Max was surrounded on all four sides by werewolves, the only weapon in his possession was a piece of rock and there was no help coming.
In this situation Max knew that he had only two ways to win, which were to try the divine and conquer strategy, and attack them on their throats as hard as he could with the rock to collapse their airway when given the chance.
" Oh, come on now! Don't waste your time circling me looking for openings, you have created a commotion in the middle of the most guarded city on earth, swarms of troops are going to be here any moment now.
This is your only chance!
Who is the leader amongst you all? The Alpha! It looks like it's you Rick, afterall you are the biggest and the strongest of them all " Max said as despite knowing that Rick was not the leader of this werewolf group and not even remotely the largest and strongest looking, he took his name and threw in a bait.
" I'm the alpha, and yes you are right we should attack you! " The biggest looking werewolf said as he constricted his hind legs and was ready to pounce on Max.
" Whoa whoa whoa, I'm fine with you jumping on me and all but are you guys sure he is your alpha? His fur looks rabid, I thought he is the old guy in the group.
You young werewolves taking orders from this punk? " Max said trying to incite an internal strife amongst them as for a moment the other wolves faltered as the Alpha angrily pounced on Max.
Max put his left arm over his head understanding full well that the pouncing wolf will bite on it and break his bones in the process, but it was a necessary sacrifice since that was the only move where he would have enough leverage to attack it's exposed airway.
*Crunch*
Excruciating pain sent a jolt of electricity running throughout Max's body as the Alpha wolf sank it's teeth in his left arm, biting with full force and threatening to tear it off his hand.
Had the other wolves been on the ready, they too would have pounced on him at this instance and it would have been game over for him, but because of his previous comments they were two seconds slower than they normally would have been, which was all the time that Max needed to puncture the alpha Wolf's Airway with the rock he held in his right hand.
Hitting with precision, Max landed a critical hit on the werewolf who instantly lost his balance and began spitting blood as it desperately tried to breathe air.
" You're dead " Max said as he dodged the subsequent claw swipes from his fellow wolf mates who looked rattled to see their alpha struggle so much.
Just as Max expected within 10 seconds the alpha Wolf's body began to spasm as he desperately tried to keep it's body alive, but his lungs had been flooded with blood and he was going to unmistakably die in a few moments.
It's bloodshot eyes watched Max with immense hatred as Max stared right back savouring every moment of it as he stood holding a rock with one hand and a mangled bleeding arm on the other.
Max was in a world of pain, enough to make a normal human go unconscious from all the suffering, but this much pain was now insufficient to incapacitate Max.
Pain was an odd friend to him now and this level of torture was a routine.
What was a threatening injury that would render a normal tier1 warrior useless was only a mild inconvenience for Max.
He could no longer use his left arm, but it was no problem.
' Two down, three more to go ' he thought as he looked at the other three werewolves with a creepy smile and said "Now that the rabid biting alpha is dead, who is next in command? It's gotta be you Rick, come on old pal, this is your chance to step up to the big stage ".
Rick's eyes fluttered with ambition as he raised his head high, but the other two werewolves instantly started growling at him, both seemingly dissatisfied with him taking the alpha position.
" The hierarchy in the pack is a given, I was the beta and since the alpha is dead, I'm the leader now " one of the other two werewolves said as he reminded the other two of the age old rules.
" Him? Pffft hahahaha, the weakest looking one of all five of you? " Max said at the appropriate moment, instantly invalidating the beta's proclamation as his timely comment made Rick and the other wolf dangerously growl and charge at him as they intended to challenge the status quo.
Max's talk no jutsu seemed to be successful, as soon the three werewolves embroiled themselves in an internal strife as they bit and scratched each other in an attempt to assert dominance all while Max calmly watched them tear each other apart.
Eventually, Rick was able to come out on top as he stood tall over the other two werewolves who after sustaining many bruises and cuts chose to stand down and yield the command to rick.
What they did not expect however, was that in this moment Max would suddenly appear out of nowhere and tackle Rick's body from the side by ramming into him shoulder first, only to grab him by the neck while the two of them rolled on the floor from the momentum of the impact, and twisting it with full power to snap his neck and kill him with one stroke.
" Rot in hell Rick " Max said as he stood tall over the dead body of the third werewolf, the blood from his mangled arm dripping into dead Rick's eyes that were still wide open.
The two alive and bruised werewolves could not decide what to do after Max's brutal performance of killing two of their strongest members and incapacitating their third as without a clear change of command they were now hesitant in attacking Max who was very much capable of taking their lives.
" Come on gentlemen, let's dance " Max said with a Maniacal expression on his face as he bared his tongue and opened his eyes to the widest.
" That's a crazy human! Let's grab Harry and run " one of the two surviving werewolves suggested as the other one tacitly agreed.
They immediately transformed back to their demi-human forms and rushed to pick up Harry who was rolling on the floor in pain, as they picked him up and ran.
Max chased them while laughing and throwing rocks with no real intention to drag this into a deathmatch and actually catch up to them.
While being at the same physical level as he was at his death, this time Max had managed to defend the lives of his niece and nephew against the invasion, alone and without the help of any powers.
Had Max sought out to look for these specific werewolves in the real world after his reincarnation, which he had thought about doing several times. The revenge would not have felt this sweet as they would still be tier2 and much weaker than he was.
Only because he won in the exact same conditions as before, did a big knot in his heart finally resolve as he heard a system notification to signify the same.
[ System Notification - You have resolved all latent guilt in your heart and have confronted your worst fear and managed to overcome it.
Stage 1 has been cleared with SSS rating, now moving onto stage 2 ]
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/// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the PS target, good job everyone! ///