Chapter 374: The Snowfield Course, and the Obstacle Course.
"Guoooo!?"
The [Steel Axe], which was running at the front, collided first with the 2m-diameter snowballs that came rolling down the slope. Seeing as how those snowballs didn't break upon crashing into the [Steel Axe], which broke through all those ice walls earlier, they're probably strengthened with magic.
The weight of the large snowball pressed down on top of the [Steel Axe].
"Gununununununu…!"
The driver, Griff, upped the output of the [Steel Axe] further. The tracks on the vehicle raised a loud sound as they tried to bring the [Steel Axe] upwards, but it seems that just staying still on the slope is taking all of its power.
And then, as if to finish off the stalling [Steel Axe], another snowball rolled down from the top of the slope and collided with the snowball that struck the [Steel Axe] earlier.
"Nuga!?"
That instant, the tracks on the [Steel Axe]'s wheels slipped, and it finally became unable to withstand the weight as the entire vehicle started sliding down the slope together with the two snowballs stuck to its front.
"Dowaaaaaaaaaaah!?"
The [Steel Axe] dropped all the way to the bottom in an instant, and after passing through my side while being pushed by the snowballs, it fell out of the course at the right-angled curve right behind.
"Oohh! The first-placed [Steel Axe] instantly dropped to last place, and fell out of the course on top of that-nya! It crashed into a wall of ice just like that, and overturned-nya! The driver, Griff, has been sent back to his garage via the emergency transfer function-nya!"
Uwa. While the driver sounds like he's alright, I worry about the ether vehicle in that case… Well, even if he manages to get back here, I don't think it's possible to get back on course and clear the area before the given time limit. The [Steel Axe] is practically-speaking retired at this point.
"To retire like that is… Oops!"
Dangerous! I barely dodged the snowball that had approached without me noticing. The snowballs that appeared at first had rolled down all the way here. This isn't the time to be worried about others, I guess.
Everyone else also continued driving up the slope with a renewed wariness after witnessing the tragedy that occurred earlier.
Lapis-san's [White Bird], which had become the first place thanks to the [Steel Axe] falling off, has cleared the slope area, it seems. Following her, the [Trihalan] and the [Strain] crossed over as well.
I climbed up the slope steadily while turning the steering wheel here and there to dodge the snowballs that continuously dropped down from the top. Damn, the tension is killing me. If I get hit once, it's back down to the bottom for me, after all.
Once I managed to reach the top of the slope, I'm greeted with a downhill road this time. As it's not that steep a slope, I simply slid down while braking (it's basically useless on this road, though) from time to time.
Once I reached the bottom, the course returned to a normal one. Well, besides the road surface still being frozen, that is.
"The first place [White Bird] has cleared the frozen hairpin curve section-nya! And now, the biggest hurdle of this course, the snowfield maze section awaits-nya!"
When I was looking at the map, I was like "Are they idiots?", but I guess they really did make it…
The goal of this entire snowfield course lies beyond the maze created with snow blocks as walls. As long as we can get out of here, we can say goodbye to this slippery hell altogether.
"The [White Bird], which headed into the maze ahead of everyone else, had already met with a dead end early on-nya! It makes a U-turn and went back on the path it came from! This is plain-nya! It's plainly annoying-nya!"
However, it can also be said to be a logical obstacle. Since if you waste too much time navigating through this maze, you run the risk of exceeding the time limit for clearing the area and getting retired as a result.
There's that classic maze clearing method which involves placing one hand on the wall and walking while continuously touching the latter, but that is rather time-consuming as well. Now then, what to do…
Following the [Ferzen] in front, I also headed into the maze, surrounded by walls of snow.
Immediately, I'm met with a T-junction in front of me. Since the [Ferzen] turned to the right, I chose the opposite way and headed left.
Afterwards, another cross-shaped junction showed up in front of me, so I turned left here as well. And after I drove for a bit on the road surrounded by the white walls, the same white wall showed up in front of me. Damn, a dead end.
At least the roads are wide enough to make U-turns with; I turned back towards the cross junction earlier. Etto, which way did I come from again…?
