Pegasus Welcomes a Guest

Thor hadn't seen how Kismet stopped Ophelia, but he trusted that the man had a way.

As he pondered this, Thor landed on the westernmost coast of the Iskape Continent.

Back when he'd been trying to find the Radiance Family as quickly as possible and escape Ophelia's control, Thor had deliberately chosen the most populous harbor.

But before he could land, a Shadow Monster appeared on a small hill near the harbor, then flew toward him at incredible speed.

Once it drew closer, Thor realized the Shadow Monster was actually a huge coffin, nearly three meters long and made entirely of black wood. It had the shape of a sarcophagus, broad at the top and narrow at the bottom.

Thor immediately stopped.

The coffin across from him stopped as well, hovering less than thirty meters away.

Thor narrowed his eyes. The other person was also a Tier 3 Wizard.

There were surely many Tier 3 Wizards at the Star Gate Council's headquarters on the Iskape Continent, but he hadn't expected to find one near a city he'd chosen at random.

Wizard resources were limited, after all. There were few high-tier Witchcraft materials near ordinary cities, so most high-tier Wizards gathered in a handful of regions.

The lid of the dark coffin slowly opened, revealing that it was packed full of black soil.

Mixed in with the dirt were dead leaves and gray-white pebbles. It looked like ordinary soil dug up from some random field.

Then a pale arm emerged, followed by a bare shoulder and an equally pale body. A long, slender neck, its purple-red veins clearly visible, rose from the soil.

But... there was no head.

The neck abruptly narrowed at the top. From its thumb-thick tip sprouted a purple-red stem. After growing about five centimeters, it suddenly split