What kind of move was that?
The bizarre scene unfolding in front of Ryan Cross genuinely caught him off guard. Guests across the entire hall had collapsed almost instantly, dropping to the floor as if someone had flipped a switch.
Ryan's first instinct was confusion.
Wasn't Dracula supposed to be a vampire? Since when did vampires have abilities like this?
Then again, when Ryan thought about how Dracula was portrayed in the Marvel universe, the answer became obvious. Marvel's version of Dracula was, frankly speaking, completely unreasonable.
Sunlight didn't bother him. His regeneration bordered on absurd. And his immortality was the kind that ignored common sense.
This wasn't the usual comic-book "hard to kill" immortality either. Dracula's existence functioned more like a universal rule. Every time he died, he inevitably returned.
Even the cosmic entity Death—one of the five fundamental cosmic forces—couldn't permanently erase him.
On top of that, Dracula possessed a ridiculous variety of abilities.
He could dissolve his body into mist. He could control storms and summon lightning. He could transform into bats, wolves, or other creatures. And of course, he could hypnotize people with terrifying ease.
The list went on and on.
In short, the man was a walking cheat code.
With that in mind, the fact that he could exhale some strange white vapor that knocked people unconscious didn't seem quite so shocking anymore.
The only question was what exactly that vapor was.
While these thoughts flashed through Ryan's mind, the expanding cloud of pale mist had already reached him. It swallowed the surrounding area in seconds, wrapping around his body like a cold fog.
But Ryan wasn't an ordinary person.
The moment he sensed something strange in the air, he immediately stopped breathing.
If the gas worked through inhalation, then refusing to breathe would neutralize most of the danger.
But Ryan didn't stop there.
At that moment, a rarely used mutant ability of his finally proved useful. It was a strange power he had barely relied on before, something that had quietly existed in the background of his abilities.
His skin could filter surrounding gases and directly absorb oxygen from the environment.
With that ability active, Ryan simply drew oxygen through his skin while rejecting the unknown vapor entirely.
Dracula's trick was neutralized.
"Hmm. Interesting."
A voice suddenly sounded nearby.
Ryan looked up sharply.
Dracula had appeared directly in front of him without warning. The vampire lord stared at Ryan with clear surprise in his crimson eyes, as if he had just discovered something fascinating.
Apparently, he hadn't expected anyone to still be standing.
Ryan quickly noticed something else.
The ring that had been inside the display case was now on Dracula's finger.
So his earlier guess had been right.
Dracula had come here for the ring.
"My hypnosis doesn't work on you," Dracula said calmly, studying Ryan with curiosity. "That means you're not an ordinary person."
"Well…" Ryan shrugged slightly. "Maybe I just had too much coffee earlier."
His tone remained casual, but inside his mind calculations were already racing.
From what he had just seen, Dracula's abilities were exactly as outrageous as the comics described. Combined with his ridiculous immortality, fighting someone like that was an incredibly stupid idea.
And there was another point.
That ring hadn't belonged to Ryan in the first place.
After weighing everything, Ryan made a quick decision.
"Look," he said evenly, "whoever you are and whatever you want to do, it doesn't involve me. So if you're finished here, why don't you just leave?"
Dracula's lips curved into a confident smile.
"Earlier, you clearly wanted my ring," he said calmly. "And you already recognized who I am, didn't you?"
Although he phrased it like a question, his tone carried absolute certainty.
"I didn't. I wasn't. And you're imagining things."
Ryan denied it instantly without hesitation.
There was no way he would admit something like that.
"You're dishonest," Dracula said with mild disappointment.
"I don't like dishonest children."
As the last word left his mouth, Dracula suddenly moved.
His body blurred as if turning into a gust of wind. In the blink of an eye he vanished from his original position and swept straight toward Ryan.
A fraction of a second later he appeared directly in front of him.
Dracula's hand shot forward.
He grabbed for Ryan's throat.
Ryan had originally planned to avoid conflict, but now that Dracula had taken the initiative to attack, there was no reason to keep holding back.
A cold snort escaped Ryan's nose.
His fist shot forward like a hammer.
Boom!
The impact echoed through the hall.
Ryan's super-speed allowed him to slip past Dracula's grasp effortlessly. In the same motion, his fist slammed into the vampire's chest with terrifying force.
Dracula flew backward like a cannonball.
His body smashed violently into the floor.
Ryan's current base strength was already close to one hundred tons. When he exerted himself fully, the explosive force was several times greater.
Even Dracula couldn't simply shrug off a punch like that.
In the comics, Dracula was capable of defeating Captain America in direct combat. But compared to Ryan's expectations, the vampire lord wasn't physically overwhelming.
"Who are you?"
Dracula rose from the floor again. His clothes were slightly disheveled, and the calm elegance on his face had been replaced with visible shock.
In all his centuries of existence, he had never encountered someone with such terrifying strength.
"Homelander."
Ryan answered calmly.
The word left his mouth like a simple statement.
"Homelander?"
Dracula frowned.
What kind of ridiculous name was that supposed to be?
Who would call themselves something like that?
For a moment, irritation flickered across Dracula's face. It sounded suspiciously like Ryan was mocking him.
Without another word, Dracula's body suddenly shifted again.
This time he transformed into a massive black wolf.
The creature lunged forward.
Roar!
A deep growl echoed through the hall as the monstrous wolf charged straight at Ryan.
However—
Boom!
Another punch landed.
The giant wolf was blasted backward instantly.
Its body crashed to the ground like a lifeless animal, sliding across the floor before finally stopping. A deep crater had formed in its chest from the impact.
Several ribs had clearly shattered.
"Ahem!"
Dracula coughed once as the wolf's body melted back into his human form.
The terrible dent in his chest began healing immediately. Bones shifted back into place, flesh repairing itself at a speed visible to the naked eye.
His regeneration was even more absurd than Wolverine's.
Ryan's punch had been devastating, but it hadn't caused any lasting damage.
To truly harm Dracula, special weaknesses had to be used—things like silver, garlic, or holy symbols.
Those were traditional vampire weaknesses.
Even as a so-called second-generation vampire ancestor, Dracula still couldn't escape those fundamental limitations.
"Remarkable strength," Dracula said slowly.
His voice still carried traces of surprise, but a cold smile soon appeared on his face.
"But what happens if you can't use that strength at all?"
Whoosh!
As he spoke, Dracula suddenly dissolved into a swarm of bats.
Hundreds of black shapes exploded outward and rushed toward Ryan like a living storm.
If Ryan's abilities had been limited to raw strength, this move would have been extremely troublesome. After all, punching individual bats one by one was hardly a practical strategy.
Unfortunately for Dracula, Ryan's abilities extended far beyond his fists.
A sharp flash burst from his eyes.
Two blazing beams of heat vision erupted instantly.
After weeks of practice, Ryan's control over his heat vision had improved dramatically. Targeting a swarm of bats like this was practically effortless.
The beams swept through the air.
Screech!
Screech!
Painful cries filled the hall as bats began dropping from the sky like rain.
.....
Read the next chapter on my p@treon for free.
Paid members can get more than 60 chapters.
Link: [email protected]/GalaxyWonder