The race

"Serena, Ariel, To beat them, I'll need your help. Can I count on you?" John asked 

"You don't have to ask" Said Serena 

"The role of a party is to help each other." Ariel said confidently 

"Then... Everyone hold on to me." 

Knowing that they had no time to waste, no one complained, and all moved in to hold to John. Serena wrapped her arms around john chest from the left side while Ariel did it from the right side. 

The two were blushing but weren't opposed to the idea, it was probably embarrassing for them to do something like this in front of others or so john assumed. 

[Where is master?] 

Meanwhile, master had already started to shadow step from one path on to another, each path was a long jump away from each other, and she could 50 meters with every shadow step so she was skipping around 3 to 4 paths, she had started before anyone noticed and was already half way there. 

John himself only realised this now.