Witness... the moment of miracles?
The youths looked at each other, somewhat confused, but for some reason, those words seemed to have a magical power, leaving them with a sense of anticipation.
Su Ming slowly walked towards the wall, examining several scratch marks up and down, as darkness gradually merged with his silhouette. A hoarse, deep voice echoed from the shadows.
He extended an arm and pressed it against the symbol on the wall.
"Inverted Man!"
The intense purple light instantly illuminated the three scratch marks on the wall, like a sharp blade bursting from the gaps in the dark clouds, lighting up everyone's view.
Previously, when he explained so much to Damian, it was merely a display of his skills in areas that interested Damian. Su Ming never relied on such complicated things when solving cases himself.
He was a mercenary, not a detective; efficiency was always the priority.
Now, there was a Summoning Array for monsters right before his eyes. He didn't know exactly what magic to use, what mantra to chant, or what ritual to perform.
But he didn't need to know; with the Inverted Man as his backup, activating a mere summoning array wasn't troublesome—just rush in with Primordial Magic Power.
"Whoosh!!!"
A sharp scream abruptly pierced the darkness as a creature resembling a winged monkey silently appeared in the room.
No one knew how it arrived; it seemed to materialize from thin air.
Its body was covered in a blend of purple and black fur, with long, stiff bristles resembling disordered straw, yet perfectly integrated with the darkness.
The creature was not large; even when it elevated its upper body like a lion, it only reached Su Ming's shoulder height.
However, it clearly differed from a gorilla; it not only lacked muscular build but also had a streamlined body, giving an eerie impression of being skin-and-bones.
Su Ming initially expected the creature to resemble a bat more, but now it seemed like a winged dog with forelimbs.
If he had the leisure to observe the creature, the Teen Titans had already entered combat mode, forming a battle formation. One couldn't deny Damian had tactical skills; at least his mini-formation had some semblance.
But now, Su Ming could be said to be at his peak state; as long as he didn't fall into a trap, he was powerful enough to move within the Monistic Universe.
He walked to the front of the child group, shielding them behind.
"Alright, this is my approach. Since we know the opponent and can locate it, why waste time?"
Damian was still raising his fists in a fighting stance, but upon hearing this, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Wasn't it previously said that the Teen Titans lacked strength and shouldn't face this kind of enemy directly? Shouldn't we continue to find clues to uncover its weaknesses?
However, Deathstroke cracked the summoning array and directly pulled the opponent face-to-face.
"..." Damian was somewhat speechless. Indeed, with Deathstroke here, what was there to worry about?
Unconsciously, he felt safer, but quickly shook his head to suppress this feeling.
Yet, the sense of puzzlement deepened—why did safety come from the most formidable assassin on Earth? Why was that?
Su Ming didn't turn around at all; acting demands thorough performance. Since he claimed to teach them how to solve a case, he had to teach comprehensively.
The creature before them had no intellect, but its monster instincts almost sensed the presence of Strangulation, so it leaped onto the roof, moving back and forth in an inverted walk, as if selecting a chance to strike.
"This is what I want to teach you: when facing enemies beyond your capacity, either flee or call for help."
Damian didn't respond, only twitched the corner of his mouth slightly.
Su Ming looked at the creature on the ceiling and spoke steadily: "Even the police know to call for backup. You should learn this too. You aren't detectives, but superheroes. Do you know the style of superheroes?"
Billy Wu patted his belly, revealing a silly smile, but his words hit the nail on the head.
"Gang up on them."
"Exactly. The Justice League always gangs up on formidable foes. Without connections, you're always a third-rate hero." Su Ming nodded, pulling out the Godslayer from his backpack, transforming it into an Exotic Weapon with a flick of his wrist: "Being able to bring help is part of your networking ability, a solid skill."
"If every time you encounter a strong enemy, you always call for help, how do you improve yourself?" Damian helplessly asked, knowing he had no chance to fight monsters this time.
The shadow before him let out a burst of laughter: "If you face super-strong enemies without calling for help, you die on the spot. How will there be future development? What could dead people improve?"
"But facing enemies slightly stronger, you can always try, right?" Wally, seemingly headless in the dark, said.
"First hang onto big advantages and gain experience, blend into the frontline of the Justice League superheroes. At that level, the resources and opportunities you encounter will be far greater..."
Su Ming answered calmly; this was the truth.
The combat abilities of Hawkman and Hawk Woman are quite poor, probably just about the same as Damian; their intelligence is even worse, it could be said they lack brains. How did they manage to be part of the Justice League frontline?
Isn't it just that they've lived long enough through reincarnation, their interpersonal relationships are really good, everyone gives them face, and thus they obtain voting rights in the Justice League?
To put it bluntly, it's just Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman leading the others to play.
