The race was now barbaric and some racers in the rear start to crash their vehicles into each other. Ben's group was no exception. They tried to crash into their rival's cars.
A car hit Ben from the left and tried to destroy his car. The navigator even rolled the car's windows down and shot some mud balls at Ben's car. Ben activated his car's magic shield to protect it from the mud balls.
He needed to get away from this group as fast as he could. He knew that crashing into other vehicles would slow them down. This was proven when the ones behind start to get left further back. These people just wasted their speed to do something unnecessary.
Ben guarded his position intensely and tried to move faster. But his opponents kept moving faster while trying to crash Ben's car. He was overtaken, then he overtakes them back before being overtaken by other racers.
The racers in his group are crashing into each other. But they still prioritized their speed. They also have some skill when crashing into another vehicle and when dodging or blocking the crash. So the audience was interested watching their battle.
His group consisted of 4 vehicles. There were 3 magic cars, it was Ben and the 2 people in the old model car. The 4th one was a biker with an old model engine attached to his bike. The biker attacked with his spells while dodging attacks by cars.
The racers, minus Ben, have a lot of experience. They can keep up with Ben's car's speed without apparent exhaustion even when they try to crash into other vehicles. So these racers must have a high amount of magic power.
Ben's car is the fastest vehicle here, but he didn't have enough skill to reach the front. The continuous attacks prevented him from moving faster than his current speed. The rocky terrain made things harder as well.
That's why the other racers in his group were able to overtake him several times. Ben was relying on his car's performance to overtake them back. He also used some weapons on the car to attack back and prevent the others from attacking like the wheel's weapons.
The rocky terrain disappeared after several kilometers. Now they enter a mountainous track with hills, uneven ground, cliffs, big rocks, plants, etc. This is a big challenge and the hardest track in the race.
Ben raised his car's suspension to make his car higher. It would help his car avoid some small rocks or logs in the way. On this track, a vehicles' speed doesn't matter. Only skill would help on this track.
But he was used to this kind of terrain because his village is located within a forest and was also near a mountain. So he drove through this kind of terrain all the time.
Ben can drive faster than the others in his group and get closer to the ones in front. Ben was able to drive on the rough terrain with ease. Then when the mountainous track came to a end, Ben was slightly behind the people in front.
After the mountain track, they enter the forest track. It's Ben's everyday meal, so he used this chance to move forward. He drives faster than the others even though he's not familiar with this forest. But he's familiar with the terrain in general.
When they leave the forest, Ben was a part of the front group. Surprisingly, Raymond was also very skilled with the forest track. He left the rest of the group in the dust and was driving really fast.
"He's not number 1 for nothing." Ben said to himself while looking at Raymond who was far ahead.
They entered the last track, which was open ground with tall grass that can prevent them from seeing. The most difficult thing here is to find their way back to the capital and finish this race.
The other racers have their navigator look at the track. They have sunroofs on their cars for their navigator to get a higher POV and search for their track. The 3 racers in Ben's group and Raymond, who was in front, also had their navigator find the route.
Ben didn't have a navigator, so he relied on another method. He used his magic sense to detect the position of other racers. Ben locked his sense on Raymond and the 2 racers in his group.
It took 15 minutes for them to leave the grassy field. It's really wide and they couldn't find a way out fast enough. When they get out, their positions haven't changed at all.
They finally got on the highway near the capital. They drive on the highway to the capital. Ben drove faster to chase Raymond. The other 2 also drive faster and use all their magic power.
Ben can't leave the 2 racers in the dust even after using almost all of his car's power. Then they get onto the city road again and it became difficult for Ben to overtake or leave his group to chase Raymond.
On the city road, Ben was in 4th position because the other 2 were a lot faster on the city road. Then they enter the last road before reaching the finish line.
Ben took this chance to quickly drive forward and overtake the others. The others drove as fast as they could to maintain their position. This long straight road will decide their fate in the race.
Ben lowered his car's suspension to get more down force and speed up. Ben pushed his gas pedal and put his hands on one of the blue buttons behind the steering wheel. He waited for a while and pushed the blue button.
The button was actually Ben's version of a magic NOS. His car accelerates very fast and chased Raymond's car at the very front. His sudden acceleration surprised everyone. It even caused the host to become excited.
Ben moved quickly and got closer to Raymond. Raymond realized them and poured more power into his car to move faster. They reached the finish line side by side, but Raymond passed it first.
The audience was thrilled with the narrow victory. Both cars were neck and neck and they moved very fast before the finish line. It's very unusual because Raymond normally wins with a very large gap.
The crowd cheered after witnessing some good battles in this race. They had also never seen a car as fast as Ben's. He broke the top speed record in this race.
Too bad his gap with Raymond was too far. He wasn't able to overtake him before the finish line. If the track was a little longer, Ben would've won the race. But that's not a valid reason.
Raymond, Ben and the racer in 3rd position head to the podium. They head to a room located behind the podium first to rest a little. In the room, Raymond approached Ben and talked to him.
"Damn son, you were really fast back there." Raymond told him. Raymond was impressed by how fast his car drove in the race.
"Well, I've prepared that for the end, but it wasn't enough to win. A 5 time champion is really different." Ben responded lightly.
"It would change if this track was a little longer. Besides, you broke the top speed record in this race. And I'm sure that speed will break every record for top speed anywhere." Raymond informed him.
The conversation had to end because they needed to leave the room. They walk onto the podium and obtain their prize. Everyone cheered, especially for Ben who made this race a lot more interesting.
He also felt really happy because of the result he received in his first race. He didn't win, but managing to be runner-up in his first race was unbelievable. But suddenly, he heard a deep, manly voice in his head.
'Kid, come here!'