Chapter 44: Galloping
Stefan’s POV
The galloping was too much.
Wind screaming past my ears loud enough to drown out my own thoughts, my eyes watering until the whole world blurred into streaks of green and brown, yet the countdown ticked somewhere in the corner of my vision like a second heartbeat I couldn’t ignore.
**00:00:30**
**00:00:29**
My brain had officially stopped functioning as a coherent organ somewhere around the fortieth bone-jarring stride.
I felt myself sliding, body pitching sideways with every hard hit of the horse’s hooves against packed earth, and pure animal instinct took over before conscious thought ever got a vote in the matter.
My hands shot forward and grabbed Belladonna’s waist.
She slowed instantly. Not the horse - her. Her whole body went rigid at the contact, her spine locking straight, every muscle beneath my palms going tense and still, like she was giving me exactly one second to realize my catastrophic mistake and withdraw before the consequences arrived to collect their due.
I didn’t withdraw.
**00:00:12**
My heart hammered against my ribs, half from the speed, half from the sheer audacity of what I was currently doing with my own two hands.
Yeah, it was a pure mistake but then it clicked in my brain. This was it. This was how I could achieve the mission. So I held on, my fingers pressed firm into the warm curve of her waist, refusing to be the smart, cautious version of myself and pulled away the second she tensed, even if I wouldn’t apologize.
Slowly, impossibly slowly given the speed we were still moving at, she turned her head.
Disbelief was written plain across her face, her sharp brows drawn together like she genuinely couldn’t process what she was looking at - a Bound/slave touching her without permission, and somehow still breathing, still whole, still not currently missing a hand.
She stared at me for a long, suspended second, the horse’s pace easing beneath us as her grip on the reins loosened just slightly.
[MISSION COMPLETE]
[Reward: +5 Charm, 200 EXP]
Relief flooded through me so fast I nearly forgot to look smug about it.
"You possess courage," she said finally, low, something almost curious threading through the words, like she was examining a strange insect that had unexpectedly bitten back.
"Maybe I was just trying to return the energy," I said, forcing my voice into something smug and easy despite my pulse still racing.
"You’ve been showing courage since, admirable stuff, by the way. Genuinely impressive. But I didn’t want you carrying all that momentum alone." I said firmly like what I was saying was the most honest thing I had ever said.
She stared at me a moment longer, something unreadable flickering behind those sharp eyes, like she had caught sight of something on my face she hadn’t expected to find there and wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.
Then, without another word, without so much as a warning, she turned back around and kicked the horse straight back into speed.
I sat there, wind already tearing at my hair again, genuinely baffled.
"What just happened?"
[Charm has begun affecting the host’s natural interactions. ]
I let out a low laugh, shaking my head at the sheer absurdity of my own life. Here I was, on an alien planet, clinging to a beast-woman general’s waist at terrifying speed, apparently being groomed by a horny god into some kind of sex demon.
Maybe becoming an Incubus wasn’t the worst deal in the universe, all things considered.
Well, it wasn’t like I actually had a choice in the matter anyway - this or an eternity somewhere significantly warmer or hotter, actually and significantly less fun, with significantly no woman willing to let me touch their waist.
"I’d be crying my eyes out instead of cumming..." I choked on the dry joke.
Nah, I’d rather become an Incubus than go to hell to rot. Whatever it took!
I tightened my grip, testing my luck a little further.
"Get your hands off my waist before I cut it off for you." Belladonna snapped but she didn’t look back.
Understanding that the charm stat would only enhance my actions or whatever the system had explained, I decided to ride on it and luck.
"Kindly let me stay alive, my lady." I said in the best formal tone I could muster in a loud voice.
Belladonna said nothing in response. But she didn’t throw me off. She didn’t even slow down again. She just kept riding, fast and focused, the wind tearing past both of us in a way that almost felt like something other than pure terror now - something closer to exhilaration, if I let myself admit it.
"Thanks for that charm stuff." I said, truly grateful to the system at the moment. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t be mad at it later.
I glanced sideways, catching a glimpse of the rest of the party falling steadily behind - warriors on horseback shrinking into distant shapes against the treeline.
Meanwhile, the slaves were jogging further back still, with heavy loads balanced on their heads, dust kicking up around their ankles.
~~~~~~~~~
Two hours passed.
I only knew because the System reminded me, flashing the primary mission’s countdown in the corner of my vision without warning, and something cold settled hard in my stomach the second the math actually landed.
Two hours. Belladonna’s deadline. The one where I was supposed to have "worked my magic" and produced her precious bird, or ended up, in her exact words, "dead meat."
I told myself, frantically, that she had probably lost track. Too caught up in the ride, too focused on the road stretching out ahead of us, surely she’d forgotten the exact hour she’d given me-
She slowed the horse.
And the system decided that was the best time for another trial on my path to becoming an Incubus.
═══════════════════════
INCUBUS ASCENSION
**Development Arc I**: Presence
**Purpose**: An Incubus commands attention. He does not beg for it.
**Mission**:
Do not flinch. Answer Belladonna’s threat with confidence.
Time Limit: 00:00:30
**Reward**:
• +5 Charm
• +100 EXP
• +5 Miracle Authority
**Penalty**:
Host’s voice will tremble whenever speaking to Belladonna.
Mandatory Quest.
Failure is not recommended.
══════════════════════
My stomach dropped straight through the saddle and kept falling.
"What kind of penalty is that? Damn!" I hadn’t finished the thought when Belladonna’s voice came up.
"Your time is up," Belladonna said, not even bothering to look back at me this time, her voice dropping low, dangerous; "Where is my bird?"
I swallowed hard, throat gone bone dry, mind racing through every excuse I’d ever used across an entire career of talking myself out of tight corners and finding every single one of them completely, hopelessly useless against a woman who could probably snap my neck one-handed without even breaking her horse’s stride.
Then she gripped my left hand from her waist, yanked it and used it to drag me off the horse.
Help!!!