MG - Chapter 401: [Wushou Mountain] Breaking Through the Wind Barrier (Patreon)

“What are you two useless idiots doing?! Stop her!”

The moment Stella completed her overtake, Ethan Yang snatched up his radio and barked an order.

Catching Stella was difficult enough as it was. Besides, Leon Li and Swain Li had no desire to make an enemy of Derek Su. If Derek Su had already become a Techmaster, they might have been quite happy to give him a tougher race. But for now, he was an ordinary pilot, just like them.

Ethan Yang was different. He was a full-fledged Techmaster.

Ganging up on a single opponent was unfair to begin with. The rules might not forbid it, but for a Techmaster to use superior numbers against an ordinary pilot was taking things much too far.

Leon Li could no longer see any point in the training race. For him and Snowpeak, the whole affair was so meaningless that it barely deserved their participation, especially since Snowpeak hadn't fully recovered from her injuries.

“That annoying old bastard just won't shut up!” Swain Li snarled from the neighboring vehicle.

He cut his connection to Ethan Yang, finally restoring some peace and quiet. He left his link with Leon Li open, however, so Leon heard every word of the insult.

“Hey! Are you still going to try stopping Derek Su?” Swain Li's gloomy voice crackled over the radio.

“To get in front of him again, we'd need to use Spatial Leap twice in succession,” Leon Li replied, watching the track. “Snowpeak's chassis can't handle two consecutive uses in her current condition.”

“Really, you just don't want to fight Derek Su, do you?”

Leon pressed his lips together but didn't deny it.

“I'm done trying to block him too,” Swain Li said. “We've done enough.”

The gloomy young man had given up completely. Sure enough, the psychic energy gathering around Silver Mirror dissipated, and her speed dropped noticeably.

Leon Li said nothing. He had no intention of continuing to push Snowpeak either.

If they couldn't get past Derek Su, then they couldn't. Maintaining a position in Stella's slipstream was already more than enough effort on their part. If Ethan Yang still wanted to overtake her, he and Wind Blade could do the work themselves.

No sooner had that thought occurred to Leon than a violent surge of psychic energy erupted behind them.

A field of cyan wind pressure expanded outward, swallowing Stella, Silver Mirror, and Snowpeak.

At the front, Stella suddenly felt as if a wall of hurricane-force wind had risen across her path. Her sleek, aerodynamic body and exceptional ability to cut through the air were useless inside the swirling field. Instead of helping her, the wind became a restraint, tightening around her like strands of a spiderweb and steadily dragging down her speed.

The ability affected the entire area without distinguishing friend from foe. Snowpeak and Silver Mirror were trapped in the wind field too.

Only Wind Blade could move through it freely. She accelerated with every passing moment, wrapped in a cyan whirlwind that grew more violent the closer it was to her body. Jagged blades of wind formed around her vehicle, their edges resembling swords and knives.

“They actually forced me to use my skill already! Leon Li and Swain Li are completely useless!”

Ethan Yang's face was dark inside Wind Blade's cockpit.

He would much rather have saved Wind Blade's special skill for a decisive moment and combined it with Teleportation. That would have made the attack even more effective.

But Derek Su and Stella had accelerated too quickly, and Leon and Swain's attempts to intercept them had accomplished nothing. Ethan had no choice but to activate Wind Blade's ability now. Otherwise, Stella would pull so far ahead that Teleportation would no longer reach her.

Why didn't he use Teleportation immediately instead?

There were plenty of bends along this stretch of track, but the altitude wasn't high enough. Worse, an inexplicably large number of healing and support Mecha Girls had appeared near the course. Even if his trap sent Derek Su plunging off a cliff here, there was a good chance he'd survive.

Ethan Yang wasn't trying to leave Derek Su and Stella badly injured. He wanted them dead.

Derek Su had studied Wind Blade's special skill long before the race. It was an exceptionally rare ability for a top-tier speed-type Mecha Girl, combining acceleration with battlefield control. If Ethan Yang hadn't specifically insisted that Stella take part, Derek would have fielded Imperial Scale and Purple Lightning instead.

Even so, he had prepared for this possibility.

After winning the Panlong Mountain Circuit, Derek Su had invested more MP points in Stella's attributes. Her Stability now stood at 88 even without a Module installed, high enough to activate [Sovereign Engine].

But simply activating the first stage of [Sovereign Engine] wouldn't be enough.

Derek Su took out the [Heart of Rock] Module and slotted it into Stella without a second glance.

The unexpected sensation of the Module connecting made Stella let out a small, pleased hum. Her Stability shot up to an astonishing 101.

The roars of the two Mecha Girls' engines overlapped, making the flimsy barriers along the roadside tremble.

Wind Blade was already closing in. Stella had never experienced those jagged blades of wind firsthand, but instinct told her that getting hit would end very badly. She glanced into the rearview mirror and met Derek Su's eyes. She already understood what he wanted to do.

“Master, I'm ready!”

Derek nodded and sent a command through their mental connection.

“Activate Sovereign Engine!”

BOOM!

A tidal surge of psychic energy burst from Stella's AI Core and flooded toward her engine. Already glowing red-hot, the engine was enveloped in pale-blue energy.

Rather than cooling it, the psychic energy made it burn even more fiercely, throwing out pale-blue flames.

With Sovereign Engine active, Stella's rear wing spread to its full extent and her speed soared. Deep-blue fire erupted from both sides of her engine. Even the brake calipers inside her wheels glowed bright red with heat, while the tires warped under the tremendous friction and left blackened tracks across the asphalt.

The cyan wind barrier ahead could no longer hold her back.

“BREAK THROUGH!!”

Faster. Faster still!

Stella merged with the raging air until the wind was working for her once more.

Derek Su braked early, then threw her into an inertia drift, narrowly threading his way around a sharp V-shaped bend. That single corner carried Stella clear of the wind barrier's area of effect.

“What?!” Ethan Yang stared in disbelief as she burst through his wind field.

In all his years of racing, he'd never seen a Mecha Girl escape Wind Blade's barrier through sheer speed. Even Caio Yang had needed to use his [Blur] skill to make Comet immune to Wind Blade's control before he could escape.

The barrier tested far more than acceleration. It increased the load on a Mecha Girl's engine while also demanding exceptional Impact Resistance and Stability. If even one of those attributes fell short, Wind Blade could keep the target pinned down.

And if the target was struck by the blades surrounding Wind Blade herself, the resulting negative effect would sharply reduce both Impact Resistance and Stability.

“What the hell is that useless Ethan Yang doing?!” Caleb Li watched Derek Su escape suppression yet again, his expression icy.

The Crown Club had shamelessly sent three competitors into a training race to gang up on one ordinary pilot. If word of that got out, it would be humiliating enough.

If Ethan Yang still couldn't keep Derek Su and Stella within reach, Caleb would have to resort to his backup plan.

He truly didn't want to activate Plan B unless he had no other choice. It would cost him a great deal of standing within the Crown Club.

“Master, Derek Su and Stella are about to leave your skill's effective range,” Wind Blade warned reluctantly as Stella's taillights receded into the distance.

“I know.”

Ethan Yang gritted his teeth. Leon Li and Swain Li were no longer reliable. From this point on, he and Wind Blade would have to handle Derek Su themselves.

In that case...

He raised his eyes and fixed them on Stella ahead. A silvery-white light kindled in his pupils.

A faint wave of psychic energy reached out like a creeping vine, winding toward Stella.

[Teleportation] activated!