Damian pinched his chin, thoughtful. Deathstroke's words made some sense; after all, everyone's development requires a platform.
If he weren't Talia's son, not the heir of the Assassin Alliance, where would he have learned such good martial arts from a young age?
The platform for ordinary kids is just kindergarten, where they learn to stack blocks, right? Damian himself just used the time others spent stacking blocks and playing house to practice killing techniques, which led to today's combat prowess.
Yet now the Teen Titans' actions, in the eyes of major forces like the Justice League, are nothing more than child's play.
Damian understood.
He finally understood why every time a major event occurred, Batman always hid them away, because to him, they were still kindergarten kids.
Thinking of this, Damian couldn't help but look at Himeko; when he initially recruited her, she said she had no interest in kindergarten, could she have already seen through the truth at that time?!
Himeko sensed his action, just glanced at him lightly, her 1.6-meter height looking down at Damian's 1.3-meter height said it all.
The look in her eyes was calm, naturally, she had long understood these principles.
Himeko's growth environment was much darker than Damian's, among the younger generation, only Raven could compare to her; it's just that both of their development paths were slightly off.
In summary, based on previous interactions, aside from Captain Donna in the Titan Squad, Su Ming also favored Steel Armor, considering that computer-assisted positioning could achieve such combat power, that was good enough.
In the New Teen Titans, apart from Damian, Blue Fatty had the most potential, yet he was too much of a recluse and needed physical training.
"Alright, now the main act has arrived, I'll teach you how to judge weaknesses based on the enemy's performance."
As Su Ming spoke, he slowly floated up, almost needing a blackboard to write on.
"First, through the enemy's eyes, determine if the opponent has intelligence, and for beasts driven by instinct like this, you can use language to communicate tactics and adjust attack directions."
Damian nodded, Batman had never taught him this before, just let him follow along on missions, relying entirely on intuition to learn whatever he could.
Old Deathstroke and Batman were both somewhat taciturn, yet this Otherworld Deathstroke, well, he was quite chatty....
"Then, based on the opponent's physique, identify the general combat methods; it hasn't drawn a gun nor displayed magical means, its attack methods are just sharp claws and fangs, at most it might also have a tail and wings."
Su Ming held a shield in his left hand and a sword in his right, gesturing from a distance at the monster.
The monster hung upside down above everyone, walking back and forth. Its ghostly green eyes stared in the direction of the crowd. It could feel the danger from its prey, but the heartbeat and blood flow made its saliva secrete madly.
Drip, drip.
The faint sound of water was especially noticeable after Su Ming's voice faded, and in the darkness, a glimmer of silver thread could be vaguely seen falling from the monster's mouth.
Learning how to distinguish enemy types, this had been taught in the Assassin Alliance, but Damian chose not to interrupt, as aside from himself and Himeko, the others lacked combat experience.
Even the one who had killed the most, Crush, she lacked martial arts and tactics, relying entirely on steel bones and super-speed healing to endure the opponent.
"Once you recognize the opponent's weapons and predict the enemy's moves, then observe the opponent's defense methods." Su Ming knocked on the shield, indicating to a few to pay attention to the monster's defense: "Mechanical enemies often have high resistance to temperature. Biological enemies generally possess regeneration or scale armor."
A few children nodded silently, and Su Ming continued: "This monster before us, slender in figure, likely belongs to the speed type; as it feeds on blood, it must possess power overwhelming to ordinary humans; activities freely on the ceiling suggest it can clamber walls and has strong jumping power."
"There are wing membranes under its forelimbs, it might fly or glide; staring at us continuously indicates it has night vision; being worshipped by a cult shows it has lived long enough for spells to be passed down."
The Titans remained silent, making Su Ming feel a bit bored, none of them knew how to play along, not nearly as entertaining as Little Fortune Ape.
"All of this is best judged in fractions of a second, meaning the unknown enemy should be countered in the instant they appear. If unsure, you may probe, but ensure your own safety."
Having said that, Su Ming suddenly flicked the hand holding the shield, sending the spinning shield flying out, yet the monster easily raised a foreclaw, knocking the shield to the ground.
A thin line of Strangulation formed to pull the shield back, while simultaneously, Su Ming let out a low growl.
"Five-Link Fireball Technique."
Five flaming balls suddenly appeared in the air beside him, forming a line charging at the beast, but the creature didn't dodge, and the fireballs fell on it like cigarette ends on water, instantly extinguished.
"The opponent possesses roughly 10 tons of force, high physical resistance, magic immunity, which is quite a decent level of power."
Su Ming casually explained to the children behind him that this level was about half a magic-immune Captain America, still the brainless kind.
"Damian, what tactics would you suggest to defeat this enemy?"