My Bugged System Made Me Too OP!

Chapter 191: Is that so?

The sudden, awkward stutter at the end of Yaroth’s grand declaration was not voluntary. He hadn’t actually wanted to add that respectful title of "Lord" to the human’s name.

In fact, he would have preferred to spit on the floor. However, the authority of the dragon’s command had suddenly flared up within his mind, forcefully bending his vocal cords against his will.

The only reason Yaroth was even capable of showing defiance in the first place was because Kael had deliberately chosen to reduce the overall intensity of the command.

The ancient dragon had actively dialed back the mental shackles, granting the demon just enough free will to express what was actually on his mind.

Kael preferred it this way; he wanted Yaroth to speak with genuine emotion rather than answering every single question like a completely blank, lifeless puppet.

It was far more entertaining to watch a proud commander squirm while fully aware of his own tragic situation.

Despite giving the demon a loose leash, the proud ancient dragon still possessed an unyielding sense of hierarchy.

Kael could absolutely not allow a filthy, defeated creature of the abyss to address his master by a mere, common name.

To the dragon, Noah’s status was completely sacred. If the demon wanted to bark threats, he would still do so while recognizing the vast difference in their stations, even if it meant forcing the word out through a humiliated stutter.

Noah knew exactly what the dragon had done behind the scenes, but he didn’t say a single word to address it. It was far from the first time something like this.

In fact, Noah was completely used to Kael performing these subtle, prideful adjustments whenever someone spoke to him.

The dragon’s obsessive insistence on proper respect and grand protocol was practically a permanent fixture of their relationship by now.

Instead of wasting energy correcting the dragon, Noah simply let the matter slide, choosing to keep his focus entirely locked onto the heavily chained prisoner trembling inside the cage.

His lips curled upward into a slight, amused smile as he absorbed the demon’s final, desperate threat. The mockery in his dark eyes deepened, completely unfazed by the promise of an incoming demonic vanguard.

"Is that so?" Noah asked softly, his voice cutting through the damp, heavy silence of the cell. He tilted his head slightly, his tone dripping with a quiet, dangerous curiosity. "So you truly believe that I won’t be able to do absolutely anything, even against those incredibly strong demons you’re talking about?"

Before Yaroth could even attempt to craft another venomous retort, Noah deliberately allowed a remarkably small fraction of his internal mana pressure to leak out into the room.

It wasn’t an explosive burst of energy, nor did it cause the stone walls to fracture, but the sudden shift in the atmosphere was instantaneous and suffocating.

Yaroth’s eyes instantly widened in shock. The words he was preparing to speak completely died in his throat as his breath hitched violently.

His entire body locked up, every single instinct inside his demonic body screaming at him that he was suddenly in the presence of something catastrophic.

As the tiny drop of mana settled over the dark cell, the physical image of Noah standing casually in front of the iron bars began to distort wildly in Yaroth’s vision.

The masked human didn’t look like a normal mortal anymore.

Right before the demon’s trembling eyes, Noah’s silhouette slowly expanded, transforming into a staggeringly huge, ancient mountain that completely filled the horizon.

The illusionary peak of this colossal mountain stretched so incredibly high into the dark heavens that Yaroth couldn’t even begin to see where it ended.

It was an insurmountable wall of pure, crushing existence that made the entire abyss look small by comparison.

Staring up at it from the depths of his damp cage, the heavily bound commander finally realized that the monsters he claimed were coming to save him would look like nothing more than tiny pebbles at the base of this terrifying, endless peak.

Yaroth’s entire body began to shiver violently beneath the heavy links of the iron chains.

The metallic clinking of his restraints echoed sharply against the cold stone floor as his limbs trembled uncontrollably from the sheer weight of the atmosphere.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment, desperately trying to steady his frantic breathing as a chaotic storm of thoughts raced through his mind.

’What the hell is this...?’ he thought, his heart hammering wildly against his ribs. ’He feels completely different from the last time!’

The stark contrast between Noah’s current aura and the power he had displayed during their previous encounter was nothing short of staggering.

The last time they had clashed in a fight, Noah had only been at the rank of an arch magus.

Even though the masked human had easily dominated Yaroth back then, completely crushing his strongest techniques without breaking a sweat, his presence had still felt somewhat grounded in reality.

Back during that initial fight, his power didn’t feel like a towering, endless mountain that Yaroth couldn’t even see the peak of.

During that first encounter, Yaroth had simply viewed Noah as an exceptionally powerful opponent who happened to be far out of his league.

He had chalked up his swift defeat to a massive gap in combat experience, strategy, and raw output, believing Noah was just a human with very powerful magic.

In this incredibly short amount of time, however, something fundamental had shifted within the masked man.

Noah seemed to have changed entirely, transforming into an entirely different entity altogether.

The realization that a mortal could evolve so drastically in such a brief window made the bound demon even more terrified of him than before.

It defied all known logic of progression, leaving Yaroth feeling completely naked and vulnerable in front of a creature that seemed to be actively breaking the laws of nature.

What made the situation even more perplexing and terrifying was the specific nature of the energy suffocating the room.