Chapter 219: Cast a long line to catch a big fish

“Chaos Believer… Miss?”

Those words struck Agatha’s eardrums like sharp ice picks, instantly cooling her heat-flushed mind.

Her mockery and impatience froze on her face.

In response to the stranger’s words, Agatha slowly narrowed her crimson eyes.

All her focus sharpened to its peak as she tried to find some flaw in the tall figure before her.

Who was he?

How did he know that title?

Was he bluffing?

No…

Agatha’s heart sank bit by bit.

She couldn’t see anything.

The man before her was like a bottomless black hole.

His aura was restrained to the extreme, not leaking a single trace of mana fluctuation, nor any fierce killing intent belonging to a warrior.

He just stood there quietly, as if completely merging with the shadows of the alley.

If he were placed in the evening street crowd, Agatha would never notice him.

He was too ordinary, ordinary to the point of being almost “invisible.”

Yet she felt a deadly danger.

It was a tremor born from biological instinct.

Like a rabbit facing a tiger that had sheathed its claws and fangs, crouching in the grass and napping.

Agatha quietly clutched a bottle of highly corrosive alchemical potion she had just bought. Her palms began to sweat, and the hand hidden in her sleeve was already trembling slightly.

“Who the hell are you?”

She asked.

Her voice remained calm, even carrying a hint of the Heinrich Family’s arrogance.

But only she knew that her heart was pounding like a war drum.

“You don’t need to know who I am.”

The cloaked youth took a step forward.

Just that simple step made Agatha feel as if the shadows in front of her had instantly pressed down on her.

She could even smell a faint bloody aura coming from him, as if he had just walked off a battlefield.

The youth’s voice was ice-cold, seemingly devoid of any emotion.

“But I know who you are. That’s enough.”

“Heh…”

Agatha forcibly suppressed the urge to step back.

She snorted coldly, a hint of madness flashing in her crimson eyes.

“Oh, really?”

She said mockingly. “Then what are you going to do? Kill me here?”

She deliberately puffed out her chest, making the emblem of the Royal Magic Academy on her uniform more conspicuous.

“In an alley of the Imperial Capital Asgard, murdering a student of the Royal Magic Academy?”

She deliberately emphasized the words “Royal Magic Academy.”

This was her amulet.

She didn’t believe that someone would dare to openly attack a student of the empire’s highest institution right under the emperor’s nose in the capital, less than two kilometers from the academy.

That would be an open provocation against the imperial authority and the behemoths behind the magic academy.

Contrary to Agatha’s expectations, the youth fell silent after hearing her words.

He seemed to be seriously considering the feasibility of the proposal.

That silence was far more terrifying to Agatha than a direct threat.

***

A few seconds passed.

“No, no…”

From beneath the shadow of the hood, a smile suddenly curled.

“Of course I won’t kill you.”

The youth said slowly.

Just as Agatha was about to sigh in relief, his next words made her entire body stiffen.

“But—”

His voice carried a hint of amusement.

“We’ll meet again.”

After throwing out these words, the youth’s figure no longer advanced but slowly retreated, step by step, back into the deeper shadows.

He left behind only a gaze as sharp as if it could pierce through her soul.

Then, his figure vanished completely into the darkness of the alley like melting snow.

He left without a sound, as if he had never existed.

Agatha remained in that vigilant posture, not daring to move an inch.

She stared fixedly at the alley entrance.

After a full minute, when she confirmed that the other party had truly left and was not lying in ambush somewhere, her taut nerves snapped with a “crack.”

The bundle in her hands scattered all over the ground, and the bottles and jars she treasured rolled everywhere.

“Thump.”

She didn’t even bother to look at them. She collapsed onto the ground.

Her whole body was trembling, cold sweat soaking through the uniform on her back.

She gasped for air, and for the first time, an emotion called “fear” appeared in her crimson eyes.

“Ha… ha…”

Her gaze trembled uncontrollably.

Who the hell was that guy?

That last look of his…

That was absolutely…

Absolutely the eyes of someone who had truly been on a battlefield, who had truly killed!

How did he know the title “Chaos Believer”?

That title was the highest-level secret within the cult lurking inside the empire!

Only core members at the level of her and Professor Graham were qualified to know that code name!

They were not like those fools who worshipped the abyss and went around shouting their own titles!

Who had exposed them?

The imperial guard?

Or those church clerics?

No… impossible.

They had hidden so deeply that no one had ever discovered them.

Professor Graham had been operating inside the academy for so many years without ever slipping up.

Even that Finalais, who was right under their noses, hadn’t noticed them!

Could it be…

That woman who suddenly disappeared?

Had Lilith betrayed them?

Agatha’s fingers twitched uncontrollably.

She recalled the man’s final words.

‘We’ll meet again.’

‘Soon.’

A fear deeper than death seized her.

She propped herself up against the cold wall and, with legs that were still weak, slowly stood up bit by bit.

After the initial fear and trembling, her gaze was gradually replaced by a sharp glint.

No.

She had to tell Professor Graham about this immediately.

That mysterious man had already set his sights on her.

If he could find her, he would definitely find Helos, find the professor!

The great plan…

They had prepared for so many years, sacrificed so many “offerings,” and were about to witness the “awakening of the saint.” They couldn’t afford any mistakes at this critical moment!

Agatha no longer cared about the expensive materials scattered on the ground.

Stumbling, she ran wildly toward the other end of the alley, toward the Royal Magic Academy.

But what Agatha didn’t know was that at that very moment, the man who terrified her was standing in the shadows at another street corner, watching her retreating figure.

“…I almost got impulsive just now.”

The youth clicked his tongue, slowly pulled down his hood, revealing his neat black hair.

It was Julius.

He had to admit, if that woman had spoken a moment later, she would have already been a cold corpse.

But he had come to the imperial capital in secret and absolutely could not be noticed by those high-ranking church officials.

Even though he was directly subordinate to the Pope, over the years of various operations, the obstacles he had encountered from within were no fewer than those from outside.

So he didn’t fully trust those so-called “archbishops.”

However…

Letting her go wasn’t without its benefits.

A hint of a smile flickered across Julius’s lips.

A long time ago, a little girl had once told him a proverb she had heard from somewhere.

The proverb was very short, just a few words.

That was—

Let the line out long to catch a big fish.