The True Ancestor Can't Get a Word In

Floor 20 of the Tower of Ordeal. The boss of Floor 20.

Dracul (S-Grade) was a True Ancestor.

He had not been turned by another vampire's fangs — he had been born a vampire, from the very first. And that was precisely why he stood far above the common bloodline in both power and nobility.

"The audacity..."

With a whisper of movement, Dracul rose from his seat — and he knew at once.

Some insolent fool out there intended to kill him.

"Who dares challenge my authority!"

And so he had sent his assassin birds, and even Renfield (A-Grade), his own secretary.

But the intruder was closing in at a speed that made all of it look pointless.

Kugugugugu...!

A monstrous killing intent poured out of Dracul's body.

It has been a while.

A thousand years, perhaps? Even rising to his own feet was a distant memory by now.

It wasn't that challengers had never come. But the vast majority of them had fallen to the assassin birds, or to Renfield.

"Kukukuk."

Ghastly fangs bared behind Dracul's lips.

"This will be entertaining. Very."

Anyone who had made it this far must have beaten Renfield — but that changed nothing. For he was Dracul, the one being that a hundred, a thousand Renfields could never withstand.

"I shall bite. I will bite, drain you of blood, wring that neck — and make you my second Renfield. To have climbed this far, you have at least earned that much...!"

Just as he curled his lips into a wicked smile and began to unfurl his aura—

"Bullshit."

Something came hurtling at him with terrifying speed.

KWAAANG!

Caught on Dracul's swiftly raised claws was none other than Hungyo's sword.

"Hoh. Impressive."

Dracul meant it. The sheer weight pressing through the blade marked its wielder as no ordinary foe.

"Strong... for a human—"

KWAAANG!

Before he could lift his other claw, Hungyo's blade was already hammering into his neck.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

And not only his neck. Before he could mount any real response, the sword was raking across every inch of Dracul's body.

How was anyone supposed to cope with Hungyo — running the Versatile Rune, gifted with foresight on top of it, and buffed by light-speed Ramba's acceleration besides?

"Why, you little—!"

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

"W-wait, hold on—"

Dracul opened his mouth, sensing that something was deeply wrong—

SHKKK!

Doldori's scythe buried itself in that open mouth, then gave a merry little spin.

No — fuck!

Let me at least talk, you bastards!

With 99% physical resistance, the damage wasn't truly landing. It was simply too fast to react to — like a fly whose darting, weaving flight was so uncanny that no amount of clapping between your palms would ever catch it.

KWAAANG!

He swept a claw through the air, and the sword sank home somewhere else entirely.

KWAAANG!

And every time he tried to speak, the scythe cracked against his fangs and tongue.

Dracul was being driven out of his mind.

No — this is insane!

Fast is one thing, but there are limits!

KWAGAGAGAGAGAGANG!

Worse — even in the middle of the barrage, their attack speed seemed to keep climbing.

These insolent mongrels!

In the end, Dracul resolved to get serious. He would draw up every last drop of his power and unleash the technique that seized dominion over the entire space — Blood Space!

"KIAAAAAAAAAAA!"

KWAGAGAGAGAGA!

The blood and life force he had devoured over his long existence converted into raw energy and crushed down upon the space.

"Hhk...!"

"Krrgh...?!"

Hungyo and Doldori, in the very middle of their assault.

"Gyaaahhh!"

And Ramba, staff still mid-swing.

One and all, they were forced to drop their weapons and sink to their knees beneath that monstrous pressure.

Goooooh...!

And Dracul, gazing down at them with a look of deranged rapture, was every bit as bone-chilling as his legend promised.

"Hoo."

Watching from far away, Baek Jinwoo let out a slow breath.

Right — that was exactly Ramba's counter. No matter how many stacks she piled up, if a space-crushing technique like that was strong enough, there was simply no way to evade it.

What good was attack speed if you couldn't move?

Which was why what he needed was ranged power — and of that, above all, Pokryongi's Yeom (Burst).

Blood Space's one flaw is its short range.

The data on that skill was already unspooling through Baek Jinwoo's mind — how many seconds of restraint it imposed, how far its domain reached, all of it. Which was why he had stationed Pokryongi outside the door, apart from the rest.

"Pokryongi."

"Yes, Master Jinwoo. Ready when you are."

"Fire. Now."

"Yes, sir!"

Pokryongi gathered every ounce of the blast-dragon wave she had been storing up and let it loose in a single detonation.

Pokryongsul. Secret Art — Yeom (Burst).

FWOORORORORORO!

The pillar of fire that bloomed beyond the skill's range took the shape of a roaring dragon and hurtled straight for Dracul.

"What the— now what is THIS?!"

Dracul was aghast. He, of all beings, was weak to fire — and that skill was, at a single glance, something else entirely. Worse, having just unleashed the full breadth of his power, he couldn't find the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠timing to dodge.

And so—

KWAAAAAAAAAANG!

Dracul ate Pokryongsul: Yeom (Burst), head-on, defense utterly shattered!

"GRAAAAAAAAAAK!"

Dracul's body began to burn.

The pain was of a different dimension from Hungyo's blade, and he screamed again and again. His body, bent like a drawn bow, convulsed without pause.

Impossible.

This was no ordinary fire. It felt like flame compressed, and compressed, and compressed yet again.

"Wh-what... What ARE you people?!"

In all his long, long existence, Dracul had never once laid eyes on enemies of this kind.

Dracul's HP began to plummet at a terrifying rate.

"GRAAAAAAAH!"

