Shota's Isekai NTR Adventure Chapter 2104: Can’t keep up

Surprisingly, the intense wind did not blast me away. Instead, an enigmatic mystical force seemed to tether me firmly to the saddle. No matter how much momentum surged against me, this unseen power kept me pinned securely in place. I had no concept of what exactly this force was, yet it possessed the sheer strength to withstand the relentless gale.

"Halt..." I murmured weakly. Upon receiving the command, Lupus skidded to an immediate stop. The residual inertia threatened to catapult me forward, but once more, that inexplicable influence locked me onto the saddle. It appeared that regardless of the direction I was propelled, as long as I remained in the saddle, this force would act like a magical seatbelt, preventing me from being launched.

Furthermore, unlike a physical seatbelt that jerks the body, this tether anchored me without causing any bodily harm. Even when thrown about at high velocity and snapped back by the force, I suffered no whiplash. Defining such a unique power was difficult; suffice to say, nothing seemed capable of shattering its grip. Unfortunately, this solution was limited in scope. While the force stabilized my frame, it offered no augmentation to my bodily functions to keep pace with the movement. Consequently, everything in my surroundings blurred into an unrecognizable haze.

I sensed that Lupus was eager to unleash her true potential, but my own physical capabilities simply couldn’t keep up. "Slow down for now," I requested. Instantly, I felt a wave of disappointment radiate from her; she clearly yearned to sprint at full throttle to demonstrate her prowess. Yet, maintaining top speed was counterproductive. Adaptability requires a gradual process, not an immediate exertion.

She throttled back her pace, halving it, then halving it again. Only when we reached a quarter of her maximum speed could I finally distinguish my surroundings, though it still felt somewhat leisurely from my perspective. We began toggling between varying speeds, effectively calibrated to find the threshold of my endurance. To any observer, our erratic back-and-forth maneuvering must have appeared like the frantic actions of a deranged individual.

Through this adjustment, I slowly acclimated to Lupus's output. As we settled into a rhythm, ambitious ideas began to surface. My most glaring weakness in combat had always been a lack of mobility. While I could offset this slightly with Joan, her advantages were restricted to aerial maneuvers. Land combat simply could not ignore the utility of a four-legged mount. Furthermore, Lupus’s top speed eclipsed Joan’s significantly, a testament to her long tenure as a divine messenger. With her speed combined with my own arsenal, I could evolve into a relentless storm of strikes.

Ultimately, however, her absolute peak remained beyond my grasp. My human senses were fundamentally incapable of processing that degree of velocity. Still, I pushed myself until she showed clear signs of satisfaction. While reaching a perfect synchronization proved elusive, I managed to reach a tempo where she could run freely. Reaching this milestone required significant mental strain; without such focus, acclimating would have been impossible. The speed surpassed the high-speed transit of my former life, but unlike being enclosed in a carriage, this felt akin to clinging to the back of a train while exposed to the elements. Her maximum speed was surely comparable to riding atop a jet engine.

The initial adjustment period was lengthy, but soon, movement felt fluid. Once our target velocity was established, it was time to experiment with my offensive capabilities. While mounted on Lupus, I unleashed various attacks using my relics, observing how the kinetic environment shifted the trajectories of my projectiles. Since the circumstances were vastly different from static combat, the items behaved in unfamiliar ways. Several attempts were required before I could consistently hit my intended targets. However, once the mechanics were mastered, repeating the feat at a constant speed became simpler.

The real challenge would emerge if I had to recalibrate while Lupus shifted speeds. We still had a long journey ahead before we could execute our desired fighting style. Nonetheless, I could perceive a glimmer of amazement in Lupus's thoughts, indicating that I was learning more rapidly than her previous rider. Still, I couldn't help but wonder who that rider was and why they had gone to such lengths to craft this special saddle.