What the—”

When he looked up toward the voice that came from quite a bit above, there was a hulking one-eyed giant easily five meters tall, scratching at his chin.

— You a rider too?

The cyclops shifted his gaze from Yeongwoo to Negwig.

Then he slightly turned his head to glance behind him.

Rumble rumble rumble…!

From that direction, a massive steel centipede came charging in with a deafening clatter.

The mount the cyclops had brought was a robotic centipede.

— Looks like today’s going to be fun.

With a sly grin, the cyclops swung himself onto the centipede coming up from behind and leapt forward.

Tap!

Then he headed toward the center of the rearguard course, where the riders were beginning to gather one by one.

“Looks like avoiding a fight isn’t going to be an option.”

After checking that Bastard at his waist was secure, Yeongwoo began walking slowly toward the meeting point in the distance.

Clank, clank.

Soon, the riders who had already gathered turned their eyes toward him.

— Hm?

— Haven’t seen that guy before.

— He’s got two eyes?

At the mention of “two eyes,” Yeongwoo finally realized.

‘Oh… these guys…’

Now that he thought about it, the riders were subtly divided into groups — according to the number of eyes they had.

It was a sort of species-based camaraderie.

‘Well, they said not to say your attack target out loud, but they didn’t say you can’t form groups.’

Even among humans, when you’re abroad, you tend to feel more affinity toward someone from your own country than to foreigners. Aliens weren’t all that different.

‘Groups, huh? That’s going to be a bit troublesome.’

Of the seven in the rearguard line, three were cyclopes.

Two had three eyes.

And the two-eyed…

— Oh…!

Before Yeongwoo showed up, the only two-eyed rider had been alone — but not anymore.

— Welcome!

Even just from the blue skin, it was clear he wasn’t human, but the moment he saw Yeongwoo was two-eyed, his face lit up and he hurried over.

When Yeongwoo awkwardly nodded, the blue-skinned rider quickly leaned close and muttered through his teeth:

— Please, just smile at me. Like we’re old friends.

“What?”

Yeongwoo asked back, but went along and gave a big smile.

Then, in the same teeth-hidden manner, he asked:

“What the hell is going on?”

— You want to get eliminated the moment this starts? If you don’t have an ally here, you’re automatically the first prey…!

“Ah.”

Yeongwoo finally noticed that all the other riders were watching the “two-eyed meeting” closely.

If it looked like the two-eyed riders hadn’t formed an unspoken alliance, the others were planning to cut them down the moment the race began.

‘So it’s not just racing, it’s politics too.’

Realizing the situation, Yeongwoo broke into a wide grin and slung his arm over the blue-skinned man’s shoulder.

Whip!

Then he whispered into his ear:

“But aren’t we still competitors in the end?”

— The real opponents are way out ahead. We need to break out of the rearguard line before we can even think about winning.

“Hm.”

He wasn’t wrong.

This rearguard group was basically out of contention for the win.

The real contenders — five of them — were set to start much farther ahead.

Of those, three would start at the very front, and two just behind them.

So if they wanted even a chance of catching up, they first had to survive and push past this miserable rearguard pack.

“So… you’ve done much racing before?”

When Yeongwoo finally showed some interest in the man’s background, the blue-skinned rider extended a hand.

Slide.

“…A handshake?”

When Yeongwoo reached out, the man gripped his forearm instead and introduced himself.

— I’ve done a few races in my backwater home. This is my first time on such a big stage, though.

Then, locking eyes with Yeongwoo, he introduced himself.

— Tyke of the Zendor family from the planet Palta.

Tyke of the Zendor family — apparently not royalty.

So Yeongwoo also gripped Tyke’s forearm and introduced himself.

“Jeong Yeongwoo 07, from the Blue Star, Earth.”

— Jeong Yeongwoo 07…? So you’re from the generation that went through the planetary trial?

“…Yeah.”

Of course, he was still in the middle of the planetary trial, but Yeongwoo wasn’t about to share that detail.

“Since you’ve got racing experience, you must have some tips. Got any advice?”

Tyke glanced up at the air as if thinking.

— Well… honestly, if you can fight decently, you’ll make it to the middle ranks easily…

Then his eyes widened, as if he’d just remembered something.

— Oh, there is one mistake beginners often make.

“What’s that?”

— Movement must be done only while mounted on your steed.

“What do you mean? So if I get thrown off, I have to just stand there?”

— Exactly. It’s ‘horse racing,’ after all.

According to Tyke’s explanation, you weren’t even allowed to run after your mount if you fell off, much less abandon it to run on foot.