I thought to check the tire tracks, but there's quite a few of them on the ground and it's all jumbled up; apparently some other vehicles have also passed through this place.
"Now, with the [Red Cat] entering the maze, all active participants have begun the maze clearing segment-nya! It's exciting to think about who would clear this maze first, isn't it-nya!"
When I looked up, one of my summoned Valkyrie was flying overhead with a mass-production model smartphone in her hands, probably filming us. I can easily understand the structure of
the entire maze if I synchronized my sight with hers, but I suppose that's a bit too underhanded.
I can't use magic too, and the map Pola has doesn't have the detailed structure of the maze (obviously) as well… Nn?
I met eyes with Pola sitting besides me. Then I turned my sight upwards.
Pola. Stuffed animal. Light. Overhead.
…I think this should work?
As Pola—it apparently realized what I was trying to do—tried to run away, I extended my hand out quickly and grabbed it.
"It's alright, it's alright. It's just for a bit. I won't do anything like letting you fall on the ground."
Pola swung its head sideways with a fierce momentum. Ignoring Pola who's expressing
"NOOOOOOO" with its whole body, I built up force in my arms before throwing it straight upwards.
"Look carefully, okay!"
Pola flew up to a spot far exceeding the height of the snow walls, stopped for a moment in the air, then started to fall downwards.
I managed to catch the falling Pola without any issues.
"So? Did you see it?"
Pola raised its hands upward and expressed its anger at me silently for a while, before sitting down at the passenger seat besides me with a *hmph* and pointing towards the road directly in front of me.
Got it, my dear navigator. Let us proceed then.
I kept driving in the [Brunhild], while relying on the Pola-Nav whenever we meet a crossroad. Well, I just threw it upwards every time, though.
It's kinda late to be asking this, but Pola's got a decent memory, doesn't it? Since it can remember the location of the dead ends within just that one instant where it's in the sky.
That reminds me, according to Leen, it can apparently now do things that she's sure she had never [Program]'d it to be able to do before.
While it sounds unthinkable, could it be that thanks to Leen becoming my dependant, Pola, which is something like Leen's familiar, also received some of that influence?
The dependant of a dependant of god… Would that be somewhere at the level of spirits? I don't think it's possible though. I mean, I'm not even a full-fledged god myself.
After several experiences of being thrown upwards, Pola had become somewhat lethargic; even so, it still pointed out the roads I should take, towards which I turned the steering wheel each time.
Just as I was worrying about whether Pola can manage to stay sane until the goal, the view in front of us suddenly cleared up.
Ooo, we got out!
"Nyanya! The first one to get out of the maze is the [Brunhild]! It's on a straight line towards the snowfield course's final gate-nya!"
While ruminating on the fact that I somehow climbed all the way to first place, I stepped down on the gas panel and drove the [Brunhild] towards the snowfield course's goal.
It's weird, isn't it. Even though I didn't want to bother myself over rankings in this race, when I actually hit first place, I start wanting to keep my current rank.
"The [Brunhild] clears the snowfield course in first place, and finally heads into the last area, the obstacle course-nya!"
Ohh. When you hear someone saying you're the first to clear the area, it really does feel good.
As I proceeded towards the next course, the ice coating the road surface gradually disappeared, and the road returned to a normal state. Alright, since I'm in first anyway, let's speed up a bit, shall we? Gotta widen the gap a bit while I can.
Even though this section is called the obstacle course, I don't really see anything resembling obstacles so far. I was expecting something like caltrops scattered all over the place… Nn?
Something appeared on the road surface as I made a turn. Uh… Is that something drawn on the road? White on a black background… Wait, isn't that a skull mark—!
It was too late. By the time I realized it, the [Brunhild]'s front wheel has already drove onto the panel with the skull mark drawn on it, and a clear *click* sound reached my ears.
The next instant, an impact sent me upwards, and my body floated in the air for a moment. Together with that, a loud exploding sound reached my ears.
When I came to, myself and Pola had already been transferred back to our garage, where we fell head-first onto a prepared mattress.
