The gateway opened without spectacle.
Kael stepped through and landed on cracked basalt stone that radiated low heat, as if the land itself had recently cooled from a volcanic eruption. The sky above was pale and colorless, layered with drifting ash clouds that moved slowly in wide circular currents.
This was not a battlefield. It was a graveyard of an ecosystem.
Across the horizon stood petrified forests, tree trunks turned to charcoal pillars. Between them lay dried riverbeds and shallow craters filled with fine grey dust.
Kael scanned the terrain once with his Appraisal Talent.
This is an open field with limited cover and can be seen with high visibility.
From the looks of it this floor was designed for enduring something like kind of wave of monsters.
A faint ripple formed behind him. Shen Yao appeared not as light or projection but as a clear spiritual manifestation standing calmly on the stone.
"Before you move forward" Shen Yao said "You must understand the difference between overwhelming strength and controlled strength."
Kael remained silent.
"This time you will not use skills. You will not use talents. You will not invoke techniques. You will not lean on the system's structured abilities. If one day if the tower disappears or your power vanishes the only thing remains the raw physical power and the foundation you built with your strength"
Shen Yao's gaze sharpened.
"Fight as yourself. With your body. With your authority. If you reach the twentieth floor under these conditions, I will teach you how to engrave authority into the world permanently."
Kael gave a short nod and said little bit hesitantly "Yes Master".
That was enough. The air changed around Kael and the atmosphere of the floor 11.
The ash clouds above thickened and from the petrified forest ahead came movement.
The first creature stepped into view.
It stood nearly seven feet tall, humanoid in structure but covered in layered ash-colored plating that resembled hardened bark fused with volcanic stone. Its limbs were long and slightly curved, ending in blackened talons that scraped against the ground.
Its head was narrow, helmet-like, with a vertical fissure glowing faint orange from within.
More emerged behind it.
A full line.
Shen Yao spoke calmly.
"These are Ashen Revenants of level 61 born from collapsed civilizations. Their bodies retain residual heat. Their muscles are denser than steel cable. They do not feel pain. They do not fatigue."
The first Revenant lowered its stance.
"They fight in coordinated packs," Shen Yao added. "The first wave consists of thirty-two."
Kael counted quickly.
The number was accurate like Master said.
The Revenants did not roar. They did not rush immediately but they spread out.
The Ash Revenants encircled Kael.
Kael exhaled slowly now he must not use any skills, no talents and system related techniques and items.
His internal channels felt quiet and he sealed it voluntarily.
The first Revenant moved.
It did not sprint wildly. It dashed with calculated bursts closing distance with controlled acceleration.
Kael shifted his footing and met it head-on.
The creature's talon carved downward.
Kael stepped inside the arc and drove his fist into its gut.
The impact sounded like striking reinforced concrete.
The Revenant slid back two meters but did not fall.
This was durable.
Two more attacked from opposing angles.
Kael pivoted catching one wrist mid-swing and twisting sharply. The joint snapped with a dry crack. Before the body could react, he used its mass as a shield against the second attacker.
The third lunged low.
Kael jumped not with enhancement but with trained muscle explosiveness and drove his heel into its collar ridge. The plating fractured.
Heat escaped from the fissures in its body like breath from an opened furnace.
He landed and pressed forward immediately striking the cracked area three consecutive times until the torso collapsed inward.
One down.
The circle tightened.
Revenants attacked in groups of three and four rotating positions. They were testing rhythm.
Kael allowed one to graze his shoulder. The talon sliced fabric and skin. The wound burned from residual heat.
So, they carried high internal temperature.
He adjusted instantly.
Rather than striking center mass he began targeting joints.
Knees first. Then shoulder rotations.
Their plating was thick, but articulation points were narrower.
A Revenant lunged.
Kael stepped aside and slammed his elbow into the back of its knee. The joint buckled. Before it recovered, he gripped its helmet and twisted violently. The neck structure cracked.
Another grabbed him from behind.
Its grip strength was significant easily capable of crushing an unprepared hunter's ribs.
Kael tightened his core and dropped his weight suddenly then drove his skull backward into its faceplate. The impact shattered the frontal fissure.
He rotated and finished it with a palm strike directly into the broken gap.
This time five down.
The rest of the revenants accelerated.
This time coordination improved.
They were adapting to his counters.
