Kael stood just inside the doorway, calm as ever, his eyes slowly scanning the sealed bar.
His gaze briefly passed over Runa—injured, barely standing—then moved to the old woman on the floor, and finally settled on the one-eyed leader.
The tension in the room tightened again.
Then Runa spoke, her voice shaky but sharp.
"…Why are you suddenly here?" she asked. "I thought you were going to leave this world and never come back."
Kael didn't answer immediately.
His eyes remained steady, unreadable, fixed on the situation in front of him as silence stretched between them.
Kael calmly lifted the paper bag Runa had given him and gave it a light shake.
"…The clothes didn't fit me." he said flatly.
A brief silence followed.
Runa blinked, stunned for a moment, then her expression twisted in disbelief.
"…Huh? You really came here just to say THAT?" she snapped, even in her injured state.
Kael didn't react to Runa's outburst.
His expression remained unchanged as his gaze locked onto the one-eyed leader, still standing in a combat stance, his sword faintly smoking from the earlier clash with the dagger.
The air inside the sealed bar grew heavier again.
The one-eyed leader slowly grinned.
"Hehehe~ you really came here, huh." he said, rolling his shoulder. "Since you're already here… there's no need to go any further."
His eye narrowed with killing intent.
"…This is where you die."
Runa gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stay upright despite the pain in her ribs.
"…Be careful." she warned Kael. "He's Peak Mortal-Level… and the others here are Grandmaster and Master Level."
Her eyes flicked toward the surrounding men, still blocking exits and watching intently.
The one-eyed leader only chuckled in response, rolling his neck slowly as his killing intent began to rise again.
Kael, however, remained still—listening, but not reacting.
The one-eyed leader narrowed his eye slightly, his grip tightening on the sword as killing intent filled the sealed bar.
"…What's with that expression?" he asked coldly. "Are you underestimating me?"
His voice echoed through the room, heavy and sharp, making the surrounding men shift uneasily. Even the invisible barrier seemed to press inward under his presence.
Kael stood just inside the doorway, unmoving.
He slowly lifted his gaze to the leader, then raised one hand slightly as if acknowledging the question without concern.
After a brief pause, he spoke in a quiet, even tone.
"…No."
His eyes remained calm, almost detached.
"I just don't understand what those levels are supposed to mean."
For a moment, the room went silent.
The one-eyed leader's expression twitched, disbelief mixing with irritation as he stared at Kael like he had just said something absurd.
"…You're serious?" he muttered under his breath, voice low and dangerous.
Runa, still leaning against the barrier with broken ribs, turned her head slightly toward Kael, stunned.
"…You're not joking…" she whispered weakly.
The tension in the bar rose again, heavier than before, as if the entire room was waiting for something to finally break.
A few of the men standing at the back of the bar began whispering among themselves, their voices low but tense.
"…Is he pretending to be a fool… or is he really one?"
The one-eyed leader's eye narrowed further, his sword still angled forward as killing intent filled the sealed space.
Runa, still leaning against the invisible barrier with broken ribs, suddenly stiffened.
Her eyes locked onto Kael.
She saw it, the slight movement, the calm posture.
The way he was about to lift his hand—not in hesitation, but in complete control.
Her expression changed instantly.
"Wait… don't tell me…" she whispered under her breath, realization dawning in her eyes as dread and disbelief mixed together.
In an instant, countless tiny ice constructs shaped like arrowheads appeared beside Kael, floating silently in the air.
The temperature in the sealed bar dropped sharply.
The men at the back froze.
"…What the—" one of them muttered.
The one-eyed leader's expression shifted immediately. His relaxed confidence vanished as his instincts screamed danger.
"…Everyone! Defend yourselves!" he barked sharply.
At the same time, Runa's eyes widened.
"Auntie! Down!" she shouted urgently.
The old woman on the floor barely had time to react before the tension in the air snapped like a drawn string—everything on the verge of explosion.
Before the other men could even fully draw their swords and axes—
Kael moved his hand slightly.
That was all.
In an instant, every floating ice arrowhead launched forward.
WHOOSH—!
The entire room turned into a streak of white.
Lines of ice tore through the sealed bar with extreme speed and precision, filling the space like a frozen storm.
The air dropped violently in temperature as the attack swept across the battlefield.
The men reacted too late.
Barely managing to keep their footing, they swung their swords and axes desperately, trying to block the incoming barrage.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Metal rang out through the sealed bar as ice arrowheads collided with weapons and armor.
But it wasn't enough.
The one-eyed leader clicked his tongue, stepping forward and deflecting several of the attacks with precise movements of his blade.
Yet even he couldn't cover everything.
A few ice arrows slipped through his defense, threading past his guard with surgical accuracy.
"Shit…" the one-eyed leader muttered under his breath. "It's precise… every one of them is aimed at my weak points."
His eye narrowed sharply as he adjusted his stance, realizing something worse—
This wasn't a wide attack, it was targeted annihilation.
The ice arrowheads continued pressing through the room, forcing the remaining men into full defense.
Several of them were already injured, knees shaking as they struggled to stay standing.
"Damn it—he's not normal!" one of them shouted.
Another collapsed after an ice shard pierced past his guard, freezing his arm mid-motion.
The one-eyed leader clicked his tongue again, shifting his footing as he narrowly deflected another strike aimed directly at his throat.
"…This pattern," he muttered. "He's reading all of us."
Across the room, Kael remained still.
His hand was still slightly raised—calm, controlled, unmoving—like the storm obeyed him without effort.
Runa stared at Kael, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
"…I knew he was strong," she whispered to herself, barely able to process what she was seeing. "But this… this is beyond what I expected…"
She swallowed hard.
"He's strong in close combat… and long range too…"
Her gaze followed the ice arrowheads tearing through the room like a controlled storm, the precision, the speed, the absolute dominance.
"…Just what kind of monster are you?" she whispered under her breath, stunned into silence.
The one-eyed leader finally couldn't endure it anymore, a deep, furious shout erupted from his throat.
"RAAAAGH!"
In an instant, his entire body erupted with a violent red aura, the pressure in the sealed bar surged outward like a wave.
The incoming ice arrowheads that filled the room—
vanished, not shattered, not deflected.
They dissolved into smoke-like particles under the overwhelming force of his power.
The remaining men staggered backward, barely able to stand as the aura pressed down on them like gravity itself had doubled.
At the center of it all, the one-eyed leader stood breathing heavily, his eye burning with killing intent as the red aura flickered wildly around him.
"Shit! That fool is using his technique—he's enhancing himself for a short time!" Runa whispered, eyes locked on the one-eyed leader as the red aura surged violently.
But Kael's gaze shifted slightly.
Toward Runa's thoughts—and then beyond them.
Through Truth, the structure of the one-eyed leader's body became clear.
Flaws. Gaps. Strain points forming under the forced power-up.
"…So that's it." Kael murmured.
Without hesitation, he reached down and slowly drew the metal sword he had taken from the blacksmith.
The blade slid out with a quiet shing, cold light reflecting off its surface.
For the first time since entering the bar—Kael moved forward.