Ch.124Retirement Ceremony (6)

“I didn’t particularly want this, but now that the stakes are properly set and there are so many people watching this match, I can’t just take it easy.

I’ll give it my all.

“3!”

It’s about to start.

“2!”

I get into position.

The other competitors are also finishing their preparations to dash forward.

“1!”

Start…!

Whoosh!

“Oh! The Blood Tower Master is charging ahead quickly!”

As soon as it starts, my car model dashes forward and instantly takes the lead.

I can make the speed as fast or slow as I want within the limit, but the faster I go, the harder it is to navigate through this narrow map without crashing.

The buildings and walls of the map are made of materials that nullify magical power, so the moment you crash, your car model inevitably melts away limply.

Recreating it and sending it from that position inevitably consumes time.

Even if you could remake it immediately, you’d still have to stay in place for at least 3 seconds.

3 seconds is an enormous amount of time.

It was important not to touch the map, even if it meant sacrificing some speed.

But I am the god of Blood Claw Art.

This level of difficulty can’t contain my speed.

As soon as we started, I immediately reached maximum speed and navigated the map swiftly and accurately, widening the gap.

At this rate, no one could catch up.

“Ah, without any unexpected events, this will end in the Blood Tower Master’s overwhelming victory!”

“Yes, that’s right. Usually that would be the case. However…”

That’s when it happened.

Whoosh!

“Hmm?”

A small bat flew toward me and started interfering.

It clearly doesn’t look like an ordinary bat.

“This is…”

Just as I was momentarily confused by the feeling that it seemed artificially created, when the bat touched me, my sense of blood manipulation became blurry.

‘What’s this?’

Is this some kind of item that blurs senses?

Of course, this level of blurriness doesn’t prevent me from manipulating blood.

I continued driving, handling the bat’s attack as if it were nothing significant.

“Whoa! She’s not shaken at all by the bat’s attack?! Usually the blood should scatter immediately?!”

“Isn’t this against the rules…?”

“Well, normally if you withstand it well, you’re supposed to be able to continue, but since it’s the Blood Tower Master…”

What the heck.

It seems the original purpose of this was to temporarily immobilize the player.

“So this is an item battle?”

“That’s right. Everyone except the person in first place can see illusions that allow them to obtain items!”

“But this… sigh… I expected it wouldn’t work on the Blood Tower Master…”

“Exactly how many seconds should she stop?”

“Oh, she doesn’t need to stop, but her speed slows down and her sense of direction becomes blurry for about 3 seconds.”

‘So I just need to move slowly for about 3 seconds?’

I reduced my speed.

“Huh? The Blood Tower Master’s car is slowing down?!”

“Ah, it seems she’s adjusting after hearing our explanation.”

“We’re grateful for your ocean-like generosity!”

Come on, commentator, don’t thank me.

The item must be more powerful than I thought, because despite the considerable distance I’d built up, the gap closed instantly in just 3 seconds.

And that wasn’t all.

“Ah, that’s a coagulation pack!”

“It’s an item that allows you to quickly stick to the car ahead of you!”

“Like a magnet?”

“Good, good, Irina! She’s catching up instantly!”

Just as the commentators said, Irina suddenly stuck right to me.

“Hello, unni~!”

“You’re fast.”

I can’t lose either.

The 3 seconds passed in an instant, so I immediately accelerated to top speed again and widened the gap.

As the distance increased again, Irina clicked her tongue in disappointment, but now I really don’t intend to give her any distance…

“Whoa, what’s that!”

“Oh, she has good item luck! It’s a Blood Prison flying toward first place!”

“It’s an item that stops you for a full 2 seconds!”

“Wow, 2 seconds is really significant!”

…at all.

“No way! Irina just got a Dimensional Distortion Device?!”

“That’s the item that lets you pass through walls, right?”

“This is getting unpredictable!”

What?

I’ve been overtaken.

She stole the lead instantly with the Dimensional Distortion Device.

“And there’s another Blood Prison coming!”

“Unfortunately, it’s coming while she hasn’t reclaimed first place yet…”

Meanwhile, another Blood Prison flew toward me.

‘Irina is in first place!’

Why is it coming to me?!

