Chapter 118: The Race 5
Nicholas reached the end of the track and immediately came to a stop. Three different paths stretched out before him.
Activating the Third Eye, Nicholas’ vision sharpened. Through it, he could clearly make out Tor’s influence woven throughout the tracks.
He could see the strange energy flowing throughout the entire course. The three paths before him were no exception.
The path to the left sloped downward, leaving the race entirely and disappearing deeper into the cave. Clearly not a path intended for the race.
The path in the center, which looked like a natural continuation of the track, was nothing more than an illusion. Beyond it lay a sheer drop.
’...So that’s the real path.’ Nicholas thought as he immediately turned toward the track on the right. Keeping the Third Eye active, he could clearly see the traps scattered along the route.
Hidden trigger points were embedded across the path, each capable of opening the ground beneath his feet without warning.
Nicholas adjusted every step with precision, weaving through them as though he already knew where each one would appear.
[....: Didn’t she say the tracks had traps? Is the Phantom guy just running through like it’s a normal track?]
Moments after Nicholas passed, glowing blue lines burst across all three paths. They branched like circuitry across a computer motherboard, racing over the cave floor, walls, and ceiling before converging again almost instantly. The entire process lasted less than a second.
It was almost as though the lines had inspected every path before converging once more, selecting the rightmost route and continuing after Nicholas.
Watching from the theater, Selena frowned.
"His ability is strange. I can’t quite figure it out... He might be a bad matchup for Nicholas."
Dana sighed, "He’s already taken the lead, the others won’t catch up easily. At worst, he’ll finish second."
"I don’t think so... Star already caught up, and Kite isn’t too far behind."
Dana looked back at the screen and was shocked to see it was just as Selena said.
Nicholas continued down the track when he suddenly felt a strange fluctuation. Blue tracing lines spread rapidly across the cave, crawling over the floor, walls, and ceiling before sweeping past him like a living current.
"Easy there. You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep rushing like that." Star’s voice echoed through the entire track at once as the blue traces gathered together forming his frame once more.
"Am I tripping or what?! The Brazilians have taken the lead once more! Are we about to witness a repeat of the first track?" Julie’s voice rang out.
[RedJen_OSU: Damn, The Brazilians really brought their best racers]
[Ahmetdyzaad: that was an unexpected come back]
[Uknown56: We’re leaving you all in the dust! Brazil to win!]
[Marypaz13: You wish, tsk]
Nicholas frowned as he saw Star’s body break into tracers once more, moving through the track with an incredible speed.
’He disperses himself into tracers... no physical body means no weight, no pressure, no contact. The traps can’t trigger if there’s nothing solid to trigger them.’ Nicholas could see the mechanics of the ability with the third eye.
’Passing him won’t be easy, but not impossible’ Nicholas thought.
[Agility 130~230]
Nicholas felt the wave of energy as it burst through his body, and in an instant, Nicholas exploded forward.
The world around him blurred into images as he moved at breakneck speed, His eyes scanned every inch of the course. With third eye still activated he dodged all the bobby traps while running incredibly fast.
"Just when we thought we’d seen it all, Phantom decides to show us a spectacle, what the heck are we witnessing?! How is he dodging all the traps while still maintaining top speed like that?!" Julie asked.
[Literary_Archive: Wondering how fast his mind has to be moving to keep up with such intense speed while tracking the field]
[Josh_Cook: Go Phantom!]
In the blink of an eye, Nicholas overtook the stream of blue tracers, leaving Star behind. But instead of widening the gap, he immediately slowed, keeping the distance between them surprisingly short.
Star’s body took form again right behind Nicholas and he bit his lips in annoyance, "You’re fast, I’ll give you that" He hissed as his body broke into tracers once more.
With breakneck speed he sped past Nicholas once more, as the tracers moved below him Nicholas felt something strange, all the hairs on his body stood tall. With third eye he could see Star reforming only his hands to make him trip, "I said you should be careful" Star voice rang out as his hands shot out below Nicholas, in an attempt to pin down his legs.
Nicholas leapt back avoiding the hand.
"Tsk." Star hissed as he continued forward. He reformed several meters ahead, but the gap wasn’t nearly as wide as before.
Nicholas cold gaze fixed behind him, he didn’t know why, but having Nicholas right behind him filled him with a feeling of dread.
He broke into traces again, speeding ahead, but as he reformed once more, Nicholas was still behind him.
"Why are you in such a haste? The track is more fun with you on it" Nicholas said, his voice cold and dripping with intent.
Star felt cold sweat drop his head, ’How is he keeping up?’ star broke apart, speeding off once more, but as he reappeared Nicholas was still behind him.
’Is this guy playing with me?’ Star thought slightly frustrated.
"What do we have here?! Phantom and Star tied in a back-and-forth race. And oh! Kite is tagging just behind them! This is a tight race!" Julie said her voice dripping with excitement as the camera shifted to Kite who was gliding through the track.
The earth beneath his feet rose up as he moved, like it was a skating platform and as he passed, it returned back to its previous form.
"Why are you staying behind me? You’re already fast enough to go past me!" Star asked, feeling bothered by Nicholas tag along.
Nicholas didn’t reply.
His gaze was fixed on the show screen hanging around the track, he noticed Kite who was catching up, ’I have to stop him from catching up, then I’ll get back to Star’
Star gritted his teeth as he broke apart into traces once more and sped ahead, this time as he reformed, he didn’t find Nicholas behind him, he felt a wave of relief, ’Seems he can’t keep up with that speed, he’s probably burning out the longer he does it’ Star thought a smile climbing up his face.
"Star is taking the lead once more! It seems Phantom slowed down?! What’s going on? What is Phantom doing?" Julie said as the camera flashed back to Nicholas.
Nicholas moved through the track, stepping on all the traps in the track, he moved so fast that the trap barely caught on before he moved.
[Day_Moon: Fuck! He just spoilt the track for the other racers!]
[Primordial_Being01: I guess playing dirty is the way now]
The chat entered into a torrent of messages as they witnessed what Nicholas had done, the ground had opened up in several places, enough to catch anyone from running ahead.
"Phantom has activated all the traps and left them for the others! But will he still be able to catch up to Star?!"
Nicholas ignored Julie’s commentary.
’I only had to know how long he stays in that form before reforming.’
He couldn’t just leave Star after the stunt he tried to pull by trying to make him fall.
But it was his turn now, and he waited for this particular moment.
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