stand-in creed

That's it.

Day after day passed.

Jonny can barely breathe stably for about 3 minutes after being poked once, and although Nero always feels that Jonny seems to have taught him some very high and unpredictable equestrian skills, it seems that he has not taught him anything, but in these few days In just a few days, his equestrian level has indeed grown.

Amidst the mutual torture of crouching dragons and phoenixes, the most important day finally came.

Chapter 13 1st Stage

1890 9 Month 25 Day.

The day the Steel Ball Run started.

Stephen Steel, who is over half a century old, is the director and host of this competition.Even if he is not one of the originally scheduled hundreds of riders who actually registered more than 5000 riders, and he is not a member of the army vying for "[-] million" and "honor", he is still very nervous.

After the opening ensemble, accompanied by his wife Lucy Steele, who was only 14 years old at the time, Stephen stepped up to the podium, raised his right hand high and showed everyone he A huge block of ice behind him.

"This piece of ice was shipped from a place called Antarctica and does not belong to any country.According to scholars, this piece of ice was formed [-] million years ago, and we made holes in the ice and put in the trophy that belonged to the champion.Therefore, this piece of ice is the holy ice of the "Steel Ball Run" competition.

"And what can melt this block of ice is our—

"--enthusiasm!!!

"We will calculate the time when you arrive at the finish line, and transport it to New York by train so that the ice just melts! This piece of holy ice is a symbol of struggle and progress. I wish you all a safe journey in the next competition!"

Along with Stephen Steel's speech, countless cowboys howled loudly.

A total of "3854" riders lined up on the coast of San Diego, and the starting line alone reached an astonishing four kilometers, and of course Nero and Suzumi Sugimoto, who shared a dark horse, were among them.

"Wow—?!

"Look, Nero, Nero, there are so many people!"

Suzumi Sugimoto blinked excitedly.

Nero also looked around curiously, and could not help but whistle.

"It's really incredible, even a newcomer like me can't help feeling excited."

"Yeah...the distance to the next checkpoint is 15000 meters?"

"Yes."

Nero nodded.

Naturally, the 6000-kilometer competition will not allow players to run from start to finish in one breath.According to the rules of the competition, a total of nine "checkpoints" have been set up for this competition, including the finish line in New York. These checkpoints are called "Stage".The next destination of Nero and Suzumi Sugimoto is the first checkpoint——

1stStage - Church of Santa Maria Novella.

The 5000-meter short-distance sprint is a bit insignificant compared to the [-]-kilometer full course, and it can be regarded as a warm-up match for this big competition.It is worth mentioning that each stage has a separate champion, who gets corresponding bonuses and time rewards.And the person who can win the Stage champion at the first checkpoint will get two rewards——

Ten thousand dollars.

And, a one-hour time reward.

"Whether it's money or time rewards, I, Nero Qibelin, want to get them all!

"Are you ready, Suzumi?"

"Ok!"

The corners of Nero's mouth slowly raised.

The westerly wind blowing gently from the Pacific sea breeze brushed the ends of Nero's hair.

Although Nero has never been a cowboy, the feeling of galloping on horseback with his beloved girl in his arms, not paying attention to revenge and justice, but just fighting for a certain goal with a pure "struggle spirit" does not seem to be the same. Hate.

Not only does he not hate it, Nero has even begun to enjoy this feeling.

"咴——!!!"

Claudius seemed to feel the excitement of the owner on his body, and he raised his head and groaned.

Nero lowered his head and looked at the black horse with a smile: "Are you excited too, Claudius?"

"Bah..."

"Then let's charge!" Nero looked around, "Although I don't know much about horse racing, there are nearly 4000 riders in total. If there is a group, it will be troublesome to rush out of the crowd— - Use your full strength from the beginning, Claudius!"

"Bah!"

……

Time passed by minute by minute.

It's exactly ten o'clock.

The flaming fireworks soared into the sky, which was the signal for the start of the competition.At the moment when everyone witnessed the fireworks, nearly 4000 riders steered their horses towards the finish line at the same time on the [-]-meter-long starting line.

The howling of cowboys and the clatter of horseshoes on the ground echoed in the sky.

"Run, Claudius——!!!"

"——咴!!!"

Nero doesn't know any routines, and the young dark horse is also young and energetic.

At the moment when the race started, the immature riders and racehorses roared forward with full horsepower.

The horseshoes are flying.

The wind is howling.

The scenery on both sides is retreating rapidly in sight.

Nero on the field naturally couldn't hear what kind of discussion broke out between the judges and reporters in the train. At this moment, there was only one very simple thought in his mind——

Charge and win!

It's just that someone seems to think of Nero together.

Among the brigade of people not far from Nero, a figure of a superb rider appeared.

Nero turned his head and shouted.

"Yo, Jello!"

