The ground approached nearer swiftly in Orsted's vision.
Just as a few meters kept his body apart from the ground, wind magic gently slowed down his descent.
Step~
As soon as his legs touched the ground, his body shot out of Zarestia's bed in a straight line - making sure to leave behind his scent for Zarestia to follow.
Hills couldn't break his charge, he easily jumped past any obstacle in his way. As he approached the outer area of Zarestia's bed - his nose picked up a few witchbeasts smells, which made him swiftly go past them.
No time could be wasted upon them.
'I was able to react to her attacks luckily. My senses have grown further.'
With just his current strength, Orsted was already shaping up to be a formidable adversary to any magic user.
With just arcane dragon slayer magic, he could stand his ground against Roswaal for a while now - who was stated to have surpassed even the witch of greed, Echidna in magical abilities.
'Still, if any of Zarestia's or Roswaal's attacks hit me, I would die without a doubt. My body still doesn't have Acnologia's absolute immunity against magic.' Orsted thought while running at his stop speed.
Flying could cut off his scent's trail, so Orsted could only travel through the ground.
Having placed both his sword and the light sphere in the inventory, Orsted decided to never use that particular sword again and planned on destroying it later on.
'It should take her a while to start following me, by then I should be able to reach Banan. With more than half of her power gone, Zarestia's speed wouldn't be too fast either...'
Orsted wasn't very happy about his initial success - it was something planned for two months and it still led to an unfavorable situation for him.
'In the end, Zarestia didn't go all out as I had expected. She held back since her dwelling area was nearby, hence I was able to defend her attacks somewhat.'
In her peak, Zarestia held the power to flatten mountains easily - but she didn't use such a strong attack against Orsted. Showing just how much she held back.
With an attack of that calibre, Orsted wouldn't get a chance to devour it before getting crushed into a bloody mess.
'I do have [shadow transfer] to escape back to Banan, so danger wise, I am not very worried in the end.' Orsted's preparation was very comprehensive.
Knowing that winning was impossible, he would of course focus more on escaping.
Dragon battle aura continued enhancing his body, propelling his speed closer to the speed of sound.
'I haven't devoured the Yin element of this world yet. After acquiring it, I might be able to create teleportation magic or a spell similar to it, like Beatrice.' Orsted contemplated calmly after running dozens of kilometres away from Zarestia's bed.
Crossing the Reize's village, a vast grassland spread before Orsted - it was the Banan's grassland. Also the location where he was first transported into this world.
'If it's now....' Orsted had an urge to go and burn down the flowerfield, where he experienced his first death.
Suppressing such a reckless urge, Orsted followed the track's leading to Banan. Though in the back of his mind, he had decided to return here later and burn every last Courtesan bear to death.
Even without flying, his speed was very impressive with dragon battle aura. To others, he would seem like a blurred figure moving at an unbelievable speed.
Running for almost 6 hours straight, while using dragon slayer magic to recover - Orsted could see a familiar fortress at last. Without hesitation he walked into the fortress's shadow and activated [Shadow transfer].
A sense of weightlessness passed through Orsted's body, before receding. The next moment he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar room with Japanese infrastructure - movable doors and thick, woven straw mats that covered the entire floor.
Deactivating the bracelet's effect, Orsted threw the hood and mask back into the inventory.
'Now, I just have to wait for her to attack. I will have to convince her to make a deal with me and then.... it would all depend on hard work.'
Orsted wasn't against returning the light sphere to Zarestia later on, of course, through some twists and turns.
He had come up with a way to erase the overwhelming bloodlust within the light sphere.
Which was apparently impossible in the original story.
Black Tia, or the Oni, whose name was Reize - could make use of the power in the light sphere, just by possessing it. It was stated that anyone could do the same, but along with Zarestia's power, they would also inherit her bloodlust.
While making use of the light sphere, the wielder would transform into the form of Zarestia externally.
In other words, Orsted could make use of it too. Once it became a part of him, [Rewrite] was usable on it.
'And so I can permanently erase her bloodlust problem. However, I do have to win over her trust somehow.'
Knowing that there was some time left before Zarestia arrived, battle plans began taking form in Orsted's mind.
Without the light sphere, Zarestia would be able to only bring out less than half of what she was capable of. A huge shackle, but she was still formidable, being capable of slamming Ricardo welkin in the original plot quite easily.
'If I go all out, I should be able to contend with her and in close range....defeat her.' Orsted concluded.
Though stronger than average even in physique, she was still weaker than Orsted in raw strength. With dragon battle aura and sword god style - he was capable of overwhelming Zarestia at close range.
After simulating the fight for a while, he stood up and changed his clothes into his original ones, which he got from the system. Once ready, he stood on the small garden beside his house and gazed at the direction of Zarestia's bed.
Though not visible to others, a clear windstorm was approaching in Orsted's eyes at the far end of the horizon.
[The shinigami incident] - that was supposed to occur 11 years from now, had been accelerated to this very moment.
In the original plot, Zarestia destroyed half of Banan, before Ricardo specified her by taking on her attacks. Though no one died apparently, since without the light sphere, she was a very reasonable person.
However, with Orsted's action, it was expected that her wrath would be a few levels higher than the original. If he could not suppress her, she might really cause some deaths.
'I should let her rampage a little before going there. That way, the locals would spread my name more.... Actually, they better spread my name or I might really have to show them what pain means.'
Knowing how bad his image was, Orsted felt that the locals would definitely still shun him no matter what. That was his curse, even if he saved others, they would still come to either hate or fear him.
And staying in one place made it even worse, Orsted had found that many who feared him, now also hated him to a degree. The more they are exposed to [Dragon tribe's curse] - the more it seems to twist the fear and hatred into them.
Orsted didn't care whether he made a good name or bad name, all that mattered was the dragon points.