Shen Yao watched without commentary. He saw the moves used by the Kael was very crude and unrefined. But he knew as the battles continues, he will improve.
Kael stepped forward instead of retreating. His authority expanded but not explosively.
It manifested as pressure a tightening of the atmosphere around him within a limited radius. Movements entering that space became subtly heavier.
It did not slow dramatically but just enough.
A Revenant's claw arrived half a fraction late.
Kael used that opportunity instantly.
He drove a straight punch into its exposed fissure and shattered the internal core.
This time Ten down.
His breathing deepened.
Sweat mixed with ash along his collarbone.
A cluster of six charged simultaneously.
Kael lowered his stance.
When the first reached him, he did not strike.
He absorbed the collision redirected its momentum and threw it sideways into two others.
The fourth came high.
Kael ducked and swept its legs.
Before it hit the ground he stomped directly into its spine joint cracking the plating fully.
He was no longer overpowering.
He was dismantling.
The remaining Revenants paused for half a second.
Then their internal cores brightened.
Heat output increased.
The air temperature rose sharply.
So, this is phase two.
They began moving faster sacrificing coordination for aggression.
One lunged recklessly.
Kael allowed it close then slipped behind and hooked his arm under its chin ridge. With a controlled torque of his hips, he twisted its entire upper frame.
The body separated from the lower torso.
Another grabbed his forearm and tried to bite through it.
Kael stepped into the grip and slammed his shoulder into its chest repeatedly until its core fractured.
Fifteen down.
Twenty down.
His muscles were beginning to feel strain.
Not by weakness but fatigue. Real fatigue.
A Revenant's talon pierced into his side. This one had timed his rotation well.
Kael clenched his teeth and grabbed its wrist before it could withdraw. He pulled it closer and headbutted it three consecutive times until the fissure shattered.
He tore the talon out of his own side without hesitation.
Blood stained the ash beneath him.
Only eight remained.
They shifted formation again this time lining up directly in front of him. Collective charge.
Kael inhaled deeply and allowed his authority to compress further.
Instead of expanding outward he condensed it along his limbs.
When the first three entered striking distance Kael he moved.
His fist connected with the first Revenant's core.
The plating exploded.
He pivoted and drove a back kick into the second's knee joint.
The Revenant collapsed this time.
He grabbed the third by the shoulder ridge and hurled it into the fourth and fifth.
The remaining three split directions.
Kael sprinted toward the one attempting to flank and intercepted it mid-stride tackling it to the ground and crushing its throat structure with a forearm press.
This time Four left.
The ground was now littered with shattered stone and steaming fragments of ash-plated bodies.
The last four attacked together.
Kael did not hold back physically.
He stepped directly into them and unleashed a barrage of raw strikes no rhythm breaks, no pauses only overwhelming them through sheer precision and tempo control.
One fell.
Two fell.
Three fell.
The final Revenant remained standing its core glowing brighter than the others had.
Likely the pack leader.
It advanced steadily instead of charging.
Kael walked forward to meet it.
They collided at center field.
The Revenant's strength was superior to the rest.
It forced him back one full step.
Kael stabilized this time.
Adjusted his stance and redirected the force.
He began targeting micro fractures in its plating striking repeatedly at the same point until cracks formed.
The Revenant adapted by shifting guard.
Kael shifted target instantly by striking its left shoulder joint.
Crack Kael heard a crack from the final Ash Revenant.
Then right hip. Crack.
He moved in a tightening spiral around it dismantling mobility piece by piece.
Finally, when its movement slowed enough, he drove a full-force straight punch directly into its core fissure.
The glow extinguished.
Silence returned to the ashen plain.
Kael stood still for several seconds regulating his breathing.
His body was bruised.
Cut.
Burned in places.
But he stood upright.
Shen Yao approached.
"You battle was spectacle and you used your authority with efficiency."
Kael wiped blood from his chin.
"They adapt fast."
"Yes."
A pause.
"But you adapted faster."
The gateway to Floor 12 materialized in the distance.
Shen Yao looked toward it briefly.
"The next floor will not introduce new monsters alone. It will combine this wave with another species."
Kael knew it and nodded.
Just the next step.
He began walking toward the gateway ash crunching beneath his boots.
The System message popped up a message.
[All the rewards and the Experience gained and the loots and levels up will be given in on the completion of the 20th floor]