Volume Two: Life and Death at Full Speed in the Northern Territory - Chapter 158: Racing Through the Forest
Is the projector malfunctioning?
"I don't know why, but it feels like there's some force suppressing me, making it impossible for me to use my abilities smoothly!"
"Let me try!"
I quickly mobilized the blood within my body; the blood soon seeped through my skin, congealing into a sword, and then—
With a whoosh, the sword turned back into blood, which spilled onto the ground.
I had just condensed the sword when, for some reason, the flow of my supernatural power became extremely sluggish, making it impossible to use normally!
"Me too, I can't create Jet Point anymore... What's going on?!"
Ally was also greatly troubled; if she couldn't create Jet Point, the pursuit speed would be greatly reduced!
"Huh? But my dismantling ability is still working."
Ailin also noticed something was wrong. She gently touched the car seat with her small hands, and tiny screws immediately appeared where she touched them, but there seemed to be nothing unusual.
"That's not right... Although the ability is still effective, it feels a bit sluggish... What should we do, sister?"
"What else can we do? Don't be a coward, just do it!"
Noises also came from the race cars next to them, indicating that it wasn't just their abilities that were being suppressed; everyone was in the same boat.
Then there's nothing to worry about!
At the very front of all the competitors, two cars, one gold and one white, were still engaged in a fierce chase. Although both were giving their all, the gap between them was widening. The Vino Lions Team was now nearly 100 meters ahead, and under the heavy shadows of the trees, Lewis and his two companions could barely see the rear of their car.
"What the hell! They've still managed to widen the gap! And we can't use the ignition system to accelerate in this deep forest!" Lewis was furious, his knuckles bulging as he gripped the steering wheel, looking quite ferocious.
Luo Huan, carefully sensing the spiritual energy within his body, frowned and said, "Instead of that, let's worry about our superpowers... My ability to control demonic beasts isn't working at all, what about you, Alba?"
"My abilities are still usable, just slightly suppressed."
Alba raised his hand and with a slight flick, his five fingers instantly transformed into five tools.
The thumb is a hammer, the index finger is a short saw, the middle finger is a screwdriver, the ring finger is a file, and the little finger is a screwdriver.
With another flick of the wrist, the tools changed again. The thumb became scissors, the index finger tweezers, the middle finger a soldering iron, the ring finger pliers, and the little finger a wrench. With yet another flick of the wrist, the tools were replaced once more.
This is his special ability—to turn his fingers into various tools used by technicians. It's almost useless in combat, but it's absolutely perfect for the technician profession. This ability is indeed a major advantage that made him Noxar Team's ace technician.
"Your beast-taming ability is clearly superior to mine in combat. While my ability is very useful for repairing cars, it's completely unusable in battle. And right now, your ability is almost entirely unusable, while mine, though a bit awkward to use, is still fine..."
"You mean... the stronger the ability, the stronger the suppression? But why is that? Is it a new rule created by the idiots in the organizers?"
"It shouldn't have anything to do with them, otherwise they would definitely have issued a notice. In my opinion, the problem lies with this Engai Forest!"
In a corner of the center of Crystal Island.
"It's started!"
The Sick Spider suddenly opened its eyes, stretched out its hand, and tried to release its silver threads—
A silver thread shot out instantly, shimmering with silver light as it extended towards the sky. With the movement of the Sick Spider's fingers, a huge cloud high in the sky was instantly split in two!
Its length, reaching to the horizon, coupled with its ability to cut through invisible clouds even under the force of high-altitude hurricanes, makes it absolutely invincible; however—
"Is this all you can do? As expected, your powers are being greatly suppressed..." The Sick Spider curled its lip in disdain. Normally, it wouldn't be difficult to split a hurricane in the sky to create a vacuum, but now it could only split the clouds.
"Me too, my power is suppressed to less than one-tenth of its normal level."
"In this way, we are no match for the World Crystal Tree! Although we could break through the suppression if we fought hard, that would take a huge toll on us... Ugh! What a hassle!"
"I'm afraid it's precisely because the Leader considered that all supernatural abilities would be rendered useless in front of the Crystal Emperor Tree that he sent Gustav," Stone Strike said in a deep voice.
"He keeps saying he's coming, but why isn't he here yet? Is he standing us up?"
"I've heard that Gustav trusts his own strength more than transportation or teleportation abilities... though I don't know if that's true or not."
"You mean he's going to run? That's an exaggeration!"
"There's nothing we can do; he's the number two person in the entire organization."
Experiments have shown that Ally's ability to 'create Jet Point's is completely unusable, but if the Jet Point are pre-set, they can still be controlled. Ally had already set up ten Jet Point on the car before the start of the fourth stage, and they all worked normally. However, since no new boost points can be created, the existing Jet Point are becoming increasingly scarce, and the timing of their use must be carefully considered to avoid wasting them.
Boom!!!!