— That’s why protecting your mount is extremely important.

“On the flip side, if I destroy my opponent’s mount, that’s basically one person out of the race, right?”

— Well… yes. But it won’t be easy. Everyone came here with that thought in mind.

Sure enough, even that huge one-eyed guy earlier had brought along a steel centipede.

After all, there were no actual ‘horses’ here to begin with.

Every mount had been chosen assuming the worst possible combat situations.

Armored beasts, gorillas with multiple arms, steel centipedes, and…

“…Wait. You…”

Yeongwoo’s jaw dropped when he finally saw Tyke’s mount.

Standing behind Tyke was something like a tin can robot.

Two arms, two legs, and a cylindrical torso.

Only, where the head should have been was a seat for Tyke, along with what looked like a rather complex set of controls.

“You’re going to race while piloting a robot?”

— It runs autonomously by default, but I handle a few ‘special maneuvers’ myself.

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“Special maneuvers?”

Just as Yeongwoo tilted his head, a loud signal blared overhead.

BEEEEEP!

「The race will begin in about 10 seconds. All riders, please mount your steeds.」

With that announcement, everyone hurried to climb onto their mounts.

Clank!

Tyke did the same with his humanoid robot.

— I think the key will be which of us the one-eyes attack first.

Tyke glanced sidelong at the three one-eyes who had already clustered together.

From atop his mount, the four-legged Negwig, Yeongwoo replied,

“They’ll probably target us first. We’re the smallest ones here.”

— If that happens… nothing we can do. We just fight our best.

Then Tyke raised his index finger and added:

— But if the one-eyes go after the three-eyes first, we should charge ahead while we can.

He was already acting like he and Yeongwoo were a solid team.

Yeongwoo, on the other hand, didn’t really care—he knew this game was every man for himself.

‘Either way, if I can fight through here, I can break out. If I can’t even get past this rear group, I’ve got no shot at winning anyway.’

He considered this a kind of preliminary round.

Beep!

A short signal sounded, and numbers appeared over the racetrack ahead.

「3」

Then,

「2」

It dropped to 1.

「1」

One second to go.

“Get ready.”

Yeongwoo gripped Negwig’s reins tightly, and in the next moment, the crowd roared as the start signal rang out.

BEEEEEEEEEP!

「All racers, go!」

Immediately, the one-eyes turned toward Tyke and Yeongwoo, just as if they’d been waiting for this moment.

“Damn it.”

As expected, the smallest two-eyed riders had been chosen as the first targets.

— M-Mr. Yeongwoo! It’s us after all!

“I know, so just ca—”

Before Yeongwoo could finish saying “calm down,” Tyke’s robot spewed black smoke in all directions.

Shhhhhh!

Like an octopus under attack.

— Yeongwoo! That light—it’s pointing forward! Head that way!

“What? What light?”

Before Yeongwoo could even ask, the robot’s abdomen opened and fired a large orb of light.

THOONG!

For a brief moment, even through the black smoke, they could see the glow.

‘This guy’s got some clever tricks.’

Truly, a backwater racer’s ingenuity.

But the two-eyed pair had overlooked one thing—

— Did you think cheap tricks would stop us?

— I’m insulted.

— You’re out.

Their opponents were major-leaguers.

Whether they had motion sensors or some other method, the one-eyes easily found Tyke’s robot through the smoke and hurled it to the ground.

BAM!

A four-armed gorilla pinned Tyke down, its massive fists pounding, while Yeongwoo, seeing the light’s indicated direction, started to urge Negwig forward—then stopped.

‘Shit.’

Maybe because he’d been in Doatel just hours earlier, a flicker of conscience stirred.

And besides—

— M-Mr. Yeongwoo…!

Tyke was barely managing to block the gorilla’s blows with his robot’s chunky arms.

Meanwhile, the other two one-eyes—

— Stop right there!

— You’re next!

— were charging straight for Yeongwoo, riding a steel centipede and a giant lizard.

CRASH!

If Yeongwoo just bolted down the track now, he could easily escape them.

“…”

But instead of abandoning Tyke, he chose to draw Bastard atop Negwig.

Shhhhk!

Because he realized the massive crowd beyond the racetrack was watching this “first clash” of the rear group with great interest.

“I might be a villain, but I’m also a businessman. Can’t have a coward’s image.”

He swung the sword wide, cleaving the nearest one-eye clean in half just as it closed in.

SPLAT!

“This one’s flesh is like tofu. I assume you two are the same?”

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