The moment Carl said, 'we race,' all the Rodenti started moving the large rocks beneath them as fast as they could. When they mentioned that they had a fun way to do this, I wasn't sure what to expect. Rock fly, as it was called, sounded funny enough to be exactly what they were talking about. But I really wasn't expecting them to make it an actual race, especially when they had people who had never participated in something like that with them.

An even bigger surprise was the fact that it seemed the race wasn't simply about who gets there first. It seemed to be also about getting there in style. Doing tricks, spinning around on top of their rocks, doing jumps, and even playing chicken while trying to scare the other people by getting very close to them before pulling away.

"Is this how these races usually go?" I asked.

But Carl just smiled. "No, no. Not yet."

Just as he said that, a large rock came flying in our direction. Carl didn't change the trajectory, just stared at it until it got close enough to explode, becoming a cloud of dust. I looked around, holding the handle on the rock with one hand and my staff with the other, trying to see what was attacking us. It took me a moment to realize that it was actually one of the other Rodenti. He had a large smile on his face and was gesturing with his hands to make more of those rocks come from the ceiling. We were not the only targets. Everybody seemed to be in his crosshairs.

"What is going on?" I shouted to Carl, not really expecting him to give me an honest answer. After all what if this was just a ploy to kill us.

But Rex had a big smile on his face as he himself prepared a similar attack and flung it towards Vera and Riley.

"Rock fly race," his voice filled with excitement.

"This is part of the race?" I asked.

"Yes. We do anything to win. Just don't hurt," and then when he said so, the Rodenti cheered with his announcement. More projectiles started flying everywhere.

"What if we fall?" I looked around, worried about the speed at which we were moving.

Carl just shook his head. "No. Rock fly tunnel protects. Can hurt, yes. But not big hurt."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked as one of the Rodenti in the group threw a larger rock, one that didn't break and turn into mist as it impacted with the platform that was carrying another Rodenti. The one who got hit by the projectile ended up falling to the ground and tumbling a few meters [ft]. But they quickly jumped back up and started running towards the rest of the pack. The boulder that they had just fell from quickly followed along, and they jumped up, returning to the race.

The Rodenti himself seemed to be somewhat injured but not enough to the point of it being a problem. Even without {Body Regeneration}, he might be back in good condition in maybe a couple of days, at least considering that he was tier two.

I nodded in understanding that they were not trying to hurt each other or us, even if I couldn't quite grasp how this sport actually worked. It sounded too violent for it to be worth the effort. However, as I glanced around to see what my companions were thinking about the situation, I noticed the glint in their eyes. I seemed to be the only one who was truly hesitating about this, and they were ready to participate in the racing.

Before I even had a chance to do anything, Michael fired an arrow. For a moment I thought he was just trying to actually hurt someone, but as the projectile flew through the air, it instead passed by Carl and me and exploded in a web behind us, trapping two of the Rodenti that were closing into our position.

Another rock came flying, and this time I wasn't as passive anymore. Instead, I shifted my staff and used {Compression} to make sure I would hit the rock before it got too close to us. I wasn't sure if it was going to be another smoke bomb to block our vision or if it was going to be something more complicated, aimed at actually making us fall from the rock that was flying across this tunnel.

I managed to strike the projectile and stop it from getting close, but just like the first one, it just turned into a puff of dirt that seemed to try to block our vision.

To the side, another clump of webs appeared, but this time it was Riley who was responsible for it. The witch was trying to stop either the people who were on top of the rocks or the rocks themselves, but doing so separately. That way they would slow everyone down more significantly than if just the entire set of rider and rock were stopped.

Astrid, on the other hand, went on the offensive. She waved her axe backwards, and a wave of ice cut through the tunnel, blocking our path. But Carl was an excellent driver. Or rider. I wasn't really sure what to call this just yet. He made the rock that we were riding climb onto the wall and use it almost as if it was a skateboard from the old world to shift around the obstacle.

There was another flurry of projectiles coming our way, and I did my best to defend against them, but Carl used the momentum to do a full loop all around the tunnel. For a brief moment we were upside down, but the momentum stopped us from falling back to the ground. This was a strange race, and it was amazingly fun.

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We continued moving and were now taking the lead in this race, a position that Carl had only briefly lost when the attacks started. The leader of this pack was focused on defense and pure riding skills. He was also the strongest person in the group, being saturated at Tier 2. This could mean he was nearing Tier 3, or it could mean he had just gained enough particles to reach that level.

Either way, maybe he was doing that to level the playing field. It was possible, if not likely, that his abilities would be unfair when used in this setting. Or he was just someone focused on a different type of combat and didn't have a way to fight against those using that kind of attack.