"Nyanyanyaa!? The [Brunhild] exploded-nya!? Wha, wha, what about the driver… Ah, the driver is fine-nya! The transfer is successful-nya! What a terrifying course-nya…!"
"Isn't that a bit too much no matter how you look at it!?"
I shouted from on top of the mattress. Is a landmine really ok!? Is it really ok!? I know part of the purpose of this race is about testing the performance limits of the ether vehicles, but we're not trying to make APCs mainstream here, you know!?
The figure of the [Brunhild], which is reflected on the small monitor installed in the garage, is horrible beyond words.
While it's not completely impossible to repair fully, that's definitely not something I can manage within the race's time limit. It's unfortunate, but I have no choice but to retire from the race. Damn it.
I contacted headquarters and relayed my intention to retire.
"And the [Brunhild] has decided to retire here-nya! A pity indeed!"
Chih. To think I'd become the first retiree of the race. Since the [Steel Axe] is practically retired too, the race is down to six participants now, huh.
After asking the mini robots to recover the wreckage of the [Brunhild], I used [Gate] to move to the audience seating in front of the large monitor set up earlier together with Pola.
"Oh, Touya-dono. It's a shame."
"Damn, and I was betting on Touya-dono winning the whole thing too!"
The Regulus emperor and the Mismede beast king, who were sitting at the same table, called out to me. Wait, you guys were making bets?
"You guys sure say some selfish things."
While replying with a wry smile, I looked up at the large monitor. Seems like the other vehicles are still stuck inside the maze.
When I looked at the maze from above like this, I can tell that it's rather well-made. This is going to take a while.
I started to worry for them a bit while looking at the timer that's floating on the top right corner of the screen. Well, if they get past the maze, the goal for the snowfield course is right in front, so there's that.
"Touya-san, are you alright?"
When I turned around, I saw Yumina and the others sitting at a table together. Pola started running towards Leen with quick steps. I headed towards the table as well, and sat down at an empty seat.
"I knew you would be fine, but when your vehicle exploded, I felt my heart go cold-de gozaruyo."
"That was scary."
Yae and Sakura said that to me; I was plenty frightened myself, you know. I was careless. To think that kind of trap would be there right after entering the obstacle course area…
"Should've paid more attention back then. Getting caught by such an obvious-looking trap…"
"No, well, I was raising my speed quite a bit at that time, so. And since it was right after a curve, it was hard for me to see the surface of the road…"
Un, no matter what I say, it just sounds like I'm making excuses, aren't I. It's true that I got a bit ahead of myself after making it to first place, anyway.
"Well, we placed it there while anticipating things like that, you see. I did think the first vehicle would probably trigger it, but to think it would be you, Touya-kun…"
"True~"
"… There you are, you root of all evil."
I directed an unamused glare at the lab-coat wearing young girl and the woman wearing thick glasses, who were standing behind me from some time ago.
"Oi you, don't you think landmines are overdoing it?"
"While some parts of me cannot deny that accusation, it's true that we managed to confirm the function of the emergency escape system with this, isn't it?"
So you do admit that you're overdoing it? These bastards. Well, I mean, I did expect something to this degree happening the moment I let Professor Babylon and Dr. Elka handle the course design…
"And wait, what are you girls planning to do in case the escape system didn't work as expected?"
"No problem. We build in several layers of extra safety measures for that purpose. We were more worried about the possibility of no one triggering that mine, actually."
"When it exploded, we went 'We did it!', you know?"
These girls, sheesh. I swear, magic engineering scholars are all messed up in the head somewhat.
"Nyanya! And now, the [Silver Star] finally makes its way out of the maze at second place! And right after it, what a surprise, the [Ferzen] also makes its way out-nya!"
I turned my eyes to the monitor upon hearing Nyantaro's live coverage. So Rosetta's pair and the Ferzen king made it out, huh.
Following that, Crown Prince Rupheus' [Trihalan], Lapis-san's [White Bird] and Princess Berlietta's [Strain] also made it out, and finally Nia's [Red Cat] also got out of the maze.
