Star Forge Titan

The scratches on the slowly turning tiny gears seem to be fragments of time left in the cockpit by the burning souls and passion of the racing drivers while driving.

At this moment, those confusing data are like sand and stones settled deep in the seabed, which have resurfaced due to an unprecedented violent hurricane.

Even the first words spoken by the first test driver of the Golden Thought, the white-haired old pilot, when he sat in the cockpit were remembered by the never-forgetting mechanical tower spirit.

“We drivers all have free spirits that chase victory like the wind.”

[Freedom...Victory...Speed]

【I……】

Inside the cockpit, the secondary observation device mounted above the differential engine, which was emitting red light, began to spin wildly, like a human pilot who had gone mad.

【*￥＆＃@】

【I *￥#3534&……want@&##@*#####】

The madly spinning camera suddenly stopped for a moment, and then suddenly aimed all three observation lenses in a triangular shape straight ahead, at the gradually receding figure of the Hope.

Dozens of high-speed rotating gears inside the differential engine suddenly flew out, but the chaotic erroneous data were eliminated in an instant, and only the simplest gear digital code remained.

【I...want...to win! 】

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The magic engine, which had originally automatically reduced its power to a safe level due to built-in safety provisions, once again emitted a roar of overload operation.

At the same time, the top floor hall of the Alchemist Association headquarters far away in Lutetia was in complete chaos.

"This is impossible!" Flamel said in disbelief.

In front of him, the control platform, which imitated the structure of a pipe organ and consisted of three layers of black and white keys and a large number of pedals and pull-bolts, began to operate automatically, as if several invisible arms began to strike the keys at the same time.

On the expensive screen made of magic crystal, words such as ERRRRRR, which symbolize errors, popped up one after another. The warning pop-up windows almost covered the entire screen, making it impossible to understand what unexpected events had happened to the mechanical tower spirit hundreds of kilometers away.

"We've never entered this form before. Could it be... could it be that the Mechanical Tower Spirit, in order to win, deduced this new form based on the recorded driver information!?!"

The hall fell into dead silence as everyone realized the same thing.

The mechanical tower spirit on the Golden Thought, which is hundreds of kilometers away, may have... lost control!

"Hmm?" The moment the accident happened, Alvin's intuition made him turn his head to look at the Golden Thought, which was about to be left far behind by the Hope.

Originally, the black-haired boy was drawing on the fire elemental power stored in the flawless gemstone, Flame of Eternity, intending to combine it with the power of [Reshaping the World] to refill the previously consumed propellant in the Hurricane Engine.

But the electric shock that flashed across his eyebrows suddenly made him realize that something unexpected was happening.

Almost at the same time, Diana also looked at the rearview mirror.

The two of them saw at the same time that the Golden Thought was severely damaged. Like a sailboat about to sink in the water, it kept throwing away various broken parts to reduce its weight.

His car body became smaller and smaller, and even the tires were discarded from six to only three.

The distribution of one tire in front and two in the back was not stable, but after throwing away almost all the weapons and cumbersome items, the volume of the Golden Thought was one-third of its original size, and its mass had been reduced to an unprecedented level.

In addition, the specially shaped body can increase grip with the help of air resistance, which prevents it from increasing the probability of losing control due to high speed.

Relying on this method that exceeded the designer's expectations, the Golden Thought, which was originally far behind and almost about to be caught up by the second group running on the rear track, actually slowly caught up.

"Interesting? This thing makes me feel subtly familiar." Alvin lowered his voice and frowned slightly, vaguely feeling that something seemed wrong.

Unfortunately, due to insufficient information, he couldn't find out what exactly was causing him to feel something was wrong.

But I did think of a solution.

Anyway, no matter what the reason is, it should be in that strange magic car, so the solution is very simple.

Destroy it and everything will be over.

Alvin slowly tightened his grip on the mithril handle connected to the rear hurricane thruster.

The fire element crystals inside were already one-fifth full, so if the shockwave acceleration was activated, the total duration would definitely be much shorter than normal. However, if used as ammunition for attack, it would be more than enough.

But before Ivan activated the attack mode of the Cyclone Thruster, Diana suddenly spoke up to stop him.

"Wait." The short-haired girl's voice was as cold as ever, but her eyes, staring at the opponent's vehicle in the rearview mirror, were as bright as flames.

That look belonged to the witch who dominated the Sarthe arena, a look that only appeared when she encountered a good opponent. It was a passionate look like that of a girl in love.

