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Chapter 516: Racetrack (6)

Contestant #8, Prince Diorn, withdraws from the race.

Diorn’s withdrawal was a big deal—he had been one of the top contenders—but Yeongwoo and the three-eyed man were far too busy bickering to care.

—Diiieee!

“Whoa, killing me is going a bit far, don’t you think?”

Neither of them realized that Diorn had fallen behind; they were blasting through the canyon at incredible speed.

BWAAANG…!

CRAAASH!

‘This guy’s seriously fast, huh?’

Yeongwoo couldn’t help but be impressed as he saw the Audi keeping almost neck and neck with Negwig.

Apparently the feeling was mutual, because the three-eyed man soon unleashed his trump card.

—This is as far as you go, rookie!

This time, he fired small rockets toward the upper edges of both canyon walls.

TUTUTUTUNG!

“What the… what are you doing?!”

Yeongwoo quickly looked up and saw the canyon walls collapsing from the rocket bombardment.

CRAAASH…!

He was trying to bury both the racetrack and Yeongwoo under the rubble.

“You lunatic! You think you’ll come out unscathed from this?”

—What, are you scared?

The three-eyed man’s voice was dripping with confidence.

Then, just before the collapsing canyon reached him, flames erupted from beneath his wheels.

FWOOOOSH!

Like a rocket, the Audi itself was propelled skyward.

“What the hell did you maniacs do to this car…?”

The Dogo-made Audi was an endless parade of gimmicks.

Its frame was so solid that even when it hit boulders mid-flight, the doors didn’t bend a millimeter.

“Damn it, I might actually lose at this rate.”

As Yeongwoo grit his teeth watching the Audi soar far ahead, Song Jeongho suddenly flew in from behind and grabbed both Negwig and Yeongwoo with his forepaws.

GRAB!

“Wha—?”

—Kkyuii?

∴ What are you so surprised for, idiots? I’ll clear the way.

Then, using his own body to block the raining debris, he hurled Negwig forward with all his might.

WHOOSH!

∴ You can handle the landing, right?

Before Yeongwoo could answer, Negwig slid into a landing—

—Kkiiieek!

—right in front of the Audi that had seemed to be pulling ahead.

—You bastards…!

The three-eyed man looked furious, but Yeongwoo was just as mad.

“Hey, I almost lost just now. If you’ve got any other tricks, use them all at once instead of surprising me.”

At that moment, a system message flashed in midair.

BEEP!

「Top contenders 03-1 and 03-7 have entered the final course.」

“…Wait, top contenders?”

That meant there was no one ahead of them.

“Hold on, how are we top contenders? Shouldn’t there be at least one person in front?”

The three-eyed man leaned toward the window and spoke with a look of pity.

—All of them have been eliminated under the name of ‘Dogo.’ Isn’t that only natural?

“What.”

So before Yeongwoo had even caught up to the lead group, the Audi had already dealt with them.

Which meant Diorn’s earlier withdrawal was basically him giving up on winning.

‘Quick decision-making… what happened there?’

Yeongwoo glanced back into the distance and, sure enough, Prince Diorn was following at a safe distance atop his black wolf.

He was waiting for the two Dogos to fight until one dropped out, then swoop in for second place.

In a way, the smartest move in this race.

‘As expected of a former champion.’

But Yeongwoo never had any intention of settling for second place, so he didn’t care what Diorn’s strategy was.

His eyes were fixed solely on first place.

FWOOOSH!

Then, standing atop Negwig, Yeongwoo turned back and extended Bastard to its full length.

“To move forward, sometimes you have to say goodbye to the past.”

—…What are you talking about all of a sudden?

The three-eyed man frowned in confusion.

Yeongwoo swung the 6.6-meter-long sword vertically and shouted:

“This is the last time you’ll see my Audi run!”

—Ugh!

The three-eyed man swerved just in time, the tip of Bastard barely grazing the outer bumper of the Audi.

SLAAASH!

—Are you out of your mind?!

“I’m not the crazy one—you are, trying to block my path!”

Then Yeongwoo pointed at the Audi’s windshield.

“Deploy! Twenty-Four Sword Mountain…!”

—What…?

Of course the three-eyed man knew that the Chairman’s signature technique was the Hundred Thousand Sword Mountain.

Which was why he was shocked to see Yeongwoo unleash even a smaller version of that move.

CRAAACK!

The air above the Audi tore open, and weapons of all grades came raining down on the hood.

BANG! CLAAANG!

The Dogo-made Audi’s durability was phenomenal, deflecting most weapons—but a few legendary-grade ones pierced through the hood and lodged near the engine room.

‘Huh, so even if it’s the same Sword Mountain technique, the damage depends on the weapon’s grade?’

Yeongwoo learned something new yet again.

And in the meantime—

FWOOOSH!

Sure enough, the blow to the engine room had done some damage; flames began shooting out from inside the crumpled hood.