The roar of the engine echoed through the forest as Sirius sped through the giant trees, overtaking them with unstoppable momentum. When she looked around again, there were no other vehicles nearby. The suppression of her powers did not affect Ally's performance; on the contrary, no longer having to worry about the Jet Point allowed her to focus more on driving.
At this moment, Ally's control over the vehicle had reached an unparalleled level. Sirius was no longer just a tool to her, nor even an extension of her body, but had truly become a part of her. She could judge the vehicle's condition by intuition alone, plan every step of the way with just a glance, and judge the subtle changes in the road surface by the bumps transmitted through her feet. She didn't even need Givinia's navigation. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it divine skill.
We sped along, overtaking everyone, with dozens of airships following behind and reporting on our progress. Finally, a pristine white race car came into view—
It's the Noxar Team.
"Finally, I caught up with you guys..."
Ally's expression changed drastically, but unlike her initial look of hatred, her current expression, while still angry, was filled with fighting spirit and rationality—it was her best state.
"To compete against you in the finals, to win back everything that belongs to me, to the Ferruggio Silver Wolf Team... For countless years, for countless years I have dreamed of this moment... Now, finally!!!"
Two of the ten available Jet Point were fired, and the long-awaited surge of power propelled Sirius to a sudden acceleration. Logically, such acceleration in a forest riddled with obstacles should have been incredibly foolish, but Ally had pulled it off! Countless giant trees practically skimmed past the windows, rocks, embankments, and low bushes were constantly being run over by the wheels, and at least ten times I thought we were definitely going to crash and die—after all, with my powers severely suppressed, I couldn't possibly use my blood for defense anymore—but the truth was, despite the incredibly perilous process, Ally's masterful driving ensured that not a single accident occurred!
"My God, is that girl even human!?"
Inside the Earthwalker, Lewis stared in shock at the gray beast in the rearview mirror. Even as a self-proclaimed super-genius driver, he wouldn't dare to race through the forest at such a high speed!
"He's completely different from before... He was good before, but he wasn't nearly as amazing as he is now... Could it be that he's improved during the recent competitions?"
"No, that's her true strength, Elton Cena's daughter, Ally Cena! Feeding on resentment and sorrow, she has repeated hellish training filled with obsession and hatred for years, never giving up, sacrificing her entire youth—and what she has gained in the end is this unparalleled driving skill!" As he spoke, Alba gazed through the rear window at the speeding Sirius —or rather, at Ally sitting in the driver's seat, his eyes gleaming with an indescribable brilliance.
"You seem pretty excited, Alba. The other person really hates your own niece," Luo Huan teased.
"Enough with the nonsense, I'm just really looking forward to this tense and exciting scene."
"Regardless of whether her driving skills are 'unparalleled in the world,' since she's chosen to challenge me, there's only one thing I have to do—"
Lewis flipped through several switches, and the dark, explosive Jet Nozzle device extended from the side of the car.
"--win!!!"
With long tongues of fire shooting out, Lewis, facing Sirius's approach, actually chose to take the risk!
Then, in the first group of the fourth stage, a scene unfolded that has been regarded as a classic by countless racing enthusiasts for many years to come.
The gray wolf and the flames darted through the forest at breakneck speed, nearly crashing into trees countless times, only to narrowly avoid them each time. The distance between them fluctuated, constantly shrinking, lengthening, and shrinking again – a breathtakingly thrilling spectacle! The two pilots' reaction speeds were nearing the limits of human capability. Even in this extreme state, Lewis achieved a breakthrough, unleashing 120% of his abilities in a fierce confrontation with Ally!
The media in the sky were in an uproar, and hundreds of millions of viewers outside the screen cheered wildly. Even Garde, who had experienced countless big events, was so excited that he was incoherent! For off-road vehicles to use the speed of racing cars to engage in such an intense and thrilling extreme duel in a forest full of towering trees is unprecedented and unparalleled in the entire history of motorsports!
Of course, the most excited are the owners of major betting companies. The bets placed by countless car enthusiasts on these two teams are enough to determine the life or death of their companies in an instant! Regardless of which team wins in the end, it will inevitably make countless people rich overnight, and countless others lose everything overnight!
Everyone was captivated by the competition between the established teams and the strongest dark horse.
That's why some things are overlooked.
The final and strongest line of defense set up by the ancient people to hide the World Crystal Tree, after a prelude of suppressing combat-type abilities, has finally been fully activated.
In a space that does not exist--
Yu He opened his eyes, then closed them again.
"It's started..."
He let out a soft sigh.
"President, now--"
"You don't need to do anything."
"But--"
"Listen to me, we don't need to do anything now, just wait for the aftermath to be over. The massive casualties will inevitably bring shame upon the Gray Starling Group and cause serious short-term damage—but! As long as we can successfully extract the Crystal Realm Fruit, all the losses will be worthwhile."
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Sigh, midterms are over this weekend, and the next few days will be hectic, so I probably won't be able to update daily... Don't forget me, everyone! /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~ Please don't hesitate to use your Monthly Votes... (You're so kind)