Chapter 99 - Catching Up To First Rank.
"How did I jump straight from 5th to 2nd?!"
He tapped on the elimination list and read the newly eliminated players. Soon he found 4 added players to the list, Sonar, Artic Heart, Holyfist, and Easy Wind!!
"Did Artic Heart get intercepted by others?" He wondered in befuddlement while glancing at his back mirror. "Need to speed up, it seems like they are catching up."
Without further ado, he pushed the pedal to the limit and rushed forward. He never expected that other players were already this near to his position.
Well, to be fair he was hindered on many occasions on his path. Such as the fact he chose the wrong volcano's tunnel. Plus, he slowed his speed greatly during the time he was dealing with that alliance.
It was only natural that players would start to catch up to him, just like he caught up to frontrunners.
"But still, after Sonar and Articheart death, I should be 3rd rank." He glanced at Easywind and Holyfist and reasoned, "It seems a fight happened between the 1st and 2nd." He grinned, "I bet Easywind was the one who died ahead of me."
He figured so from the way Easywind didn't partner with anyone in the game hall. So he must have fought and lost his battle.
"Hopefully, he did some substantial damage to the first ranker."
...
Two hours into the race...
"Wobbly Web is done for! He really should not have provoked an alliance." Marlion commentated on Wobbly web's car that was being pounded by different abilities in the middle of four cars. Even in such a hopeless situation, Wobbly Web was trying his best to free himself from their encirclement. However, his silk element abilities were not helping him that much.
Every time he threw his webs connecting to a car, they get immediately either sliced by wind or engulfed in flames. The players were playing like a solid team, using their abilities to help each other out. Their cooperation was making Wobbly Web's life hell and car into almost resembling a pile of junk.
Bam, Boom!
In the end, his car exploded once and for all after its engine got blasted by three spears made of flames.
"Sigh, he could have played it smarter. But he was too anxious to pass them." A spectator shook his head at this sight.
"Can you blame him? This is the last lap already, if not now then when?"
"That's not an excuse to throw your life like that. He could have obtained a mystery box first then attack them, or simply don't do it and give up on the race."
"F.u.c.k.i.n.g moron, Even Landlord is struggling to catch up to 1st ranker, don't even mention him."
"True, I am watching him right now. He is still quite distant from Absolute Vision. If he kept at this pace, he is doomed."
The audience switched their vision to Felix, wanting to recheck on him.
Since the moment he began flying solo without a single soul in front of him or behind him, everyone lost interest and focused on other battles happening at the back.
The current four players alliance that just eliminated Webbly Web were their favorites to watch. At least 7 players were killed by them only.
...
Meanwhile, Felix began to feel a little bit anxious after not seeing the tail of 1st ranker even after driving for a couple of hours.
"Where did this f*cker go? This is the last lap and I still didn't even glimpse at his shadow."
Felix clutched the wheel tightly while driving recklessly through the underground. He almost got hit a couple of times by some lava pillars with the way he was driving. But he didn't slow down even a bit, as he couldn't afford to anymore.
After a while, he reached the tunnels leading to the volcanoes' mouths and chose one randomly while holding his breath.
"Thank god!" Felix sighed in relief after seeing the beautiful crimson sky. Then he did the same technique as before to get a better thrust during his climbing.
Whooosh
His car rushed through the volcano's mouth spinning like a bullet. However, this time Felix didn't stop spinning as he decided to keep doing it, to push the free-fall momentum even further. He wanted to obtain the best possible speed burst when his car glides vertically above the lava sea.
And so, under the dumbfounded eyes of Marlion and the spectators, both on live stream and the stadiums, Felix's car span as it dropped like it was drilling the air itself.
BOOM!
The sound barrier was broken even faster than before, but this time, Felix cannot rely on the meterage to see his altitude as he closed his eyes to reduce the motion sickness that would follow after he glides.
He was completely relying on his instincts to pull this off!
6800m...5870....4500..3300m
"PULL!!" "PULL NOW!!"
The audience yelled out loud with hands in front of their mouths. Yet, their voices went hoarse and Felix still didn't touch his spinning wheel at all.
2900m...1403m
"PULLL ALREADY GOD DAMN IT!!" Marlion shouted as well with the audience.
He didn't want Felix to die anticlimactic death like this. But, during a fight for the championship. As that would be an epic ending for the game.
"Now!"
Felix closed eyes suddenly snapped open, as he clutched the steering wheel tightly to stop the spinning. Thankfully, that was easy for him due to his super strength.
Immediately after stopping the car's spinning, he pulled the wheel towards him while simultaneously pushing the brake pedal to the limit. His calm eyes kept staring at the sea of lava that was merely a couple of hundred meters away from him, akin to staring right in the grim reaper's eyes.
Nevertheless, that didn't faze him at all, as he kept murmuring gently, "Come on girl, you can do it.",
"DO IT you sl*t!!"
Scared shitless, he roared one last time as his car whizzed vertically a few meters above the sea. He wanted to keep his calm and composed image through the end, but the lava sea was so close he almost peed his pants.
That was truly a close shave.
"HE DID IT!!! HE ACTUALLY PULLED IT OFF!!" Marlion and the spectators completely went bonkers after seeing Felix's car flying with unprecedented speed towards Absolute Vision, who had no idea that a predator was catching up to him rapidly.
"Holy, that was a stressful experience." A man said while wiping his sweaty forehead with his sleeve.
"My heart was about to leap out of my chest. Touch it." A cute female said absent-mindedly next to him.
"Sister, are you sure about it?" He asked.
"F*ck, if you don't want to, let others do it." Another man jumped inside their conversation.
"Go to the side she asked me!"
"F*ck off you already wasted your chance."
"Can't I ask for permission like gentlemen?"
The other spectators near those two pulled them away from each other. They were truly on the verge of ripping each other throats. It was clear that they wanted to vent the stress that Felix's dangerous maneuver put them through.
....
Meanwhile, Felix rubbed his temples gently after a massive headache assaulted him immediately as he relaxed. Even so, a wide grin was on his face, as he stared at the tail of Absolute Vision's car.
"Let see if luck is going to help you this time."
Felix truly believed that the only reason why Absolute vision was in the first rank was because of his luck.
After all, his car placement was at the front row during the starting zone. Plus with his wide AOE blindness, he managed to break out of the pack easily.
When they were still grouped in a pack, Felix saw a pitch-black domain that span 40 meters, put everyone near his car in utter darkness. Some cars escaped outside the domain safely while others weren't so lucky. Those three players from before were the ones who died in it.
Meanwhile, Felix had eliminated a whopping 7 players while still being in the worst possible placement. Not mentioning the two times he failed to find the exit tunnel, during his 1st and 2nd lap.
So in comparison, Absolute Vision's racing was honestly a smooth journey.
But that would soon change, as THE serpent had caught up to him, and it's hungry for his blood after everything it had gone through to catch up.
....
"Uhmm?!! How did someone catch up to me?" Absolute vision didn't even turn his head or glance at the mirror to see Felix's car approaching him with five times his current speed.
"And what the hell is that speed?! He must be cheating!" He immediately called for the Queen AI to report him.
"Queen I found a cheater." He said.
"ID name?" She asked.
"Don't know, but his SG tag is Landlord." He replied.
A second later, she responded monotonously, "No signs of cheating has been found. Please don't make false reports anymore, otherwise, your account will be blocked for 15 days. This is your first warning."
Absolute Vision neither had guts nor the time to lash at her, as Felix had almost reached him. So he focused on dealing with him first, then question Marlion later over that abnormal speed.