Chapter 121: Left in the Dust

It took a while for everyone in the group to get used to hanging on to Momo's back as she rushed through the prairie. She moved so effortlessly through the prairie that it wasn't a very bumpy ride, but every once in a while they would have to hang on tight to Momo's fur when she was going up a hill or racing over an area that had several holes in it from prairie dogs that she had to jump over. Clinging to her fur wasn't all that difficult so Joshua didn't have to worry about anyone falling off as they moved at a pace that Joshua could only imagine beforehand.

In his position on top of Momo's head he was able to see everything that the ferret was seeing so he could see when other creatures were in the area or when they emerged into new clearings in the prairie. The sights were amazing to see as they passed by quickly with Momo's pace. For the most part the other creatures in the area didn't even take notice of Momo since her fur had changed to a green color that matched the grass that she was racing through. It would make it difficult for predators to notice them unless they tried to follow Momo just based off of smell.

One thing Joshua did notice while riding on Momo's back was the way she was able to change speeds quickly and change directions while racing through the prairie at top speeds. It all came down to the ferret's tail that was allowing her to make such shifty movements quickly. When moving at a normal pace Momo's tail would wave up and down, but whenever she entered top in speeds it would straighten out and the fur on it would fold down to make the tail as slim as possible so that there wouldn't be much drag from the wind catching on to it. When Momo wanted to slow down quickly the fur on the tail would puff up and stick out to create as much drag as possible to slow her down to the point where she could make quick changes in direction at a moment's notice.

All in all the ride was incredibly comfortable and they were making good pace through the area without much trouble, but of course things couldn't stay simple forever. Joshua could feel a pack of coyotes racing from both sides in the tall grass at angles where they were going to be able to catch up with Momo at the current pace she was going. Joshua knew that she could easily kick up her pace another notch if she wanted to and leave the group of six or so coyotes behind without much trouble. Instead of just leaving the free experience behind in the dust Joshua planned to see how well the group could fight from the back of Momo while on the move and this was the perfect opportunity to do just that without putting any of them in too much danger.

'Everyone get ready for combat. Especially the mages, we're going to try fighting from the back of Momo. Six coyotes are closing in on us and will be here in seconds.' Joshua said through the mental link since he would have to shout if he wanted to be heard over the wind while riding on Momo. 'Mages try your best to shoot them down from afar. Close range fighters should just be prepared to defend Momo if a coyote gets too close to us.'

Joshua then started to hold his scale blade at the ready to attack the first coyote that was preparing to jump at Momo in an attempt to snap its Jaws at her smaller head, but it was surprised that its sneak attack was easily avoided as Momo dunked underneath it while Joshua slashed his scale blade upward right across its neck as it passed by. The empowered strike cut a clean slit straight through its neck since the two creatures had passed by each other so quickly and the coyote yelped in pain as blood started dripping from the wound. Its pain didn't end there as a barrage of spells slammed into its head soon after with most of them being fire balls that apparently destroyed its head as Joshua could feel a surge of experience flooding him.

The other coyotes were a bit wearier in their approach, but this time Momo wasn't going to let them be the ones that went on the attack first. Her black paws lit up in a golden glow as she leaped through the tall grass and slammed one of her paws into the head of one of the coyotes smashing it into the ground. The golden aura was clearly the extra weight effect that was gained from earth mana and it packed quite a punch judging from the cracks laid out on the ground beneath the coyotes head.

Another one of the coyotes rushed over and tried to slam into Momo's side but the crafty ferret wiggled her body over the incoming creature and left large scratch across its back as it stumbled into its downed partner. Having two knocked over coyotes was too good of an opportunity to pass up so all of the mages instantly let lose as ice spears, earth spikes, fireballs, and lightning strikes all started striking the two downed enemies killing them within seconds. Joshua didn't have to observe the coyotes to know that they were on the lower level in comparison to some of the larger coyote groups they had seen previously in the prairie. Even so they still gave a lot of experience so Joshua was more than happy enough to take them out.

The three remaining coyotes all fled the area after that short confrontation which didn't come as much of a surprise to Joshua or anyone else in the group. After all they had already lost half their numbers and had not landed a single hit on Momo up to this point. Momo might not have been one of the stronger beast in the prairie but she was still much stronger than coyotes outside of possibly the pack leaders. Even then she was far more versatile in skills than the coyotes were so she would have no problem going head to head with a pack leader from a coyote group. Joshua wasn't worried about Momo until they came across something like snakes or owls that could pick her off if given the opportunity.

Joshua decided to leave the dead bodies of the coyotes behind this time around so that any nearby predators would go after them instead of Momo for a while. That plan seemed to work out perfectly since they didn't come across anymore trouble after that little skirmish for a while. They did see another pack of coyotes, but they seemed to be rushing in the direction of where the dead bodies were left behind instead of going after Momo and creating another fight. Even so everyone in the group was pleasantly surprised by how well Momo was able to handle herself in a confrontation with bigger beast that outnumbered. They were starting to see how the expedition was going to work out now that they had an actual worthwhile way to cross the prairie.

Of course Joshua had to frown a bit at the fact that he wasn't able to pick up any of the unknown plants he was seeing them pass by while clinging to Momo's head, but he knew they could come back and gather plants in the future. Right now they were more focused on exploring as much of the prairie as they could for the time being and at the moment they were traveling along the outskirts of the prairie instead of rushing directly towards the center. Joshua wasn't certain, but he got the feeling that a territory of this size would have multiple things to find in it instead of just one giant dungeon in the center of it. So he wanted to make his way around the outskirts until they found some sort of landmark or something that would stand out to the group for them to investigate.

While Joshua was thinking of these things he suddenly felt another pair of threats approaching Momo, but this time the threats were racing towards her from behind at a much faster speed than the coyotes had rushed towards them with. These were two bobcats that had actually gained on the group because they weren't running along the ground, but were instead chasing them by leaping through the air repeatedly as they got closer to Momo. The pack of coyote weren't much of a threat simply because Momo was much faster than them and had far better reflexes than any of the coyotes could even dream of, but the bobcats clearly could keep pace if not even move a little faster than Momo who had already noticed the danger.

Lilly didn't seem to worried about the situation as she simply smiled, but she did seem to order Momo to do something since the ferret suddenly streamlined its body even more than usual as her pace grew. The previously gaining bobcats were no longer getting any closer and Momo took a moment to wave her bushy tail in front of them to taunt them before all of the fur on her tail shrunk down even more as her speed grew once more.

The two bobcats seemed enraged from getting taunted as they let out loud shrieks before pushing their bodies to the max to keep up with Momo only to have any hope of catching the ferret dashed with what she did next. Momo's black paws started glowing green as her body seemed to lighten and her speed skyrocketed. It was as if she was gliding across the ground as she left the two enraged bobcats in the dust. At this point she was moving so fast that within a minute the bobcats weren't even within the range of Joshua's aura sense anymore.

Momo just kept dashing ahead for a while before she eventually slowed down to a more manageable pace. The entire time Joshua felt like he was riding a rollercoaster with the amount of wind that was blasting across his face. Eventually it started getting late and they decided to stop for the night at a nearby hill. Momo dug a little tunnel inside of it before making a large room that they could all rest in for the night. It made things safer for the entire group since no creatures would even know where they were set up for the night. The beast deterrent machine could work from inside the tunnel so they didn't have to worry about any other animals using the hill as a resting spot overnight.

In only a few hours riding on Momo's back they had made more progress throughout the prairie than the rest of the days they had spent there and they planned to get full use of Momo's speed throughout the rest of the expedition.