Star Forge Titan

The female driver of the Victory Tornado had veins bulging on her forehead and her facial expression was distorted to an exaggerated degree. While accelerating, she did not forget to move the car body left and right to block the overtaking path of the vehicle behind her.

If it weren't for the air blade being mounted on the front of the car, she would definitely not be able to resist launching a reasonable "interference" against her opponent.

But even so, the gap between the two, which was already shrinking rapidly, was still approaching 'zero' at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Soon, the two cars entered a dangerous distance where blood was drawn on every blow, just like in close combat.

They were like two gladiators wearing barely-covering performance armor, engaging in close combat with daggers and studded gloves in the arena, engaging in dozens of rounds of fighting in a time so short that ordinary people would have difficulty reacting.

It is not only a competition of vehicle performance, but also an absolute competition of driving skills and the driver's own courage.

Neither side relaxed at all, and there was nothing else in their vision except the track in front of them and the opponents beside them!

As the longest stage of the race, the plain stage is characterized by its extremely long straight track, which provides ample space for racing between the two sides.

At first, Victory Tornado tried to use its first-mover advantage to forcibly block Diana's overtaking path, and she did so at the beginning, preventing Hope, which had better straight-line acceleration capabilities, from overtaking immediately.

But this did not delay for too long. As Diana narrowed her eyes slightly, a fine line appeared between the eyebrows of the short-haired girl. Every detail in the visual field flashed quickly in her brain, and then an invisible dotted line gradually emerged.

This dotted line changes in real time as the Victory Tornado swings back and forth in front of it, and there is hardly a moment of stillness.

If this is really used as an overtaking route, then as long as Diana makes the slightest mistake, it will lead to a serious collision between the two vehicles, or even a major accident with the car destroyed and people killed.

But she released the brakes without hesitation, allowing the Hope, driven by the Hurricane thrusters, to rush towards the Victory Tornado in front without any hesitation.

It's like completely ignoring the tiny probability of successfully overtaking and the remaining 99% possibility of crashing the other party into hell along with yourself.

"You...Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, don't come over here!" The Victory Tornado pilot, who originally had a distorted expression, now let out a sharp and nervous scream like a little girl.

But while screaming, she still suddenly turned the steering wheel to the left, blocking the other party's overtaking route again, even if it meant a collision!

but……

"Hmph." A sneer appeared on Diana's face for the first time.

The light in the girl's eyes was like a burning flame, suddenly radiating a brightness never before seen.

At the same time, Ivan, who was sitting in the back seat, seemed to have a telepathic connection. Relying on the body shaping function of [Reshape the World], he suddenly reshaped the spoiler originally located at the rear of the car into a tall upright shape like a fish fin.

At the same time, he also referred to the sails hung on classical sailboats and cleverly borrowed the power of the wind!

Coupled with Diana's micro-manipulation that was precise to the millisecond, the Hope, which was about to collide with the Victory Tornado in front, was like an agile swordfish. It instantly brushed past the opponent's body, drew a graceful arc, and flashed past from the right!

Immediately afterwards, the Hurricane Thruster, no longer restricted by brakes and retarder rods, immediately displayed its full strength.

The magic beam that spread over more than ten meters brought unparalleled backward thrust. At this moment, the Hope's body, which was originally blue and white in color, seemed to be dyed with a layer of red.

The entire magic car was like a burning arrow of fire, leaving the Victory Tornado far behind, drawing a straight red line on the ground and speeding forward.

"This... this kind of technology! How is this possible!?!" The Victory Cyclone's pilot muttered to himself in a cold sweat.

Just now, whether it was myself or the other party, if any of their actions were even half a second slower, it would have led to a tragic car accident at high speed.

But the fact is that the other party successfully completed an almost impossible overtaking action with 100% flawless driving skills!

After a long while, she simply slowed down and looked at the shrinking car from afar.

"What? What on earth was I thinking? I actually came to participate in a competition between monsters."

As a result, the only thing left in front of the Hope was the Wheel of the Father of the Temple of Light, but there was still no sign of relaxation on Ivan's face. Instead, his brows were furrowed even more, as if he was thinking about something very serious.

At this moment, in the packed Linde National Circuit, the commentator was reading out the race situation in text form. The description of the race situation with a hint of fueling the flames and the passionate tone made the audience excited.

For a moment, the stadium was filled with applause, boos, and noisy sounds of fights between supporters of different drivers.

While the Youth Magic Car Competition was in full swing, far away in Lutetia, in the Cathedral of the Temple of Light.

An unexpected chaos also broke the original tranquility of the cathedral.

Chapter 208: Death Battle in the Tunnel (Part 1)

Lutetia Cathedral, a building that had been under construction since before the Magic Revolution.

This church, located in the center of Lutetia, is also known as the Capital Cathedral.

It has a very magnificent twin-tower structure, with the top of the tower reaching 158 meters in height. The main building located from east to west is 145 meters long and 86 meters wide from north to south. The entire building covers an area of ​​more than 6000 square meters.

The entire building is made of polished stone, and the stone collection alone almost hollowed out a stone mountain near Lutetia.

