"Ah!"
"How is that possible?!"
Shocked cries echoed through the hall as the remaining swarm of bats abruptly scattered. The creatures no longer dared approach Ryan Cross after witnessing what had just happened.
With a violent swirl of black shapes, the bats merged together again. In the next instant, Count Dracula reappeared in human form.
But the vampire lord no longer looked elegant.
Burn marks covered his face and body, deep scars carved by the scorching energy of Ryan's heat vision. The wounds looked severe, and what made the situation worse for Dracula was that they were healing far more slowly than usual.
Ryan's heat vision clearly inflicted lethal damage on him.
Dracula felt genuine fear.
"You're not human," Dracula said slowly. His voice was heavy as he stared at Ryan with shock and caution. "What exactly are you?"
Ryan shrugged casually.
"Well… I'm definitely not dead."
Dracula's expression twitched slightly.
The remark might have sounded harmless, but the implication was obvious. Ryan was indirectly calling him a corpse.
Technically speaking, vampires were indeed not living beings from a biological standpoint. But that fact was something vampires hated being reminded of. To them, it carried the sting of mockery and humiliation.
Still, humiliation or not, what could Dracula do right now?
He couldn't win.
Ryan's gaze sharpened.
"What are you staring at?" he said bluntly. "Hand over the ring. Otherwise I'll blast your head off."
There was no longer any point pretending to be polite. The moment their conflict began, the possibility of maintaining appearances had vanished.
Ryan wasn't going to hide his goal anymore.
Dracula's chest rose and fell violently.
The vampire lord trembled slightly, not out of fear but pure rage.
He was a second-generation vampire ancestor, one of the most powerful and respected figures in vampire history. Yet here he was being threatened by a young man who looked barely out of his twenties.
The humiliation was unbearable.
"You really should learn to respect your elders," Dracula said coldly.
He suddenly raised both hands.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky and slammed toward Ryan.
But Ryan had already moved.
Whoosh!
His body flickered and vanished like a ghost. In the next instant he reappeared several meters away.
The lightning crashed into the ground harmlessly.
At the same time, Ryan's eyes flashed red.
Two blazing beams of heat vision erupted and shot toward Dracula.
For Dracula, those beams were as dangerous as silver weapons, wooden stakes, garlic, or holy symbols. They were a direct threat to his existence.
Even with his powerful regeneration, he didn't dare take them head-on.
Whoosh!
Dracula's body blurred as he leapt across the floor, dodging left and right in a desperate attempt to avoid the relentless beams.
It had to be said that Dracula was incredibly fast.
Even ignoring his supernatural powers, his physical abilities alone far surpassed those of ordinary humans. But compared to Ryan, that speed advantage simply didn't exist.
Dracula's top speed was roughly one hundred meters per second.
Ryan was faster.
"Trying to run?"
A cold smile appeared on Ryan's lips.
He launched forward with explosive speed, chasing Dracula across the hall. The twin beams from his eyes tracked the vampire relentlessly, forcing Dracula to keep moving.
Crack!
Dracula retaliated while retreating.
He summoned more lightning, sending bolts crashing down toward Ryan again and again.
But the attack had one fatal weakness.
Lightning wasn't like Ryan's heat vision. It lacked flexibility. Every time Dracula summoned a strike, he had to perform a clear summoning gesture.
The warning signs were obvious.
In those conditions, hitting Ryan was nearly impossible.
Whoosh!
Ryan dodged another bolt with ease. As he moved, his heat vision slashed across the hall again.
This time it struck.
Dracula staggered.
His body lost balance and crashed to the ground.
Ryan didn't hesitate.
Before Dracula could recover, Ryan closed the distance in an instant and appeared directly in front of him.
His eyes glowed red again.
He stared down at the fallen vampire and held out his hand.
"Ring."
Dracula's face twisted violently.
Rage radiated from his expression like tangible heat.
Never in his long life had he experienced humiliation like this.
"You want the ring?" Dracula said slowly.
His expression shifted several times before finally settling into calm indifference.
"Fine. If you want it that badly… take it."
With a casual shrug, Dracula removed the ring from his finger and tossed it toward Ryan.
The sudden surrender caught Ryan slightly off guard.
For a legendary figure like Dracula, the reaction seemed almost too easy. It felt strangely inconsistent with his reputation.
But Ryan didn't dwell on the thought.
The ring had been his objective from the beginning.
Even if Dracula was planning something, securing the ring still came first.
Ryan reached out instinctively and caught it.
The moment his fingers touched the ring, something changed.
A strange force burst from the metal.
Ryan could clearly feel a mysterious energy surging outward and invading his body like a flood.
At the same time, the ring began glowing again.
"What the—"
Ryan was completely caught off guard.
He didn't know what was happening, but his instincts screamed that it was bad.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Dracula's face.
The vampire was smiling.
A victorious smile.
Ryan instantly understood.
Something was wrong with the ring.
Without hesitation, Ryan tried to fling it away.
But the ring refused to move.
It felt as if some invisible adhesive had glued it firmly to his finger.
Ryan grabbed it with his other hand and tried to tear it off.
Nothing happened.
Even worse, the strength he used seemed to vanish as if absorbed by the ring itself.
"It's useless," Dracula said with delighted laughter.
Once the curse begins, it cannot be interrupted by external force.
He laughed loudly, clearly enjoying the moment.
"This is destiny's arrangement. Accept the gift fate has given you. The undead welcome you."
Ryan ignored the taunt.
Instead of panicking, he forced himself to become calmer.
If brute force couldn't stop the curse, there was only one option left.
Use the system.
"Extract the energy source," Ryan commanded silently.
A moment later, a familiar notification appeared in his mind.
[Extracting…]
[Extraction successful!]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained 276 Origin Points!]
Several system prompts flashed across Ryan's consciousness.
At the same moment, the glowing ring rapidly dimmed.
The mysterious energy that had been flooding into Ryan's body vanished completely. It was instantly absorbed by the system.
Ryan finally exhaled deeply.
The crisis had passed.
The situation just moments earlier had been genuinely dangerous.
.....
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