That's Gero Zeppelin, and his horse Valkyrie.Jie Luo's serial number is B-636. He was only [-] lengths away from Nero on the starting line, but they met in less than half a minute after the start of the race.

Galloping on the body of the Valkyrie, Zero heard the call from the side, and also turned his head to reveal his big gold teeth.

"Yo, Nero!

"I rushed so hard at the beginning, is it really good not to save a little energy?"

Zero yelled at Nero.

Jie Luo was advising Nero to preserve his strength, but at the same time, the Valkyrie under Jie Luo was constantly accelerating.

Also accelerating is Nero's Claudius!

Nero shouted with a smile.

"Sorry, as a rookie, I'm not very good at controlling the horse's running speed! Sprinting is the easiest thing!

"But horse racing is a competition of speed, isn't it? If that's the case, just let the horse run fast! Or should you show me how to slow down first and run behind me?"

Jie Luo smiled even more happily, and turned his gaze forward again.

"impossible!

"Whether bonuses or time rewards, they all belong to me, Gero Zebelin! Except for diseases, I will get everything I can get!"

"Humph!"

Nero also looked away.

Immediately afterwards, Nero set his sights on the brigade of about fifty horses behind.

"Yeah.

"Although the starting line is long enough, the track is not that spacious, and there is only "one" most suitable route on this 5000-meter route, and everyone is working towards this mathematically most suitable route Get closer, these guys who thought about saving energy at the beginning are completely huddled together!

"It's not an easy job to squeeze out of this group of horses. It seems that I made the right choice to sprint at the beginning...huh?"

Boom--! ! !

There was a violent crash and trampling sound among the horse team.

Nero saw it, a figure was knocking away one rider after another, and one race horse after another, like the most violent rugby player.Nero recognized the figure.

"This guy is - Abdel!"

Chapter 14 1st Stage Part [-]

The brigade kept moving forward.

Except for Nero and Zero who sprinted at full speed from the very beginning and rushed ahead of the group, several figures rushed out of the group and bit behind Nero and Zero.The first to bear the brunt is Abdel, a desert nomad who drives camels instead of horses.

"That guy is a candidate for the championship, Ulmud Abdel!"

Jonny Joestar was also a member of the big team. Jonny, who decided to save a little energy at the start of the game, did not rush forward like the two Zeppelins.And when he saw Abdel driving a camel and starting a violent rampage, he decisively followed behind Abdel, using the desert wanderer driving a camel to open the way, and rushed out of the brigade together.

"I know this Abdel guy.

"This guy from Arabian Egypt crosses the 'Sahara Desert' exactly three times a year!

"Although that guy's camel seems to run very slowly, its legs are about twice as long as that of a horse. It can compete with a horse in terms of speed. Not only that, the camel's weight is close to 800 kilograms, which is 1.5 times that of a horse! What a wild way of running! This guy is going to knock all the guys in the way into the air!

"And now this guy is targeting Zero and Nero who have been sprinting at full speed from the beginning!"

Jonny has fully understood Abdel's plan.

There were also two Qibelins who also discovered Abdel's motives.

"Hey, hey, isn't collision against the rules?" Nero asked Gero loudly.

"Of course not!" Jie Luo grinned and said, "It's not allowed to use weapons to attack others, but it doesn't matter if it's just a simple collision!"

"Then don't you want to think of a way, Gero." Nero's eyes wandered back and forth between Abdel and Gero, "That guy is running after you! Your small body probably can't hit that camel, right? If Falling into a cactus bush will make you feel bad."

"It's obviously aimed at you, isn't it?" Jie Luo grinned, "If you don't do anything, it doesn't matter if you are rough and thick, and your lovely wife will suffer!"

Say so.

However, Jie Luo's mind was focused on other things.

Both Nero and Gero seem to be counting on each other to do something.

However, Abdel in the rear had also heard the discussion of these two people, and shouted loudly.

"Stop arguing, I'm here for the two of you!

"If you don't want to suffer, how about you just get out of the way for me?"

"Hoho?"

"Hey?"

Nero and Gero Qiqi turned their heads to look at Abdel.

At this moment, Abdel's camel was only a horse's body away from the two of them, and it would not be long before it would crash straight into the middle of the two Qibelins who were driving side by side, and bump the two of them towards the left and the right. open.

However, Nero raised the corner of his mouth.

"Collision is not against the rules? If that's the case, let's come and see, Abdel.

"call--"

"Um……?!"

Because they were so close, Zero instinctively sensed something was wrong.

Nero's body seemed to be lit up.

Was it because the sun was shining on him?

Just then, Abdel came.Abdel, who didn't intend to change the track at all, violently ran into the middle of Nero and Zero.

In an instant, Gero and his Valkyrie staggered to the right, but Nero's side was completely different.

"Come on if you want to, Abdel!"

"what?!"