Furthermore, even with the significant acceleration of new technology after the Magical Revolution, the construction of the Capital Cathedral still took over six hundred years.

Such a building that seems to be the embodiment of holiness, glory and piety is now overshadowed by the blazing flames and black smoke rising into the sky.

From the entrance, you can see that above the main entrance of the church, the rose window, which took 32 years to make entirely by hand by craftsmen, has been burned by flames for a long time.

The large circular window, originally radially distributed and inlaid with countless beautiful stained glass windows that resembled roses, now looked like an exquisite dinner plate that had been accidentally dropped on the ground, with heartbreaking cracks visible everywhere.

This is a tragedy that is enough to make artists scramble for the spotlight.

But the priests of the Temple of Light who witnessed this scene only felt rage and shame.

"Even since the first foundation was laid, no heretic has ever been able to invade the Lutetia Cathedral in the past six hundred years." An old man with completely white hair clenched the scepter in his hand and muttered softly:

The old man was wearing a seemingly plain white robe, and on the sleeves one could even see traces of blackening and burning from fighting the fire. The edges of the robe were embroidered with fine patterns of light purple and light gold interwoven with each other.

The former requires a rare dye extracted from the glands of a deep-sea shellfish, hence the name Shell Purple, while the latter requires a craftsman who is skilled in both tailoring and goldsmithing.

A seemingly loose and simple decorative robe actually requires enough labor and material costs to allow a family of three to live a fairly wealthy life for several years.

For the nobles, such clothes might be affordable, but they often choose extravagant clothing that can better show their wealth, and would not buy such a plain-looking robe.

Only a wealthy temple like the Temple of Light, which has the power to collect religious taxes in the vast territory of Linde in the Central Empire, would customize such seemingly ordinary but actually extremely expensive clothing.

The old man in white robes is the chief priest of the capital's church. Apart from the highest-ranking temples in the holy city where the Temple of Light's headquarters is located, he can be said to be the clergyman with the highest status in the Temple of Light in Linde.

Moreover, the old man himself is a high-ranking high priest with fourth-level strength.

Since his youth, he has witnessed and participated in the final completion stage of the capital's cathedral. The difficulties encountered and the process of finding solutions run through almost every stage of the old man's life.

Therefore, he is also one of the Linde people who is most proud of this building.

That's why, in the chaos of the fire just now, the old man lost his composure and forgot about the magic and miracles like an ordinary person, and did something almost stupid like grabbing the thin blanket covering his knees and trying to put out the flames.

Fortunately, after coming to his senses, he quickly directed other priests and dignitaries to control the fire.

But another incident that happened at the same time made the Temple of Light feel even more humiliated.

In a detached building located outside the church, which is specially used for young priests to practice asceticism, study and live, a collective depravity caused by cultists turned out to be the culprit of the whole incident.

When the old man heard the news, he could hardly believe his ears, but now he can look at the whole thing rationally.

Ordinary cultists simply couldn't enter a holy place like the Capital Cathedral, imbued with the majesty of the Heavenly Father. Only the deep, dark evil power that came directly from the evil god could deceive the divine magic and miracles that the Temple of Light maintained in the church year-round.

Looking at the villa that was already shrouded in dark green mist, the old man loosened his grip on the ornately decorated long staff. The servant behind him immediately stepped forward to take the staff, and another person ran to the old man holding another object.

The old man grabbed the thing from the servant's hand without even looking at it.

"I used to laugh at Ian, that old guy who stayed in the library and never came out, but he was actually bitten back by the devil he stuffed into a cage with his own hands. Now... he is really looked down upon by those cult brats." The old man's tone gradually became low.

The wrinkles on his originally sorrowful yet kind face became particularly deep, his eyes were so sharp that they literally emitted blue lightning, his loose white robes fluttered in the wind, and faint rumbling thunder could be heard in the sky.

The old man solemnly raised the object in his hand, which turned out to be a nail hammer reflecting dazzling silver light.

"From a mountain higher than any other, the Father cast down a spear forged from thunder by his Son, a weapon of judgment and a weapon that brings judgment..."

Ancient myths and legends were recited aloud by the old man, and miracles imprinted in the past with the power of gods were awakened again.

Divine magic, release!

boom!

A bolt of lightning so wide that it covered the entire villa suddenly fell. It could no longer be described as a lightning strike. It was simply a waterfall of condensed light pouring down from the sky.

All the evil and blasphemy that occurred in the Annex was swept away.

The old man gasped and put down the mace that had melted to the point that only the handle remained. Even this rare magical weapon, after bearing most of the load of unleashing his high-level divine miracles, was completely and irreversibly destroyed.

Fatigue surged into the old man's heart, but at the same time he thought of another thing.

Although the cultists' actions caused considerable chaos, they could not fundamentally threaten the status of the Temple of Light. They also did not break into the church's underground vault to steal high-level magical equipment or some more secret storage items.

So, what was the fundamental purpose of those guys going to great lengths to sneak into the church and create this corrupt incident?

