Chapter 1447: Final Race ①

Chapter 1447 – Final Race ①

Flying Board Final Race. All of the people lined up in a row here were fierce competitors who had won first place in the qualifying race they were part of…… that certainly was a good way to describe the situation, but in fact, half of the teams here were first-timers since the qualifying race had a strong factor of luck.

However, the final race isn’t a race that can be won by luck alone, for strategy and situational judgment are vital factors.

“Well then, here comes the Flying Board Finals. Flying Board Final Race…… Start!”

With the start signal, several Flying Boards surged forward at a considerable speed. Start dash…… It certainly can be described as a very effective tactic for Flying Boards.

In the first place, it’s basically advantageous for Flying Boards to be ahead of the others. Due to the nature of not flying as expected, it makes it difficult for the competitors to overtake from behind, for doing that held the danger of contact.

As was the case with us in qualifying rounds, the first group to get ahead has the advantage of using more space and being more dynamic.

[They really did dash forward. As expected, it looks like a lot of the teams are first-timers.]

[That being the case, we’ll stay put for the moment and be careful not to make contact with the others.]

[Roger that.]

In fact, when we had our strategy meeting, the idea of dashing right at the start of the race came up as an idea. However, putting aside the qualifying races, making a start dash in the finals would be difficult.

That’s especially considering the magic power in the magic crystal…… As long as we incorporate it as one of the tactics, we can’t jump on the course at high speed, and the number of times we can increase our speed is limited.

In such a situation, can we keep our magic power reserves until the end while dealing with the following teams that would try to overtake us one after another?

It’s impossible to keep being in a position where we have others chasing from behind unless things went reasonably well. Moreover, even if the veteran teams had calculated the consumption of magic power perfectly and decided to make that start dash, I don’t think that first-time teams would be able to distribute the pace well even if they went to the front because they wouldn’t want to stick close to the others.

As for pacing and course planning, teams with a long history in this competition, such as Scarlet Blue and Black Muscat, have the advantage over the rest. The fact that these teams aren’t in front though, suggests that as we expected, it’s not very realistic for the teams not to make a start dash for the lead.

[As we expected, the teams with experience didn’t move that much.]

[The winning point really isn’t getting a lead at that moment huh?]

After hearing Aoi-chan’s words, I was relieved to find out that things went as planned at the strategy meeting. Our prediction is that the match decided will be the forest area back to the lake…… So perhaps, we should start positioning ourselves just before the forest area in order to gain an advantage there.

In any case, this certainly isn’t the area where we should speed up. The leading group seemed to be having a hard time finding the course, probably because many of these teams were made up of first-timers.

As I was thinking about this, I saw the first checkpoint on the lake. They were now in a square area surrounded by four glowing magic crystals, and we can certainly pass through it in our position but……

[……It looks smaller than it does on the map.]

[Passing through it looks pretty rough. Hina-chan, lower our altitude a bit more.]

[Yes. About this much, right?]

The checkpoint we saw for the first time looked narrower than we had imagined, and it felt like we needed to make fine adjustments to pass through it. Fortunately, even though it meanders to some extent, the flight of our current Flying Board is stable. As long as we pay attention to sudden changes, we should be able to pass through it.

As I was thinking so, I saw two of the leading teams that had made a start dash fail to pass the checkpoint. Trying to pass through the checkpoint again would be a huge time-loss.

It certainly is okay to go back and pass the checkpoint again, but making a U-turn on the Flying Board and passing through the checkpoint again would be quite difficult, so they would have to make a huge detour. It would be very tough for those two teams to come back to the lead at this point.

We carefully passed through the checkpoint and headed across the lake to the mountain…… the rocky area. This is a very perilous pass, for at lower altitudes, the rocky mountains feel like obstacles.

And so, as we had discussed earlier, we ascended. The other teams also ascended just as we did……

[It’s time for the decisive moment!]

[ [ Ou! ] ]

Hearing those voices, I reflexively turned around to see one team…… the Scarlet Blue speeding up and lowering their altitude, while the others were all ascending at the same time.

Don’t tell me…… They’re planning to increase their speed at a low speed and break through the rocky mountainous area!?

[!? This is bad, Kaito-san!]

[Aoi-senpai?]

[If their plan is successful, we won’t be able to catch up with them!!!]

Aoi-chan’s voice made me realize what she was talking about. The checkpoint here in the rocky mountainous area is set at a lower altitude. The other teams and our team were planning to move at a higher altitude to go through this area, and while adjusting our altitude, descend and pass through the checkpoint.

Scarlet Blue, on the other hand, chose to do the exact opposite: to pass through the rocky area at high speed…… The risk of doing this may be high, but the shortest distance was made possible by not having to ascend and descend, and with the checkpoint set at a lower altitude, it would be easier for those flying at lower altitudes to pass through it, giving them a higher possibility that they will be able to pass while maintaining speed. If they can successfully pass through this checkpoint, they will be able to make a big gap between them and the other teams.

And the one making this high-risk, high-return plan isn’t a first-timer team, but Scarlet Blue, who is said to be a veteran team. As Aoi-chan said, if we allowed them a large lead here, it might be close to impossible to gain it back.

If that’s the case, in order to avoid that large gap……

[Hina-chan! We’re going down!]

[That’s really how it’s turning out huh…… Kaito-senpai, we’re counting on you for the controls!]

We have no choice but to chase after them. Just like them, we went through the rocky mountains at a low altitude…… Passing through a rocky mountain with a Flying Board that doesn’t fly straight, my directional control is super vital…… This really is the decisive moment.

Seemingly determined, the other teams also chose to follow Scarlet Blue just like we did. Thus, while lowering our altitude, we accelerated and headed for the rocky area.

Serious-senpai : [Eh? I- Isn’t this good…… It’s this! This is it!!!]

? ? ? : [If you ask me if this is serious, I can only tilt my head at that, but I guess this could be a serious development.]