No matter how much of a “killer Audi” it was, a machine was still just a machine in the end.

“Heh heh, time to go back to the garage!”

—Son of a—!

Behind the fuming Three-Eyes, Prince Diorn was starting to pick up speed again.

Now that the fight between the “Dogos” seemed to be wrapping up, he was clearly hoping to sneak in another shot at victory.

In response, Yeongwoo deployed the “course-blocking” trick he’d just learned from Three-Eyes earlier.

Beeeep!

Blowing the whistle hanging from his neck, he summoned his friends right into the middle of the racetrack.

Fwoooosh!

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The moment the whistle took effect, the surrounding colors dimmed, and then—crack!—a point high above the racecourse split open.

—What’s this now?

—Huh…?

Both Three-Eyes and Prince Diorn, along with the spectators outside the track, blinked and looked up at the strange phenomenon.

Then—

—Hyaaaaah!

—Yaaah!

—Whoa, why are there so many people?!

The “friends” trapped in the Returnee’s Room began raining down from the sky.

「Your summons have answered your call: Friend, Yeongtae, Taejoon, Younghyeom, Geumhwa, Hongtae.」

Five enhanced mutants in total.

And among them, the fire dragon Kang Hongtae—whose body was even larger than Song Jeongho’s—could, by himself, completely block the course.

KWA-BOOOM!

—Where the hell have you called us to? What’s this mess?

As Kang Hongtae lifted his massive upper body with a growl, even the previously bloodthirsty Three-Eyes stopped his Audi dead in its tracks.

—What the…? How does he have two dragons?

Fwoooosh!

That was because Song Jeongho passed overhead, casting his blue wings wide.

Even in space, dragons were formidable beings, so seeing 03-7 arrive with two of them was shocking.

And meanwhile—

Kwak! Kwak!

Yeongwoo tore through the final stretch of the track alone.

Crack!

The last section was a straight path paved with marble, brittle enough to be shattered by horse hooves.

Crack!

Each time Negwig stepped forward, sharp shards of stone sprayed out in all directions, making Yeongwoo squint as he glanced back.

‘If even three people had run together here, the marble shrapnel would’ve been chaos.’

That was probably the real point of this final course.

But without anyone left to hinder him, Yeongwoo raced across the marble and, in an instant, crossed the finish line visible up ahead.

KWA-CRASH!

—Kiiiii!

Sensing they’d reached their destination, Negwig let out a long cry.

At the same time, the system message announced that the rookie rider of number 7 had won today’s race.

「03-7, first place!」

Immediately, a strange wave of reactions rippled through the crowd.

—Wooo! My bet paid off!

—He actually won? Number 7?

—Wow, 7…!

The tiny handful of spectators who had bet on the unknown number 7 leapt with joy.

Meanwhile—

—What the… the rookie got first place?

—What about Diorn? What the hell was he doing?

—How is this even possible?

The majority, who hadn’t bet on him, could only murmur in stunned disbelief.

No one had imagined that someone with no prior race record could take first place.

This was more than just losing money—it was a shock.

Eventually, someone shouted—

—Number 7! Tell us your name!

A new champion meant a high chance he could win again in the next race.

So, naturally, people wanted to know his name.

And as the same thought spread—

—Yeah! Reveal number 7’s identity!

—Give him the mic!

—Number 7! Say your name!

The crowd roared in unison, demanding that the organizers reveal the winner’s identity.

‘Like a swarm of bees.’

Yeongwoo thought, as the racetrack seemed to shake with the noise.

Apparently, the organizers decided they couldn’t ignore the public mood, because they brought out the award presenter earlier than planned.

Shhhhk!

The massive arched gate at the front split open, and from inside, someone emerged holding a trophy.

Step… step…

The figure was a one-eyed ogre, nearly three meters tall.

—Congratulations. But the spectators seem pretty worked up.

He held out the trophy to Yeongwoo.

Then, from his other hand, he offered another item—a small rod glowing yellow.

“…What’s this?”

As Yeongwoo took the rod while cradling the trophy, the ogre spoke in a low voice—

—If you speak into that, the audience will hear you. Just keep it brief.

“Ah, a mic.”

A rare chance to address not just tens of millions, but perhaps hundreds of millions of aliens.

Should he take this moment to promote Renaissance?

Or spread the name “Jeong Yeongwoo” across the galaxy?

“…”

After a brief pause, Yeongwoo raised the mic to his mouth.

Shhhk.

And he said the best thing he could think of—

“『Dogo』. I am Jeong Yeongwoo of Dogo!”

Immediately, a scarlet beam of light pierced down from the sky above the racetrack.

Fwooooosh!

“…Huh?”

The slender beam came all the way to his feet, faintly shimmering with a wedge-shaped emblem.

And at that sight, Yeongwoo realized—

“…Chairman?”

It had been a long time since the company had sent him an advertising fee.

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