CHAPTER NINE
As we were released from the waiting position, I looked for the door that should have been unveiled. But this time, we stayed in the main hub area. Lines appeared on the floor, from one end of the lava surrounded platform to the other. It was a big enough space to contain a stadium so the lines stretched quite far. They seemed to me to indicate racing tracks.
"In this round the players compete directly against each other. Whoever is the last one to reach the end of his track will receive a punishment. The players will now take positions."
We walked up to the tracks. From left to right we stood Igor, Sven, Kang then me. What did it mean to be competing "directly"? Just that we could see each other? Or did we have to fight while running. I was glad to be far away from Igor in that case.
Glass rose between the tracks. So we'd be able to see how far each one was, but we couldn't interact. I was relieved I didn't have to fight, but what was even the point of being in the same room then?
In the first halves of the tracks, little orbs popped into existence. Three each. They looked suspiciously like the ball weights from the ice cave. Were we going to collect those along the way? At least I knew I could do three.
In Kang's lane was a token on the floor at each orb. Presumably the lucky bastard could rid himself of one of the balls.
"When the signal sounds, the race begins. No more bets may be cast then."
I hadn't expected any gear, so I cried out when my body was pushed into the necessary position.
A collar appeared around my neck. A bar appeared across my shoulder blades with my arms bent back to force them behind said bar. A little tugging revealed that it was tied to the collar. Then my hands shot up and attached to the bar's sides through wrist shackles.
I could see the others get the same treatment before my legs gave in and thick rope bound my lower and upper legs together. I would have to walk on my knees and elbows. The bar magically elongated and my arms were pushed into a spread position. I'd have to use my knees to go forward.
But then more rope appeared and I dropped onto my stomach. My ankles were now tied by short ropes that ended at the bar to keep me from using even my knees.
I was quite stretched, with arms fully extended and my legs bent over backwards. The only way to go was to wiggle along the track a hair's breadth at a time.
My head was pulled up as a rope on my collar connected across my back to my balls. It was too short and forced me to keep my back arched back as far as it would go, but even that wasn't enough to keep my sack from getting tormented.
"I hope all bets are placed."
A red, sparkly firework exploded above us, sounding like a gunshot. We all considered it the signal and I began to wiggle into the glass lane at the same time as everyone else.
We made almost no appreciable progress. I rolled to one side as far as the bar let me, then to the other and tried to shift my weight in a matter that would move me forward. For the first minute or so I wasn't even sure I was moving at all. I couldn't exactly turn around to look back.
At some point I realized I was getting closer to the first orb.
Beside me, Kang took a deep breath so loud I could hear it over the glass wall. He jumped. Or rather flopped like a fish out of water. He didn't even fully lift off and when he "landed" he screamed as his back rope tugged hard at his balls. The technique was useless.
From then on we all just kept wiggling.
The sweat on me served as a pretty good lubricant that made my path easier. My hard dick was trailing behind me, painfully pushed down, leaving pre-cum along the lane.
Igor was the first to reach an orb. I knew because the thing glowed and flew up to his face. Not his balls? Was it something else?
The bodybuilder was the fastest because he was the tallest and body size was the only thing that gave an edge in this "race".
The orb vanished and Kang screeched. Nipple clips had appeared on him, which was made much worse by his position, making him scrape them on the ground. He struggled to keep his chest up and glared at Igor. Had this change been cause by the Russian?
When I was almost at the first orb in my lane, Sven reached his. By now, Igor was a body length ahead of all of us. Sven's orb flew up to the boy's face, vanished shortly later and I heard a scream from Igor.
It took me a moment to figure out but the big guy had a different collar. By the looks of it he was getting electroshocks over and over.
Then I reached my own first orb. It hovered in front of me and I heard the game maker's voice quietly speak to me.
"Which player shall receive an additional difficulty? Look at the name of the player you want to punish."
The three guys' names showed up on the orb's surface. Igor was still the furthest ahead then came Sven, then me. I decided to slow down Sven. Igor was falling back as the shock collar stopped him from moving fluidly.
After I fixated my eyes on Sven's name for a moment, the orb vanished. I could see the effect. The blond teen suddenly had a big bag hanging from his balls that he had to drag behind. He was much slower now, which didn't decrease the stress put on his balls regardless.
After a little bit more wiggling, Kang reached his first orb. But there was also a token on the ground which he broke. His nipple clips disappeared and Igor got them instead. That was the boy's only token spent. In his place I would have done the same thing.
Unfortunately I was now caught up with Igor and Sven. Kang picked me.
A bag like Sven's got tied to my balls, increasing the pain greatly but – more importantly – slowing me down with the additional weight.
Kang was free to wiggle past all of us.
Three players got to their second orb close to each other. Only Sven had fallen behind completely.
Kang punished Igor which gave the adult bodybuilder weights hanging from the nipple clips. Igor in turn punished Kang who got a bag onto his balls as well.
I was in the best position to get far ahead. My second orb hovered down to my face.
"Which player shall be punished now?"
That was a hard question. Sven was too far behind to be a threat. The other two were fighting each other which I rather liked as it left me undisturbed. But I had to pick junior bodybuilder Kang since he had fewer pieces of gear than Igor.
The boy received a shock collar of his own.
Now I was first and gaining distance. The other two were about equally far behind with Sven the clear looser.
The next few minutes were spent in more agony than I had thought possible, but I kept my lead. Then nipple clips appeared on me. Sven must have reached his second orb.
It was not possible for me to keep wiggling like before. I also had to keep rocking back and forth to help my nipples not get shredded under my own weight.
That was enough for Kang to catch up. An impressive feat. He reached his last orb.
Everyone except Kang screamed at the same time. All three of us had been punished. Something fist sized was digging into my ass and burning like chili. My vision blurred and my stomach got sick from the burning.
Shortly after, I reached my final orb. It didn't ask me anything. Instead it did its deed right away. Stalagmites grew randomly in all lanes but mine. The other players had to maneuver around them which was made nearly impossible by the tightness of the tracks in comparison to the bar width.
I was now in the second half of the race where no more orbs stood between me and the goal.
It took amazingly long for Igor to get to his final orb but when he did, shackles appeared on my wrists and ankles that added enough weight to make me stuck in place unless I worked a lot harder than before. I wouldn't have thought I could work any harder but after all I only had to not be last. Winning was irrelevant since only the looser had been promised a punishment.
The race continued slower than before. Not only was it harder now, everybody was thoroughly exhausted. It wasn't even that far. I could have leisurely walked the distance in half a minute had I been on my feet.
I was totally lost in my own world of pain and rage when I noticed that the other two fast racers had made good progress. I was falling behind. Well, as long as Sven was still last I wasn't too bothered.
The young model reached his final orb – the last one still in the game.
From the goal line came a continuous stream of piss. Not forceful enough to push me back but it slowed us all down. Except Sven who had created the stream, so his lane stayed dry.
I wiggled against the piss river but only got slower. The bag tied to my balls must have contained sand because it got heaver as the piss kept flowing.
I fell behind hard, losing most of my remaining speed. Even thought it was a close race, Kang finished first, followed by Igor. I took a lot longer but made it eventually. That let me rest a bit but the gear stayed on and even the piss kept flowing from who knows where.
We all had to wait until Sven made it across the finish line, too.
Everything vanished, including all gear. I got up with incredible relieve. My legs were shaky but I felt like I was flying.
The punishment inflicted on the young teen was that he still had the collar and the back rope that tied it to his balls. He was forced to stand arched with his ass out and looking up.