Ch.318Initial S (4)

“Come on! Come on!! Pick any kart you want!! They’re all the same performance-wise!! I believe in fair competition when it comes to racing!!”

The Stunt Master immediately hopped into his personal kart.

Indeed, there didn’t seem to be any meaningful performance difference between the karts. They all looked like basic karts straight out of a video game.

But… the kart the Stunt Master was handling was different.

Vrooom-! Vrooom-!

It was clearly souped-up.

“Wait a minute!! Your kart obviously looks better!!”

Umi immediately protested.

“Are you kidding me?! Man, even the engine sound is different!!”

Taiga, being a former biker gang member, noticed the performance difference right away.

“Huh? Isn’t that just your imagination?”

The Stunt Master stuck out his lower lip.

“Are you professional kart experts from Earth or something? No, you’re not. It’s just your subjective opinion.”

The Stunt Master was blatantly lying through his teeth.

“This bastard… there’s nothing fair about him at all.”

Sasix glared at the Stunt Master with cold eyes.

Certainly, even in the game, the Stunt Master’s kart had the best performance. But it was a manageable handicap. After all, this was fundamentally a JRPG. It was designed so that even someone with terrible skills could win first place.

“I… I’ve never driven before.”

The girlfriends, except for Taiga and Kirtan, seemed worried about that.

“This small one is the accelerator. Step on it to move forward. Turn the steering wheel to change direction. This big one is the brake. Step on it to stop.”

However, controlling a kart didn’t require much skill. I roughly explained how to drive.

“Don’t worry. We just need one person from our party to get first place to clear this.”

That’s what I told them.

“For now… just focus on surviving the traps.”

I said, trying to encourage everyone.

“Alright… let’s give it a shot.”

Umi said as she sat in a kart. The other girlfriends also got into their karts.

Boing-!

Since they all had large chests, their breasts touched the steering wheels. Hmm… women are all about the breasts, after all. I found myself smiling with satisfaction at the thought.

“Alright!! Let’s have a fair race then!!!! Let’s go!!”

The Stunt Master shouted as he got into his car.

“This guy… he’s really shameless. Almost shota-level.”

Sasix made an extremely rude comment.

“Hey! How am I shameless?!”

I shouted at Sasix.

“The fact that you can say that so nonchalantly is what makes you shameless!!”

Sasix yelled back.

Waddle waddle-!

While we were engaged in trash talk (against our own team), an alien that looked like a penguin walked over holding a flag.

Beep-! Beep-! Beep-!!

Soon, the traffic lights lit up one by one.

Beeeeep-!

And when the last bulb lit up, the penguin man waved the flag.

Vroooooom-!!

With that, the karts shot forward like they were being launched.

The death race began with 10 opponents including the Stunt Master, and all of our party members.

Vrooooooom-!!

Sasix was showing off his skills honed through racing games. He was in the lead, pushing forward aggressively. Thumbs-up Man was following right behind, as if escorting him.

I… just maintained a middle position.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t do better.

Vroom vroom vroom-!

The racers from Stunt Master’s side had formed a line in front of me like a truck blockade. Because of that, I couldn’t find an angle to move up to the front.

“Playing the game like assholes…”

I muttered to myself.

The other girlfriends… were holding the rear positions.

“Kyaaah!!”

Just then, I heard Umi’s scream.

Bang-! Crash-!!

Other alien riders were pushing Umi’s kart into a corner like they were driving bumper cars.

“Umi!!! I’ll come help you right away!!”

I reduced my speed to try to catch up with the rear group.

Screeeech-!

But there was interference from behind. Other racers had formed a bus-like blockade in the rear as well, cutting off my path.

Our group was being split into front, middle, and rear positions.

“Dirty bastards… they’re trying to pick us off one by one!!”

These guys… their AI is dirtier than in the game!!!

Their goal was for their leader, the Stunt Master, to win. They were focusing all their efforts on interference, sacrificing their own rankings for him.

The situation wasn’t good for Sasix and Thumbs-up Man at the front either.

Crash-! Bang-!!

They were being unilaterally blocked by racers escorting the Stunt Master at the front. The Stunt Master was just running in first place with no one marking him.

“Argh!! Get lost!”

Tina was also being ganged up on in the rear. She tried to escape this predicament with emotional handling.

Crack-!!

But… Tina’s inability to control her strength was a variable. The steering wheel in Tina’s hands… broke. I had overlooked the fact that Tina had enough strength to break a steering wheel.

“Kyaa!! The steering wheel!! The steering wheel came off!!”