"It no longer has any offensive weapons."

"You mean..." Alvin looked a little surprised.

Then he noticed Diana's burning eyes, and his original surprise was replaced by an expression of understanding.

"Yeah." Diana nodded seriously.

“It’s a competition between drivers.”

The girl's meaning couldn't be clearer.

She wants to completely defeat her opponent through pure racing!

"Are you sure?" Ivan asked in a serious tone:

"Yes." Diana, holding the steering wheel tightly, said without hesitation:

"Okay, I don't care." Alvin was not angry. Instead, he slowly smiled.

Even though their experiences are different, the current Salt Witch and the future Valkyrie are essentially the same in character.

This doesn't seem strange at all.

After all, they are the same person.

Chapter 203: Courage Surge

Spin the wheels, twist the steering, roar the engine, and vibrate the body.

We are - the ones who chase the wind!

At this moment, the Golden Thought is approaching at an unprecedented speed!

Diana's eyes were solemn, her expression unchanged, and her hands holding the steering wheel did not tremble at all.

After completely abandoning its weapons and becoming the ultimate lightweight, the Golden Thought was almost about to take off on the spot. A thick smoke blew out from the rear of the flat triangular body, and the trembling magic engine roared with a hoarse and desperate roar.

Its speed was still increasing! The distance between the two sides was reduced to a mere five meters!

But Diana still didn't activate the hurricane thrusters, even though the number of forced thrusts available on the display had clearly returned to the full three bars.

The narrowness of the track made it difficult for the approaching Golden Thought to overtake Hope. The short-haired girl understood this, so she didn't choose to accelerate immediately. However, this did not guarantee absolute victory or safety.

When a vehicle enters a relatively wide curve, there may be a brief opportunity for the following vehicle to overtake.

Not far ahead is a sharp bend that is far more than a right angle, close to 180°, followed by two equally dangerous sharp turns. This section of the track is known as the most dangerous canyon hairpin bend in the desert Gobi section.

Obviously, this is a very dangerous section of the track, but it is also a very suitable track to overtake or leave opponents behind.

The Hope and the Golden Thought, maintaining their high speed, would enter the three hairpin turns in a few seconds. Diana's eyes quickly swept over the various buttons and levers in front of her, and she made a judgment without thinking.

Click, the round push rod on the left was pushed to the second gear by the short-haired girl, click, the upward push rod on the right was first pulled flat to unlock, and then pushed directly forward to the end.

At the same time, the steering wheel was suddenly turned to the far left.

The series of operations were completed almost instantly, and the high-speed magic car Hope responded to the driver's smooth operations without any delay.

The two pairs of front tires bend inward to an angle almost perpendicular to the body of the car, and the body of the car immediately turns sideways. The engine sound at the rear also changes in an instant when the gear is changed. The aerodynamically streamlined body is completely deformed from head to tail, and the left and right deflectors and the two olive-shaped thrusters on the left and right also switch to different angles.

In an instant, the Hope's chassis lifted off the ground slightly at an angle to the left and right due to the different air resistance caused by the asymmetrical structure of the left and right bodies at high speed.

At the same moment, when the vehicle entered the curve in a half-floating state, Diana suddenly pressed the red acceleration button on the left side of the steering wheel.

The critical light stone that had been placed in the activation device in advance instantly left the slot and flew into the torrent thruster. After being activated, the fire element crystal suddenly lit up with a dazzling magical light.

Bright red high-temperature elemental magic, the same color as the button, was immediately compressed and launched, and the resulting propulsion allowed the Hope to completely break free from the constraints of gravity on the vehicle body.

Thus, this high-speed magic car named "Hope" actually completely floated off the ground, and then relied on the asymmetrical diversion structure of the left and right sides of the car body to complete the amazing operation of floating around the corner.

But when Diana blinked hard to squeeze out the sweat, she saw a strange figure almost at close range to the Hope out of the corner of her eye!

That is... Golden Thoughts!

"!" The surprise in the girl's eyes didn't even have time to appear, and the second sharp turn was already within reach.

Without bothering to think about how the other party kept up with her, Diana concentrated on gripping the steering wheel tightly, and at the same time used her ring finger and middle finger to quickly control the buttons on the left and right of the steering wheel to complete the fine-tuning of the car body shape.

