Chapter 198 Obstacles

There were a total of ten obstacles in the obstacle course second round race. After the mud pit is the rope-climbing up to the tenth story which is a great hurdle for everyone who is acrophobic. Telekinetic superheroes were stationed right at the base of the rope-climbing since someone might fall and die a horrible death. At least if such an accident happens, the superheroes would be able to catch them.

Apparently, this also gives other acrophobic participants a fighting chance at the obstacle. After all, the assurance that there's someone or something catching them when they fall is a great confidence booster. They won't need to think twice about grabbing the rope and hoisting themselves up.

The problem with the rope-climbing is that it's one of the most challenging obstacles. After all, there were only a total of ten ropes. If someone were to grab one and another grab right under them, they could potentially ruin those who went first. And of course, there will be participants who wouldn't think twice about doing such a thing since everyone is fighting here for the top fifty spots.

Satoshi didn't have a problem with this though, since he was already halfway through the rope-climbing course when everyone was still stuck in the mud pit. Midori and Hiroshi, meanwhile, were gritting their teeth as they crawled through, swallowing mud and coughing it out as they go.

"How did Satoshi get there so fast?!" Hiroshi exclaimed, watching from afar as Satoshi already got on top of the platform by the end of the rope.

"He hopped on the sidelines, remember? But then again, it may look easy but it required great balance. I wouldn't dare try it since it would just put me at a disadvantage." Midori answered, his face already covered with mud.

"Yeah, there's also the risk of falling on the other side, which would put you back in the starting line as per the rules... definitely a ballsy move." Hiroshi continued.

"Then again, he was able to do that despite the risks. Satoshi really is leagues ahead of us, huh." Taniguchi Kyou, also known as Saturn from the Flowing Wave Academy, called out. He was right behind Midori and Hiroshi, crawling through the mud like a catfish out of water.

"Yeah, we fought with him and we were no match against him." Oversight said.

As the four crawled through and finally reached the final stretch of the mud pit, Satoshi was already rappelling down the other side of the rope-climbing. Instead of rappeling though, he ran straight down like some sort of a lunatic.

"Wah~ is he crazy?!" One of the telekinetic superheroes assigned on the base of the rope-climbing exclaimed, already putting up his palms just in case Satoshi slips and falls headfirst.

"He's going to die! Let's catch him!" Another one called out, extending his hands into the air as well. If a participant dies on their watch, the backlash they'd receive— well they didn't want to think about it.

"We got to catch him!"

"But what if he made it all the way down? Wouldn't we cut his time?"

"Let's not think about that! He's going to die at this rate! If that happens who's going to answer to the Midoriyama Duo?!"

"Right! It's better safe than sorry!"

Suddenly, they heard a click from their device which is connected directly to Fury just in case they needed additional instructions. The click then turned into a beep before Fury's deep voice was heard.

[Just watch... beep!]

"..."

"Um..."

"Did he just tell us to watch?"

"But the kid!"

"Fury getting furious is way worse... no, not really... maybe?"

By the time they were done arguing with each other, Satoshi had already reached the foot of the platform. Before he hit the ground, however, he braced himself and dove forward, changing his trajectory parallel to the ground instead of the vertical that he maintained while running downwards the rappelling area. The acceleration was perfectly timed, and by the time the assigned watchers knew what was happening, Satoshi was already rolling through the ground on his way to the next obstacle.

"What was that?"

"Wow... is that kid for real?!"

The watchers were somewhat surprised that Satoshi managed to move like that even when he wasn't using any of his superpowers. However, Satoshi had no time to turn around and see how they reacted to him. Right now, the next obstacle was the most problematic one yet.

Tight-rope walking.

It was a simple yet complicated obstacle since anyone behind could ruin the distance of the person in front. They could simply shake the tight rope to an extent and have the person fall over. It would be an automatic restart if that were to happen.

Fortunately, Satoshi had already put a huge distance between him and the other participants. However, he wasn't going to miss this chance.

Without further ado, Satoshi grabbed the rope and started pulling himself forward. Instead of walking on the tight rope, he decided to move forward as if he were in the rope-climbing section. That way, even if someone were to catch up, they won't be able to shake him off.

And just like he thought, as soon as he reached halfway through the tightrope, the first of the bunch finally caught up to him, all muddy and almost exhausted. The rope-climbing really took a lot of air from everyone who did it.

"So that's him, huh," The second guy to reach the tightrope was a man named Tsukishima Tsukimi, and he was probably one of the few candidates who are on par with Satoshi's overall physical capabilities. Because just like Satoshi, he also worked his body to the bone, not relying on his superpower which was actually not that useful in combat.

"Oi, kid! What are you crawling out there for? You a worm or something?" He called out, his voice as loud as ever.

Something in Satoshi's mind clicked, and for the first time in his life, he wanted to go back to the starting line and give the person who called out to him a nice punch in the face.