Nia, who's in last place, reached the goal with barely any time to spare before the time limit.
"And now, it's time up for the snowfield course-nya! With this, the [Steel Axe] is retired from the race-nya!"
The [Steel Axe], which got back on the course after getting blown off and overturned at the slope + snowballs zone, worked hard with its driver, Griff, but was still unable to make it in time.
If it was me, I would've probably given up immediately, but it seems like the dwarves don't throw in the towel until the very end.
The remaining six vehicles all started traversing the obstacle course. Since they all knew about the grand explosion that blew me out of the race, everyone's driving seemed pretty careful.
Since they were all staying far away from the skull marks whenever the latter appears on the road, their overall speed was rather slow, and no change in rankings occurred before they reached the pit stop for the obstacle course.
Since the contents of the obstacle course were not revealed to the participants at all, they shouldn't have any idea on how they can best customize their vehicles for this section. In the end, I think they'll just go with a basic configuration.
After they finished exchanging their tires, in order from first the last, the [Silver Star], the [White Bird], the [Ferzen], the [Trihalan], the [Strain] and the [Red Cat] all got out of the garage one after another.
Since there's skull marks here and there on the road surface, nobody raised their speed too much. In that kind of situation, Lapis-san's [White Bird] with its exquisite techniques that dodged the traps without losing much speed, and Crown Prince Rupheus' [Trihalan] which manages to scrape the edges of the traps with smaller movements than the other vehicles stood out from the rest.
Within moments, the two vehicles had overtaken the ones in front of them, and the [White Bird] reached the top while the [Trihalan] reached third place.
"And now, after the landmine area we now have the straightforward straights course-nya! A steep cliff on the left and a steeper cliff on the right, if you fall down it's a guaranteed retire- nya!"
A log bridge-like course is reflected on the monitor. While the course is surrounded by the ocean on both sides so falling shouldn't do that much damage, given its height, it's basically impossible for one to pull their ether vehicles back up if they do fall. Even if the driver can get out safely thanks to the transfer function, he/she would have no choice but to retire.
And since there's nothing like guard rails next to the course, even a slight mistake in adjusting the steering can lead to the vehicle flying off the cliff.
"Another villainous course design… There's definitely something else there too, right?"
"Now then, I wonder?"
"I wonder~?"
I threw a sideways glare at the two as they looked at the monitor with grins on their faces. Dr. Elka's guard, the wolf-type golem Fenrir sighed next to her feet. So golems can sigh too…
"Nya! After entering the straights course, the [Strain] suddenly rushed forward with amazing speed-nya! It's fast! It's already overtaken the [Ferzen]-nya!"
Ohh. That's quite the speed alright. If she's using a setup focused on speed, this straight section is indeed a chance she wouldn't want to let go of.
"The [Strain] also overtook the [Trihalan] just now with the same speed! And just like that, it approaches the [Silver Star]—wait, what-nya!?"
The road surface in front of the [Strain] suddenly began sprouting out a black liquid, which spread on the road into a puddle.
"Hiia!?"
The [Strain]'s front wheel slipped after coming into contact with the black puddle, and the vehicle began spinning. Ah! That's oil, isn't it!?
Princess Berlietta is putting her all into turning the steering wheel in order to stabilize the vehicle, but ignoring her efforts, the [Strain] continued spinning towards the edge of the road. At that rate, she's going to go off the course and dive into the ocean together with her vehicle.
However, moments before the [Strain] would fall off the road, the [Trihalan] came in from behind and crashed into the former, sending it back towards the middle of the road.
The [Strain] overturned and stopped on the road; one of its front tires fell off the body, and rolled off the course into the ocean below.
The [Trihalan], which crashed into the [Strain] earlier, spun around and stopped on the course; there's smoke coming out of its bonnet.
"Nyanya! A crash occurred between the [Strain] and the [Trihalan]-nya! Oh, both drivers seem to have escaped with the emergency transfer function and are safe-nya! Thank goodness-nya."
"I'll go take a look."
While listening to Nyantaro's commentary, I opened a [Gate] back to the garage area, where the two of them should be at now.