Flame River Racing was located in the most obvious spot imaginable—the massive volcano right in the center of the area. It seemed poised to be the main attraction, and the reception area at the foot of the volcano was impressively spacious.
While a few other people who looked like invited guests were scattered around, it wasn't particularly crowded. We quickly made our way to the counter and listened to the attraction's briefing.
As its name implied, the attraction was a race. Up to ten people could participate at once, making it the perfect fit for our group size.
The race itself was an individual free-for-all. Each participant boarded a small, canoe-like boat capable of sailing up a river of magma. Navigating the lava toward the summit, the first person to reach the top would be crowned the winner—a straightforward race in every sense of the word.
Steering was simple. We couldn't accelerate or decelerate; the boats automatically propelled themselves toward the summit. All we could do was steer left and right.
Furthermore, the lava path split into various branches on the way up, meaning our choice of route would make a real difference.
"Additionally, there are three factors along the course that will influence the outcome of the race. First are the volcanic bombs falling randomly from the summit. Naturally, since this is phantom magic, you will not suffer any real injuries, but getting hit will cause your boat to stall for one full second. Please keep a sharp eye out and avoid them."
Since we had no direct control over our acceleration or braking, it made sense that there would be trap elements like that. Otherwise, the race would simply come down to the luck of picking a blind route.
"Second are the Wind Orbs, like the one on display here. Contact with an orb will grant your boat a significant speed boost for three seconds. While this is a powerful advantage, please be mindful of maintaining control over your craft."
Next was a speed-boosting mechanic... This would undoubtedly be a decisive factor, but handling a boat at high speeds would be much harder, raising the risk of crashing into obstacles. Some orbs might even be placed in tricky spots—the kind where forcing your way over to grab them might ultimately cost you more time than it saved.
"Third are the obstacles. These take many forms, including rocks, walls, and monsters. Colliding with any of these will reduce your boat's speed for three seconds, so please exercise caution. If you hit multiple obstacles in succession, the slowdown timer resets with each impact, meaning the three-second penalty lasts from the moment of your final collision. Furthermore, collisions between boats are treated the exact same as hitting an obstacle."
Lastly, the obstacles. Unlike the volcanic bombs, these caused a speed penalty rather than a complete halt... From what the attendant described, the race seemed straightforward: dodge the volcanic bombs and obstacles while grabbing the Wind Orbs to surge ahead.
"...I-I'm relieved it's such a simple system."
"...That's because you're awful at the racing games Master owns, too, Eta."
"I just find it hard to compete while trying to juggle so many things in my head at once. I always end up hesitating at crucial moments."
"You're just bad at multitasking... You're a single-celled organism, Eta."
"What was that? It's not like you're all that great either..."
"I'm still better than you."
"...Now you've said it! Fine, let's settle this on the course!"
"...Challenge accepted."
For some reason, sparks were flying between Eta and Theta, but this was pretty much business as usual... In fact, the fact that they were trying to settle things in a civilized manner through an amusement park attraction meant there was nothing to worry about.
Perhaps because they were both former War King's subordinates, their instinct whenever they clashed was to immediately hold a contest and settle the score. While they bickered often, once a contest produced a winner, neither of them ever held a grudge or complained afterward... When it came to small squabbles like this, it was best to just let them have at it.
Sure enough, Anima and Caraway seemed to share my sentiment, showing no intention of stepping between them.
"This is so exciting! But when it comes to racing... Lilia-san is bound to win, right?"
"Hmm. Unlike that racing game, individual technique doesn't seem to play much of a role here, so the gap might not be that big."
Just as Hina-chan said, when it came to VR racing games, Lilia-san was on a completely different level from the rest of us. Her technique was utterly unreal—her cornering was practically on par with an esports pro, to the point where Hina-chan and I couldn't even stand a chance without a massive handicap.
However, for this attraction, I didn't think raw technical skill would make much of a difference... With volcanic bombs falling at random and luck playing such a huge role, I actually suspected Lilia-san might be at a serious disadvantage.
I didn't know why, and I hoped it was just my imagination... but I had a sinking feeling that the volcanic bombs were going to rain down exclusively on Lilia-san's boat.
Serious-senpai: "Ah~ she's terrifyingly strong in games that purely test technique with almost zero RNG, but whenever gimmicks are involved, she basically turns into a black hole for obstacle gimmicks, so she's terrible at them... I remember her mentioning that in the game they played for her birthday, obstacle gimmicks kept spawning right under her feet..."
???: "It's not that Lilia-san's luck is inherently bad, but she's the type of person who just naturally draws misfortune to herself, you know..."