He screamed himself hoarse, but there was nothing Dracul could do. For Hungyo and Doldori had moved again, disrupting every attempt he made to smother the flames.

Sensing that the situation was all but finished, Baek Jinwoo strolled over at a leisurely pace.

"You asked who we are?"

Then he grinned.

"Figure it out yourself. You're about to be dead anyway."

He would die, then live again — reviving with no memory, to appear on someone else's twentieth floor. At the end of the day, he was nothing more than a scrap of lore in Battle of Summoners.

FWOORORO!

The blast-dragon wave bursting from Pokryongi's staff shifted into Byeon (Transformation) and bored straight into Dracul's open mouth. The bursts of flame tunneled every which way through him and burned his insides away to nothing.

"......!"

Robbed of both speech and scream, Dracul began to blacken, little by little.

The process of becoming ash.

It was exactly like the Cyclops (S-Grade). Once, a terrifying boss — to the Baek Jinwoo of today, a being that meant nothing at all.

Floor 20, too, had gone off without a hitch.

News of the Tower of Ordeal's twentieth floor falling was delivered to exactly two places.

Yubaek — and the Director.

"......Hehehehe."

Hearing the report, the Director shook his head slowly.

"Is this real? He truly cleared floors 11 through 20 in four hours?"

"That is correct, sir."

The Tower administrator couldn't quite believe it either, judging by the look on his face. Since when did anyone clear the Tower of Ordeal faster than a run-of-the-mill dungeon?!

The Director's mouth itched. He wanted to grab somebody — anyone — and gush on and on about Baek Jinwoo's greatness.

But?

Do that without Baek Jinwoo's permission, and the system's curse came down on your head. The contract was sacrosanct.

"And Floor 30? Is he taking that one on as well?"

Now the Director was genuinely thrilled. Floor 30 — wasn't its boss the very one the famous Rachel had yet to challenge?

Why was that, he wondered. Somehow, with Baek Jinwoo, it felt like even that would fall with ease.

"I couldn't say, sir. When he entered at Floor 11, he said he would climb as far as 20 — and he left the moment he had done exactly that."

"Hmmm. Is that so."

Well, fine. Who cared whether he pushed on or not!

The Director was savoring a pure, uncut joy he hadn't felt in ages. Setting aside anything he stood to gain — the simple, honest awe of witnessing someone truly extraordinary. And on top of that, the swelling rush of national pride that came from that someone being South Korean!

Slowly — no, rapidly — things are changing.

Watching from afar, the way one takes in a whole forest at a glance, he could feel it: that the Korea of today was passing through a tremendous transformation, all set in motion by a single man.

Baek Jinwoo canceled every appointment on his schedule. He didn't even stop by the training hall, heading straight up to the penthouse.

Why?

Once you've breezed through the tower, you sort out the loot right away, obviously!

"Krirurururu!"

Baek Jinwoo reversed the summoning of the wyvern that had just touched down gently on the rooftop.

That was the beauty of the penthouse — he could come straight home without ever passing through the first floor!

Fwoop!

Hungyo, upon arrival, withdrew to a corner to tend to his blade, while Doldori claimed a perch on the rooftop and began keeping watch.

"Fridge! Fridge! Fridge!"

Ramba sprinted off in search of cream buns.

Grrrrnd!

And Pokryongi stood at the coffee grinder, beans loaded, grinding away. Not for her own sake — for Jinwoo, who had worked so hard.

"Haah."

Sinking into the plush sofa, Baek Jinwoo laid out his spoils in neat order.

Good. Very good.

He'd been in dire need of polishing agents, and 45 was more than generous; the rest of it wasn't bad either.

And especially—

A Mindreader?

This was a summon even Baek Jinwoo had never laid eyes on, and reading through its details was genuinely fascinating.

Like his mother's Rainbow Snail, or the interpreter bird Jasim had once given as a gift, this seemed to be one of those summons with a truly one-of-a-kind quirk...

Wow. A living lie detector with wings.

Hand it to the police or the National Intelligence Service, and it would prove useful beyond measure. Truthfully, this beat any advanced or supreme summoning scroll by a wide margin — rarity alone made it worth that much.

But.

Things like this, I hardly need.

He might find the odd use for it, but never a frequent one.

If anything, wouldn't it suit Yoo Jia better? Business was her daily battlefield. She had to go up against every smooth-talking snake in the book at her age — with that bird at her side, the weight might ease a little. Fewer blades in the back, too.

She'd get far more mileage out of it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than I ever would.

Come to think of it—

With Yoo Jia, he had been the one receiving, day after day, and he couldn't recall ever properly giving back. Even if she took her cut of everything, the summons he had provided for her back when she didn't know him at all — she still hadn't forgotten a single one. And the gifts he'd given her family hadn't come out of company money, but out of his own pocket, had they?

Right!

He would gift this one to Yoo Jia!

Baek Jinwoo didn't bother pulling the Mindreader back out. Everything was sorted — so the very first order of business was—

Rune Dwarf.

Baek Jinwoo sprang up from his seat.

"Master Jinwoo? Your coffee...?"

Pokryongi came over with a freshly brewed, steaming cup, looking adorably puzzled.

"Thanks, but you go ahead and drink it. I've got somewhere to be for a bit."

Now.

The time had come to get to work on meeting yet another EX-grade summon — crafting a B-grade Guaranteed Summoning Scroll!

Just you wait, Rune Dwarf! Once I pull you, I'm going to work you to the bone — and you'll love every second of it!