There was also another option, considerably more worrisome. It was the fact that maybe Carl didn't have any skill that could hurt. Only skills to kill. That's why he wasn't using them against his companions, because he didn't want to lose any of them. It seemed like his driving ability was enough to win a fight like this. He wasn't even bothering to defend against the incoming attacks, as if he trusted himself enough to be able to dodge anything that might come his way.

I was very impressed with him, but at the same time worried if maybe he was overselling things because of Rex.

Vera and Riley shot forward quickly, speeding past Carl and me. It was almost at the same time, the rock that was carrying Rex and Michael appeared on the other side, flanking us. I didn't like the look on their faces, none of them. Almost as if they had come up with a plan together.

Both sides started acting at the same time. Vera waved her hand, and a stone wall appeared, covering half of the tunnel. At the same time, Riley cast a spell that created a large spiderweb formation in front of the wall. From the other side, Michael fired a few arrows that did a similar thing as Riley's spell but on a smaller scale. Still, they completely covered the ground and the sides of the tunnel in webs that rose from the ground, making sure that if we were to pass in any direction, we would be stopped.

Astrid, using {Emerging Glacier} one more time, created another wall blocking our path. The highest point was right in the middle, where both skills were connected.

Carl let out a chuckle and said, "They got me. Can't escape that."

It seemed like he was ready to give up, but for some reason I didn't want to be the one losing this race, especially if I was technically riding with the strongest person around.

"Don't stop!" I shouted to the Rodenti, who glanced back at me with a surprised expression but gave me a nod as we approached the walls and webs created to trap us.

Quickly moving to the front of the rock that was flying through the tunnel, I waited until the very last second. Just as we were about to hit the web and soon after the wall, I slammed my staff on the ground, hoping that the impact would be enough to propel us upward. I had no clue if that was going to work, especially considering the lack of anything connecting my staff and the rock, but Carl quickly was able to understand what I was doing and with a wave of his hand shaped the rock underneath us to form almost a ramp above my staff. This allowed me to continue to push down.

With {Compression} triggering to its fullest extent, we jumped over the wall and over the glacier and after a flip, landed on the other side. Carl was able to use the momentum to gain even more speed and pass Rex and Vera once more.

I laughed as we passed by them, winking at both groups, and turned to Carl. "How far to the end of the race?"

The Rodenti gave me the worst possible answer. "Few hours left."

This madness had been happening for less than 10 minutes, and we still had hours to go before we reached the sister village. By the looks of it, the Rodenti were going to keep this up the entire time as the rest of the pack managed to break through the wall that Vera had created and were now joining the race once again.

The frenzy continued for hours on end. There were a couple of occasions where one of the Rodenti overdid it, and they ended up having to stop because they ran out of Energy. In those cases, everybody would stop and take a break while we ate some rations they had prepared that could speed up the Energy recovery process. Apparently, those rations were something made by a few specific Rodenti with skills related to extracting more Energy out of food in general, very similar to my cooking class. But they were leaning more towards the apothecary side of things.

Even then, it was nowhere near as good as Eater's blood. Something that I decided not to mention, and thankfully, neither did my companions. I wasn't entirely sure if the Rodenti would want to use the Eater's blood for this, but I didn't want to waste it on a game like the one we were playing, especially considering how hard it was to properly fill a single water skin with it.

During the moments we stopped, they left the rocks in the position they were the moment the person lost their Energy. But everybody climbed out and gathered for a proper break. It seemed like that was part of the game, and in a way, it did make sense. Rex explained to us that a single use of the rock fly skill would require two Energy in the tunnel and lasted for only 30 minutes. Meaning that one way or another, it was likely for them to need at least one pit stop during this race to recover Energy before continuing.

In the end, we had not one, not two, not even three, but seven 15-minute breaks in which the Rodenti ate those Energy recovery rations before we started again. The rations themselves took about an hour to be fully digested and fully converted into Energy. But it also meant that they could be on the move while the effect was taking place.

But eventually, after several more tricks and several more attempts to hinder us, Carl and I came out victorious. Despite the fact that we were the only group that didn't have any offensive ability during the race, there were a few moments where the rest of the Rodenti became more interested in attacking each other than on speeding up, which gave us enough of a leeway to speed ahead and win the entire thing.

Just as we arrived at the sister village, there was a group of Rodenti who were all seemingly waiting for us. Apparently, the sounds of our competition were loud enough to cause the people from the village to gather near the entrance to the rock fly tunnel. Carl and I were treated with applause, although everybody froze once they realized there was a human with the Rodenti. Still, once Carl grabbed me by the shoulder and started celebrating with me, they relaxed enough to enjoy the rest of the situation.

One by one, the rest of the group started to arrive, with Rex coming in second and Vera coming in third. After that small victory lap that Carl and I did near the entrance of the rock fly tunnel, it was time to finally see how Rex's homeland truly was.

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