The old man couldn't think of a reason for a moment, and finally had to ask his subordinates to strengthen the security of the church.

Of course, he also thought that the other party might just want to focus the attention of the Temple of Light on the church.

But considering the dangerous items stored in the underground vault, even if the truth is true, the old man cannot reduce the defense force on the church side.

In other words, this is an open conspiracy...

"Is the world going to change?" the old man whispered to himself:

A few minutes later, several fully armed priests of the Temple of Light soared into the sky. Carrying a message written by the high priest himself, they flew towards important areas including the Imperial Palace, Swan Castle.

At the same time, the entire perfect city - Lutetia became cold and severe, as if a gust of cold wind suddenly blew.

The Youth Magic Car Competition, which is currently being held, has also reached the most critical final section.

The Hope, which had surpassed the whirlwind of victory, was driven by fire and light, and continued to accelerate towards the Wheel of the Father, which had already completed the plain track and was about to enter the final sprint.

Just when the Hope could vaguely see the taillights of the Wheel of the Father, the next section of the road was only a tunnel.

On both sides of the deep tunnel entrance ahead are statues of Hermes, the patron saint of travelers. The statue wears a light helmet with wings on its head, long boots also decorated with wings on its feet, and only a loose robe on its body, revealing powerful muscle lines, fully demonstrating the sculptor Linde's superb skills in depicting the aesthetics of the human body.

At the same time, this tunnel, where the statue of the patron saint of travelers is erected, is also the longest tunnel in Lind - the Eupalinos Tunnel.

Once the competitors emerge from the Eupalinos Tunnel, they will only have a straight track of one kilometer to their final destination, the Linde National Circuit.

In other words, this tunnel will become the final arena to decide the champion of this Magic Car Competition!

Chapter 209: Death Battle in the Tunnel

As the wheels continued to spin, the tall, silent statue of Hermes came to life and strode forward.

The deep entrance of the Eupalinos Tunnel, which seemed to have no end, then appeared in front of the Hope.

Only very dim lights were on in the long and narrow tunnel. As the internal environment was almost sealed, there were no gas lamps installed for safety reasons. Magic lamps were much more expensive than the former, so only one was installed sporadically every few dozen meters.

This made the environment in the tunnel seem even darker, and also highlighted the glare of the bright red taillights of the Wheel of the Father in front.

Diana looked solemnly at her opponent, who was always unable to close the distance, and then couldn't help but ask in a low voice:

“How many times are left?”

"There are still two attempts left, but I don't recommend using a secondary push in the tunnel." Ivan looked at the surrounding rock walls and replied in a somewhat strange tone:

"Other losses are fine, but if the tunnel collapses, even those two rich blonds wouldn't be able to handle it, right?" the black-haired boy asked half-jokingly.

"..." Diana glanced at him in the rearview mirror and didn't say much, but she probably thought so in her heart.

After the joke, Ivan's attitude immediately turned serious. He stared at the pure white Wheel of the Father in front of him, thinking about the sense of disharmony he had sensed earlier.

"By the way, it's best to be on high alert when you get close to that guy. I think there's something wrong with that car."

"Yeah." Diana nodded. As the distance between the two magic cars shortened, her intuition sent her a slight tingling sensation as if it were a warning.

Under the dim light in the tunnel, the Wheel of the Father, which was originally pure white and even decorated with silver, seemed to be shrouded in an uncomfortable darkness.

Faintly, Alvin seemed to see a faint mist emanating from the other car.

He blinked hard, and then realized that it was not his illusion, but there was indeed a faint yellow-green mist pouring out of the exhaust pipe at the rear of the Wheel of the Father.

The fog quickly obscured the surrounding environment, making the tunnel seem to be plunged into thick fog out of nowhere.

"Can't you hold it back so soon?" The cockpit, which was designed with a completely enclosed function from the beginning, made Alvin remain motionless.

He was now increasingly certain that the other party's identity was questionable. Although it was still unclear which force was involved, it was definitely not the old-fashioned style of the Temple of Light, which was conservative but also understood the importance of maintaining order.

The escaping fog blocks the view ahead, and most ordinary drivers will choose to slow down to avoid traffic accidents caused by not being able to react in time.

But Diana had no intention of stepping on the brakes. Instead, she raised her eyebrows, took out a critical light stone from the bracelet and clasped it in her palm, showing that she was ready to activate the hurricane thrusters at any time.

"He might be releasing the mist to slow down our speed, but since he is running in the front, he is not affected." Alvin whispered his speculation.

"Then..." Before the black-haired boy could finish his words, the short-haired girl sitting in the front seat had already put the critical light stone into the activation device as if she had telepathically connected with him.

In an instant, the familiar feeling of being pushed back suddenly arose, and the hurricane thrusters released an exceptionally bright magical light.

This rapidly increased the speed of the Hope train and immediately illuminated the dim environment in the long tunnel.

The Hope, with its speed increased, broke through the fog and appeared next to the Wheel of the Father.

When the two magic cars were driving side by side, with the strong light emitted by the hurricane thrusters, Alvin finally saw the appearance of the Wheel of the Father at this moment.