My Bugged System Made Me Too OP!-Chapter 29: Dodged it

His brows furrowed, eyes narrowing, and his lips curled into a sneer.

"You should be grateful you’re still alive," he said, his voice low but venomous.

"Even though... your life is so pitiful." Each word dripped with contempt, slicing into the air between them.

He stepped slightly closer, leaning forward just enough to make his presence imposing.

His jaw clenched tight, and he let the words hang before continuing. "You’re just a pathetic loser. You can’t do anything to me."

The sharp edge in his voice was unmistakable, meant to intimidate, to break Noah’s composure in front of everyone.

Contrary to his expectations, Noah simply smiled.

A quiet, small smile, almost unbothered, but full of confidence.

"We’ll see about that, Lloyd," he said softly, eyes steady and unflinching, almost challenging him without raising his voice.

Noah turned around smoothly, shifting his weight and beginning to casually walk away. It was a simple action, yet it made Lloyd’s irritation spike.

Lloyd’s teeth clenched until his jaw ached. He shouted, voice sharp and full of rage,

"You fucking trash! Don’t you dare walk out on me!" The words cut through the corridor, loud and tense, demanding attention.

He muttered something under his breath, his lips moving quickly, almost mechanically.

His right hand stretched forward, fingers tense and precise, as if he were physically reaching for control over Noah’s movement.

A small ball of mud began to form above his palm, spinning slowly.

Its surface shimmered faintly as the spell took shape, growing more defined with each word he chanted.

The air around it seemed to tremble subtly, charged with the magic he poured into it.

Noah turned around at the movement, his expression calm and indifferent.

His eyes met Lloyd’s, and there was no hint of fear, no sign of hesitation.

If anything, he seemed unshaken by the threat forming before him.

The display immediately caught the attention of students nearby. Heads turned, murmurs spreading like ripples across a pond.

Eyes widened, voices quiet but filled with speculation. Whispers of concern and curiosity filled the corridor.

From their vantage point, many students assumed Noah was in the wrong.

They saw Lloyd, the Count’s son, standing there with clear anger, conjuring a spell.

To them, it appeared that Noah had somehow provoked the situation, the calm defiance now making him look too cocky.

Some of the students had seen earlier, when Noah had walked up confidently to Lloyd.

They had thought he was overstepping, getting too arrogant for someone in his place.

Now, watching the confrontation, they wanted Lloyd to put Noah in his place.

It didn’t matter what had truly happened, or what the context was—they wanted to see Noah get embarrassed.

Lloyd smirked proudly, a sharp gleam in his eyes.

His chest rose and fell slightly faster, not from exertion but from the thrill of power he felt pulsing through him.

"Let’s see... how you’ll take this, loser," he spat, his voice dripping with arrogance.

The sneer on his lips twisted upward, almost challenging Noah, as if daring him to respond.

The small mud ball that had formed above Lloyd’s hand had already hardened into a medium-sized stone.

It hovered steadily, spinning slowly, catching faint glints of sunlight through the corridor windows.

The edges of the stone were rough but compact, its surface showing the subtle textures of the hardened mud, giving it a weight and presence that made it immediately threatening.

Lloyd’s fingers tightened around the invisible control of the spell, palm tilted slightly forward.

Then, with a sudden, forceful motion, he shouted, "Stone Shot!"

He thrust his hand forward in one precise motion, as if pushing the energy directly into the stone.

Instantly, it accelerated, shooting toward Noah with incredible speed.

The spinning stone cut through the air like a projectile, edges blurred with rapid motion, leaving a faint streak in the light of the corridor.

Noah’s eyes sharpened instantly.

’Fast!’ he thought, calculating the trajectory in a fraction of a second.

He pivoted lightly on the balls of his feet, quickly movijf to the side.

The stone zoomed past him, grazing the cheek of a student who had been watching from behind.

The boy yelped sharply as the spinning rock nicked him, small flecks of blood appearing almost instantly.

The force sent him stumbling back a step, clutching his cheek, and his eyes widened in shock and pain.

The stone continued its trajectory until it collided violently with the stone wall of the corridor.

A sharp, muffled thunk resonated as the rock hit, embedding briefly before breaking apart.

Tiny fragments dissolved into thin air, scattering like dust, leaving no trace of the spell’s destructive path beyond the boy’s scraped cheek.

The student’s shout echoed in the hallway.

"Ah! My cheek!" he cried, pressing his hand to the now bleeding wound.

His uniform sleeve quickly stained red as he struggled to process what had just happened, panic flashing in his eyes.

Lloyd’s eyes widened in disbelief. His confident smirk faltered slightly as he thought to himself, ’He... he dodged it?!’

The rush of disbelief, mixed with the sting of humiliation, made him falter for the first time.

The arrogance that had carried him this far faltered, replaced by a creeping unease he hadn’t expected to feel.

Noah, meanwhile, let out a quiet sigh of relief, though his expression remained calm.

’That was... pretty close,’ he thought, recognizing the danger that had almost caught him.

A faint smile touched the corners of his lips, almost imperceptible.

He couldn’t help but feel a surge of gratitude for the increase in stats he had gained from leveling up.

The added reflexes, and agility had made the difference in that split-second maneuver.

Without it, he would have been hit squarely by the stone, the force of the impact likely throwing him off balance or causing injury.

Noah’s thoughts flickered back to the memory of his old self, the version that had faced similar situations before leveling up.

’If it were the old me... he considered silently, I would’ve gotten hit by that attack. I would’ve had no chance to dodge.’