Tina shouted.

“Tinaaaaaa!!!”

Shit! This is bad! If the car flips over, Tina could get hurt.

“Hahaha! Goodbye!!! Weak Earthling!!”

One racer closed the distance toward Tina, trying to finish her off.

“Stay away!!!!”

Tina immediately threw a lariat at the racer’s driver’s seat.

Splat-!

The racer’s head exploded from Tina’s lariat. Wait. Shit, that actually works?

“Hyah!!!”

Tina roughly climbed onto the intact kart that the racer had been driving. She coldly dropped the corpse as an added touch. Tina… you’re strong.

“Kyaa!! Someone help me!!”

Umi screamed as she was being sandwiched by racers on both sides.

“Argh!! Umi!! Fight back!!”

Taiga approached Umi while holding a baseball bat in one hand and steering with the other. She was as reliable as Zhao Zilong. So damn sexy…!!

Thwack-! Smack-!

Taiga immediately bashed two racers with her bat and pulled Umi out.

“Shota!!! At this rate, we’re screwed!!”

Taiga shouted loudly from beyond the encirclement.

“We need to regroup… damn it!!”

Frill couldn’t break through the racers’ blockade at all. When she tried to step on the accelerator to increase speed, the guys in front would immediately slow down, driving threateningly.

“Yeah! I know!! If we continue like this, we’re fucked!! All of us!!”

Even though three racers had been eliminated, six still remained excluding the Stunt Master. Moreover, those six were doing their best to crush us. Meanwhile, the Stunt Master was unmarked. The odds were overwhelmingly against us.

“Sasiiiiix!!!”

I called out to Sasix loudly.

“What!!”

Sasix shouted while fighting in his car.

“If we take out all these guys… can you get first place?”

I said to Sasix.

“…Of course.”

Sasix shouted with a confident smile. Yeah. I decided to believe him. He’s someone who delivers when it counts.

“Alright!!! I believe you!!”

After saying that, I immediately jerked the steering wheel.

“Shota… what are you…!”

Sasix seemed surprised to see me suddenly trying to drive in the opposite direction.

Screeeech-!!

As the car spun around, I started driving the course in reverse.

Vrooooom-!!

“Hyaaah!!”

With a sword in one hand, I rammed into a racer chasing from behind with all my might.

Crash-!!!!

The opponent’s car flipped over due to the sudden collision.

Clang-!

Taking advantage of the car flipping over, I immediately swung my sword. The racer’s body, along with the car, was cut in half and scattered by my sword strike.

Boom-!

A car exploded in mid-air.

Screech-!

And I stepped on the brake, blocking the middle of the road.

“What… driving in reverse…!!”

“These bastards!! Playing dirty!!”

The other racers shouted as they slammed on their brakes.

“You guys played dirty first. So we’ll play dirty too.”

I smiled as I slowly moved the car.

Yeah. I was a Korean gamer to the bone. While Japanese kids were playing cute Ma*io Kart, I had experienced all the bitterness of the world in Ka*t Rider.

The fundamental mode of Ka*t Rider? It wasn’t racing. It was blocking. And I was someone who was pretty good at blocking in my neighborhood.

“What kind of race is this anyway.”

I smiled and signaled to everyone.

“Let’s play a blocking game, guys.”

I said to everyone.

“Hah. Now you’re talking.”

Taiga grinned.

“Let’s eliminate all the guys in the back!! Then we’ll go crush the ones in front!!”

I shouted loudly.

“So it’s like a mounted battle rather than racing. Sounds fun.”

Kana also picked up her sword with a seductive smile.

“Yeah!! Weapon use is free anyway!”

Kirtan also caught the momentum. That’s my girlfriends for you. So damn aggressive. That’s why I like them.

Racing? To hell with that. We’re way past that now.

“Hah!! You think it’ll be that easy?!”

One racer immediately stepped on the accelerator, trying to escape from my path. It was a shallow attempt to break out of the encirclement I had formed.

Indeed, completely blocking a moving kart was difficult. That’s why the blocking mode was surprisingly profound.

The key to blocking an opponent’s kart was to slightly move your car’s rear end in front of the opponent. Moving too much would create openings.

“Just back up against them and hold steady.”

I recited the magic spell for successful blocking as I cut off his path.

Thud-!

With the sound of something colliding behind me, the guy’s kart was pushed back significantly.

“Y-you bastard…!!!”

The guy glared at me.

“Try to break through if you can.”

I said with a smile.

And so, the race entered a new phase.