"Andrew!"
"Andrew!"
Two shocked cries rang out almost at the same time.
Lem and the remaining assassin stared at the scene before them with expressions of disbelief and fury. The sight of Andrew lying motionless against the wall felt completely unreal.
He had been killed with a single punch.
That shouldn't have been possible.
Even without transforming, Andrew's physical abilities were far beyond those of ordinary humans. His strength, endurance, and resilience were all enhanced. In close combat, he could easily overpower trained soldiers.
So how could a young man like this kill him so effortlessly?
For a brief moment, confusion froze both assassins in place. But the pressure radiating from Rorschach quickly forced them to abandon any thoughts of analysis.
They had only one option left.
Crack!
Crack!
The sound of bones shifting echoed through the tavern.
Lem and the remaining assassin suddenly began to convulse. Their skeletons twisted and expanded violently, muscles swelling beneath their skin as thick fur burst out across their bodies.
Their arms lengthened.
Their jaws extended.
Sharp claws replaced their fingers.
Within seconds, the two men had completely vanished. In their place stood two towering creatures with the bodies of wolves and the posture of men.
They were upright wolves—monstrous hybrids with glowing eyes and long fangs dripping with saliva.
"Werewolves?"
Rorschach paused slightly in surprise.
He truly hadn't expected to encounter something like this tonight. Still, the realization came quickly.
If werewolves existed, then vampires probably existed as well.
Suddenly, Rorschach understood the strange phrase Lem had used earlier—"the living dead."
They must have been referring to vampires.
"Shit! Those are werewolves!"
"How the hell are there werewolves here?!"
The remaining SHIELD agents turned pale instantly.
Even Howard Stark's face tightened as if an old chrysanthemum had suddenly bloomed across it. His expression carried the unmistakable look of someone realizing the situation had become far worse than expected.
Ordinary civilians might have considered werewolves nothing more than myths, but SHIELD knew better.
Creatures like this were very real.
And worse, they were extremely difficult to kill.
Once transformed, werewolves became terrifying monsters—strong, fast, brutal, and far more resilient than any human. They possessed the savagery of beasts while still retaining human intelligence.
Conventional firearms often failed to stop them.
Unless someone used powerful explosives like grenades, even elite agents had little chance of surviving an encounter.
"Danger! Get back here!"
Howard Stark shouted anxiously toward Rorschach.
He assumed the young man simply didn't understand what he was facing.
"What are you standing around for?" Stark barked at the agents beside him. "Go help him!"
But before anyone could move—
Roar!
Roar!
A deafening howl tore through the tavern.
One of the werewolves lunged forward, launching itself toward Rorschach with terrifying speed. Its mouth opened wide, revealing rows of razor-sharp fangs, while its claws sliced through the air like curved blades.
"Watch out!" Howard Stark shouted instinctively.
But Rorschach didn't retreat.
Instead, an excited glimmer appeared in his eyes.
"A werewolf?" he murmured. "I wonder if it can survive my punch now."
Rather than dodging, he stepped forward.
His shoulders rolled slightly as he drove his fist straight toward the charging monster.
Howard Stark nearly jumped out of his skin.
Was this kid trying to get himself killed?
Crack!
A familiar sound echoed through the tavern.
The massive werewolf flew backward like a broken puppet.
Its body slammed violently into the floor several meters away.
The creature's chest had collapsed inward completely, the ribs crushed and organs pulverized into a shapeless mass. It twitched once before going completely still.
Silence fell across the tavern.
Anton Vanko, Howard Stark, and the surviving SHIELD agents all stared at the scene with stunned expressions. No one could quite process what they had just witnessed.
Killing the assassins earlier had already been shocking enough.
But this time, the opponent had been a fully transformed werewolf.
That was a creature capable of tearing apart armored soldiers with its bare claws.
Yet this young man had just killed it with a single punch.
Even Captain America wasn't supposed to possess that level of raw power.
Howard Stark stood there frozen, his mind struggling to catch up with reality.
"How is that even possible…?"
Lem felt even more shaken.
As a werewolf himself, he understood better than anyone what kind of strength their kind possessed. He also understood exactly what it meant for someone to kill a transformed werewolf in a single strike.
People often called werewolves monsters.
But compared to the young man standing before him, they suddenly seemed far less frightening.
That young man was the real monster.
"Run!"
The moment Lem regained his senses, he made the decision instantly.
He didn't even glance toward Howard Stark.
Abandoning the mission completely, he turned and sprinted toward the exit, intending to escape as quickly as possible.
But Rorschach had no intention of letting him go.
Once he chose to act, he never allowed enemies to walk away.
His foot slammed down against the ground.
Crack!
The floor fractured under the immense force, spreading outward like a spiderweb of cracks.
Using the recoil, Rorschach launched himself forward.
His body shot through the air like a cannonball.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared directly in front of Lem.
The escape route was completely blocked.
Lem had no choice.
With a furious roar, he lunged forward and attacked.
But before he could even land a strike, Rorschach moved.
His hand shot forward and grabbed Lem by the throat.
The enormous werewolf froze instantly.
Its body strained forward, but it could not advance even a single inch.
Lem's claws slashed wildly against Rorschach's body.
Again and again, the claws scraped across his skin, leaving shallow red lines. But the attacks felt like scratching against solid steel.
They barely did anything.
At worst, the claws tore away tiny patches of skin.
Rorschach felt completely unconcerned.
He was actually quite satisfied with the durability of his current body.
"Even though they're both claws," he thought calmly, "werewolf claws are nowhere near as dangerous as Sabretooth's."
Sabretooth's claws could slice through the metal body of a car.
Compared to that, these attacks barely registered.
The fact that Rorschach could casually analyze the difference during combat showed just how little pressure the werewolf posed.
"Let's end this."
Bang!
Rorschach drove his fist forward.
Crack!
The punch landed directly in Lem's chest.
The werewolf's body instantly went limp.
Its head dropped forward, and the struggle vanished from its limbs as life drained away.
Rorschach casually released his grip and tossed the corpse aside as if discarding a piece of trash.
The heavy body hit the floor with a dull thud.
At that exact moment, a familiar notification appeared in Rorschach's mind.
[Mission Completed]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining 50 Origin Points]
The system prompt echoed clearly in his consciousness.
Fifty Origin Points had been credited.
It wasn't much.
Still, as Rorschach liked to say, even a small reward was better than nothing.
He quickly checked the system interface.
The fifty points could be used to strengthen a single attribute, but they weren't enough to contribute toward unlocking overall progress.
That made sense.
Such a small number of Origin Points wouldn't even move the progress bar by one percent.
After thinking about it briefly, Rorschach decided not to spend them for now.
Instead, he chose to keep the points stored.
When he accumulated more Origin Points later, he could use them together for a larger upgrade.
.....
Read the next chapter on my p@treon for free.
Paid members can get more than 60 chapters.
Link: [email protected]/GalaxyWonder