I’d like to ignore it and keep going, but I couldn’t.

Those are the game rules, and if I just ignored them and continued, it wouldn’t be a game anymore…

I reluctantly stopped my car for 2 seconds due to the Blood Prison.

That’s when it happened.

“Huh?”

“It’s a Blood Bomb?!”

“Wait, she’s already stopped right now?”

A blood balloon completely engulfed my car.

With my overwhelming Blood Claw Art, it wasn’t particularly problematic, but it was clearly a technique similar to the Blood Prison.

“What’s the effect of the Blood Bomb?”

“If you’re where it explodes, you have to float in the air like a balloon for 1.5 seconds.”

“Oh dear…”

1.5 seconds.

It might seem short, but in a racing game, it’s a very long time.

Second place, third place… they pass me in an instant.

Talk about unfair treatment.

‘This is the worst…’

I gritted my teeth.

If I was being somewhat lenient before, that’s no longer the case.

Of course, I still need to act as if I’m affected when hit by an item, but…

‘Can’t I just avoid them?’

If I don’t get hit, I won’t be affected.

If a bat flying around me doesn’t necessarily affect me, then what I need to do is simple.

As the creator of Blood Claw Art, it’s time to show overwhelming control.

“Well… good.”

As my ranking dropped, I was able to collect items along the way.

Honestly, I think it’s a bad move to prevent only the first-place player from getting items.

Looking at this, the balance doesn’t seem that well-adjusted yet.

But what can I do?

It’s also a game that was created not too long ago… and I was the one who volunteered to play it.

Still, dropping in rank like this makes me too annoyed to endure.

I’ll catch them all.

I immediately increased my speed to maximum while collecting an item.

Then, an item appeared on my interface outside the map.

‘This is…’

A coagulation pack.

From what I heard, it’s an item that allows you to quickly stick to a designated opponent.

As you can tell from the description about quickly sticking to someone, it’s an item that can easily exceed the maximum speed.

Although it provides some correction, you still need to use it carefully because you could crash into walls.

But…

“She just got a coagulation pack?!”

“Looks like she’s going to use it right away.”

“Oh? She picked up another item on the way!”

“She got a Heart Strengthener!”

“It’s a boost! It temporarily removes the speed limit!”

I remember everyone who passed me…

I’ll catch up to all of you right now.

I set the magnet target to Irina, who was in first place, and used the item.

My car, which had been limited by the maximum speed, suddenly traversed the map at an incredible pace as if it had grown wings.

Unlike just moments ago when the distance was quite far, I instantly overtook the others and moved right behind Irina.

I knew it was extremely fast when Irina used it on me, but the speed was beyond my imagination.

I was about to move forward to catch up with Irina at a leisurely pace, amazed by the incredible speed, but…

‘It’s not going any further?’

As soon as I got close, my speed gradually slowed down, and I started sticking to Irina.

Only then did I fully understand the effect.

‘They said it was like a magnet…?!’

Since they said it was like a magnet, naturally once I got close enough to drive side by side, I had no choice but to stick to Irina.

But having come this far, I couldn’t lose.

“No way…”

“How already…?!”

The other players, and even Irina, seemed surprised.

Having already removed the speed limit with the boost, I could move freely.

I concentrated all my attention and moved along the path without the slightest deviation.

“Whooooaa!”

“She’s fast! So fast! Too fast!!”

“The items can’t keep up with her speed!!”

Naturally, reaching the finish line was instantaneous.

“Goal!!”

“Overwhelming! Mere items can’t stop her!”

“As expected of the Blood Tower Master…”

“There’s just no way to win against this~”

“Amazing, truly amazing.”

Ah.

‘I stomped them.’

I was planning to just enjoy it casually.

But I guess I got heated up because they kept interfering with items.

Why does it feel like those words are mocking me?

I know they’re genuinely praising me, saying I’m amazing, but I feel so pathetic that it doesn’t sound that way to me.

Sigh.

I said I would take it seriously, but I got too serious and won overwhelmingly.

The item luck was good too, but…

‘Do you really want to be that serious against kids?’

I feel like I can see Seria’s illusion looking at me pathetically.

I must be aging backwards.

Haha…”