Of Hope's three pairs of wheels, only the two front left tires were slightly in contact with the ground. Then, under the action of the Hurricane thrusters, it continued to rush into the next bend in an almost suspended posture.

This incredible cornering technique was a new one Diana mastered in a very short time, relying entirely on her experience and extraordinary intuition. The risks involved are self-evident.

But what this brings is also the ultimate fast cornering that exceeds the original theoretical limit!

however--

Golden Thought, who was following closely behind, actually calculated a similar method in almost the same time, and copied it 100% to himself, and kept a dangerous distance from Hope, allowing the two cars to maintain a parallel posture and turn at the same time!

"Tsk!" Diana gritted her teeth, a hint of anger appearing on her usually expressionless face.

However, the Golden Thought, which was so close to her, had a completely black cockpit fairing, so she couldn't see the hateful expression on the guy sitting inside.

As for Ivan in the back seat, he was relying on his own induction and sixth sense to monitor every detail of the car body with full concentration, and the magic power in his body was kept loaded and ready to be activated at any time.

You know, Diana's driving style is so dangerous at the moment. If she makes a mistake accidentally, it will lead to the terrible consequence of car crash and death.

Seeing that the third bend was approaching, the short-haired girl driver did not care about being angry at the other party's "despicable" behavior of imitating her driving route. She immediately stepped on the pedal and pulled the handbrake, making a more dangerous operation than before!

She actually made the Hope, in the brief moment when it left the second turn and entered the third turn, not only did she not straighten the steering wheel, but she kept the car body turning in a dangerous position that was almost skidding, allowing the entire car to complete a nearly 360-degree circular drift through the turns in a turn that was only slightly wider than an ordinary racetrack!

The result is that while retaining its own inertia to the greatest extent and without reducing the speed at all, the direction change is completed with the greatest efficiency and fastest speed, allowing the Hope to rush into the last bend of the three consecutive hairpin bends in the canyon at high speed!

This was simply too exciting, even Alvin, who was of Titan descent, couldn't help but feel sweat on his vest.

But when Diana turned her head to look around again, she saw that the Golden Thought had completed a nearly 360-degree drift rotation at the same time as herself and rushed into the third turn. In this process, no matter who turned even one degree more, it was very likely to cause a collision between the two, and then both would explode and be eliminated.

Cold sweat instantly covered Diana's forehead, but even though the sweat flowed into her eyes and brought an extremely sour feeling, she still didn't dare to blink, because both sides were about to leave the three hairpin turns and enter a narrower straight track.

At this moment, time seemed to slow down for an instant.

Diana's field of vision changed slowly at a rate of a few tenths of a second. The track ahead became narrow again, only wide enough for one car to pass through, while the Hope and Golden Thought still maintained their parallel racing posture.

The exit of the curve is just around the corner, and the collision that would cause the car to crash and people to die seems to be just around the corner as well!

In an instant, countless memories flashed through Diana's mind like a kaleidoscope, including the kind nanny in the orphanage, the bright smiles on the dirty faces of her brothers and sisters who were not related by blood but were as close as family, and the ordinary people in the downtown area who always cheered for her despite their poverty.

Those things are the real reason why this magic car is named Hope!

I want to win...

I must win!

Carrying the name of 'hope', I must achieve complete victory!

Diana's bright red eyes shone like sparkling gems in the sunlight.

Similarly, in the empty cockpit of the Golden Thought, the artificial consciousness that gathered the remaining records of many racers also conveyed a firm belief that was no less than the former.

Even its self-awareness is not yet clear, but because of the belief in winning left by countless people, it has given birth to an exceptionally clear goal in its vague consciousness.

That is also the only ideal it has been given since its birth.

victory!

Pursue victory at all costs!

The engine is roaring, the car body is shaking, the wind is howling, and the soul is burning!!!

At this point, qualifying is no longer determined by slight differences in vehicle performance.

It was the pilot's own, radiant like a blazing fire—

--courage!!!

Chapter 204: Burning Heart Fire

Unlike the other turns, the triple hairpin turn is the last turn in the canyon.

As long as you pass this section of road, it means you can rush out of the canyon in a straight line, complete the entire desert Gobi track, and enter the next section of the race.

However, even this last section of road is as narrow as other sections in the canyon, allowing only one car to pass through.

As a result, as both sides quickly left the curve, the two cars speeding side by side were about to hit the mountain wall.

However, neither Diana nor the mechanical tower spirit inside the Golden Thought had any intention of slowing down or giving way.