Rhode was suffering inside the car, with no way to voice his distress.
After overtaking Puzik, he had thought, All right, that's enough. I've already won, so let's turn this insanely powerful thing off.
Huh?
Did that chief technician forget to tell me how to shut this thing down?
There's a start button, but no stop button!
Rhode could only frantically hammer the big red button. But now, no matter how many times he pressed it, nothing happened. Instead, the car kept accelerating.
A little later, Rhode felt the entire dashboard shaking nonstop. No, the whole car was shaking.
He had lost control of the vehicle.
Then came the scene the spectators witnessed: the rocket car's engine caught fire, and the flames quickly spread across the entire vehicle.
Holy crap. I never thought driving a race car would feel more dangerous than fighting a war.
Now all I can do is get ready to jump out.
If Rhode had been alone, that probably would not have been much of a problem. But Karaba, a member of the Musket Corps, was also in the car.
He was injured, and the car was going so fast that Rhode did not know whether grabbing him with Mage Hand and jumping out would hurt him further.
But there really was no other option.
Rhode was about to unbuckle his seat belt when he suddenly spotted what looked like a tiny green button below the big red one.
Hmm? What's this?
Rhode leaned closer and discovered some almost illegibly small words above it: "Press here in an emergency!"
Damn it, what the hell? Why didn't anyone tell me about this during the test drive?
Whatever. This is an emergency. I'll press it first and worry later. It's probably some rescue mechanism that chief technician installed.