Western edge of Kararagi, Zarestia's bed.
After watching the surroundings for a while from the sky, Orsted found that witchbeast did exist - but at the very horizon of the hills.
Near the tallest mountain, not even a silhouette of an animal existed. Orsted felt his heartbeat grow slower as he approached his destination - the more serious he grew, the further his expression turned colder.
He Donned a black hood covering his whole body, and a white mask covered his face completely. Orsted would be labelled suspicious in any country, with his current appearance.
Landing on the edge of the tallest mountain, Orsted began walking from the ground, intending to leave behind his scent from here.
'The fact that she hasn't come running yet, means the bracelet is working perfectly. The mana it's consuming isn't very high either, I can simply recover it by using dragon slayer magic.' Orsted rested one of his hands on the handle of his sword.
If possible, Orsted wanted to create a sword too, before enacting his plan. He had changed swords more than four times in the past two months, they were just not sturdy enough.
Unfortunately, there was no saying when Halibel would leave Banan the next time. He really was living like a home body, which made Orsted impatient.
There was a time limit for completing the side quest. Orsted wasn't willing to miss out on any quest rewards, when the future quests were unknown.
'Too many caves...' Orsted didn't know whether they were inter-connected or not, which had him exploring the area for a while.
Sniff-sniff~
Catching onto a peculiar scent in the air, or in the mana - Orsted froze briefly and began tracking the scent immediately, which led him higher on the mountain.
A normal person could die simply by trying to climb the hellish mountain.
Not a single area had any gripping or foot space.
'It's almost as if someone intentionally shaped this mountain to keep small fries away. Did Zarestia do it...?'
The idea wasn't far-fetched, but Orsted didn't let his mind wander around such matters right now.
Even without magic, Orsted was confident he could climb it with his strong physique. He jumped from one peak to another, using wind magic when necessary to make a higher leap.
The scent, though very thin and frail, Orsted was still able to follow it without a problem.
Zarestia didn't have a scent or at least skillfully erased her scent at every moment, which was stated in sloth if timeline. Knowing this fact, Orsted was sure this scent belonged to the light sphere.
Picking up the scent of mana was something Orsted grew capable of, after practicing the Arcane dragon slayer magic further.
He could even smell the witch's miasma, which could also be called corrupted mana.
Orsted stopped abruptly half-way up the mountain. His head shifted upwards silently.
'This presence....so it's time.' Orsted could feel the air suddenly grow restless, a windstorm began covering the mountain from the top.
An overwhelming pressure enveloped Orsted, causing his heart to sink like never before. The scent he followed grew closer by the second even as he stood still.
'She's here....' Orsted looked up from the mountain peak he stood on.
Landing on one of the peaks above Orsted was a girl with a kimono. Her presence stood like a sharp sword before him, making him feel the sensation of danger - which he hadn't felt for quite some time.
It was Zarestia, one of the four great spirits in existence.
Orsted held his breath laying his eyes on her.
Zarestia was inhumanly beautiful with her white skin and oddly provocative look. She had milky-white shaggy hair with a lime strand, white eyebrows, and sharp almond-shaped eyes with a bright yellow color.
She wore an immaculate pure white kimono with a lime sphere and the right side over the left, giving the impression of burial clothes. The skirt shortened to the mid-thigh and freely exposed her long, slender legs.
Apparently not liking the Orsted, who stood frozen in his track, her sharp eyes squinted.
"....Die."
Seeing the enemy expressed such a straightforward judgement, Orsted readied his sword immediately.
Right after that, the increasing pressure became so severe that Orsted's hair stood on their edge.
The hostility sublimated into murderous intent.
A strand of wind brushed past Orsted's head - causing him to instinctually jump away from his position.
BBAANNGG!
The ground he had stood in splits roundly within itself in an instant. The space splitted, as if bitten off by the jaw of a beast.
Crack~
The peak started collapsing the next moment.
Jumping off it, Orsted's finger dug into the hard mountain rock like iron hooks and hung stably with his leg dug into the mountain too.
'Its the worst case scenario...She is carrying the sphere with herself.' Orsted could see it hanging on her waist with his keen eyes.
For second, he really wanted to know how a normal oni was able to steal it. He had thought she might keep it in her lair or somewhere...this was bad.
'I had considered the possibility of myself being found due to her sensitive nose, and even wasted time creating magic to escape from her tempararily.....'
Feeling a little restless, Orsted calmly suppressed all his complaints and gazed at Zarestia whose killing intent just grew, seeing him survive.
'Now I can only face her head on. Luckily I had a precaution ready just in case... Let's hope she never finds out it's me in the future.'
Dragon battle aura covered his whole body in an instant.
With a rumble, Orsted's body shot towards Zarestia at the speed of sound.
Dozens of wind blades headed his way, making him dodge at every turn. He could use [Flow] to parry them, but he refrained from exposing any of his skills to her, so as to not gather suspicion in the future.
"Die...!" Zarestia's murderous intent solidified watching Orsted rushing forward.
"Tch..." Orsted made rough steps with earth magic on the mountain walls, using them as a leverage to jump upwards.
"Ah..." Orsted watched as Zarestia launched a huge stream of condensed wind, dozens of times bigger than the wind slashes she threw a moment ago.
'If I try to fly, she will definitely interrupt my wind magic directly....Sigh.' Orsted concentrated all his dragon battle aura into his legs and made a huge leap - dodging the wind attack by hair breadth.
He couldn't directly eat her magic and expose his dragon slayer magic - or it might have been way easier to deal with Zarestia.
Seeing that he had actually jumped dozens of meters above Zarestia, Orsted's eyes shone sharply.
Even when Zarestia saw Orsted so near in proximity, her killing didn't waver one bit, fully confident even in close combat.
'Inventory....'
"Die!!" Zarestia waved her hand decisively at Orsted.
Before the wind attack could reach Orsted, a big barrel appeared in its way - colliding with it immediately. The content of the barrel fell down, right on Zarestia.
"AHHHHHHHH...!"
Ignoring her sad cry, Orsted appeared before her kneeling state and snatched the light sphere without hesitation - He directly jumped down the peak just after.
'Should I have thrown more alcohol on her....? It would have slowed down her pursuit later on.' A slight regret appeared on Orsted's face.