34: Kill, Shortcoming, Devour

Cough, cough, cough~

Violent coughing continuously erupted from Deathstroke's mouth. He was kneeling on the ground, his chest heaving, and his eyes, which had initially been filled with disdain, were now filled with a hint of terror.

"No! This is impossible, this is impossible..."

Deathstroke watched Li An, who was furiously slaughtering his subordinates, his eyes filled with dread. Was this person not the same kind of being as him?

Or, perhaps... was this a "new monster" created by the military?

At this stage of the DC Universe, humanity was still in the era of exploring the cosmos; the metahuman era had not truly arrived. It wasn't until Superman first appeared in the public eye, after the Battle of Metropolis, that the world realized the existence of metahumans.

Therefore, Deathstroke at this time found it difficult to comprehend the source of Li An's power. However, amidst his shock, Deathstroke suddenly thought of something: the aliens that had appeared on television yesterday!

"Could it be that this person is the one those aliens are looking for?"

A conjecture suddenly popped into Deathstroke's mind, but Li An clearly wouldn't give him any more time to think. Just as Deathstroke was deep in thought, the elite squad he had brought had already been completely slaughtered by Li An.

Drip~

Drip~

Blood droplets, formed from congealed blood, dripped from Li An's clothes. His entire outfit had almost become a blood-soaked garment. Perhaps it was due to having Absolute Devour a large number of living beings, but now, whenever Li An entered a combat state, his demeanor would undergo a tremendous transformation.

Cold, tyrannical, brutal, ruthless, and so on.

At the same time, with this change in demeanor, his fighting style also became wilder. He directly used the most primitive fighting methods to battle his enemies, blowing apart bodies, tearing off arms, and so on.

"Dead, all dead..."

As Li An approached, Deathstroke finally snapped out of his daze. He also caught a strong whiff of blood from Li An, a scent so potent it almost made him gag.

"Well, now it's your turn."

Li An looked down at Deathstroke, his tone utterly flat, as if stating something insignificant.

Clang!

"If you want to kill me, then come and try."

Deathstroke slowly stood up, his eyes fixed on Li An. In his hand, he held a sharp, specialized dagger, capable of cutting hair with a single blow—a lethal weapon.

No wasted words.

The next second, Li An directly collided with Deathstroke; it was a clash of fist and dagger. After absorbing kryptonite energy, Li An's physical strength had long surpassed that of ordinary steel. Even against Deathstroke's specialized dagger, he could still parry it with his bare hands, not to mention that Li An's attributes were now significantly higher than Deathstroke's.

Clang, clang, clang!

Intense collision sounds continuously erupted. At this moment, the more Li An fought, the more surprised he became. He thought that with his attribute advantage, he could almost deal with Deathstroke in a matter of breaths. However, after engaging in combat, he realized that he seemed to have underestimated Deathstroke's danger.

Li An had an overwhelming advantage over Deathstroke in both strength and speed, yet despite this, he was frequently dodged by Deathstroke's fatal attacks, which left him puzzled and even confused.

Boom!

In another collision, Deathstroke was repelled several steps by Li An, his internal organs shaking. Deathstroke looked at Li An with fierce eyes; the opponent's strength and speed were simply too fast compared to his. He could only rely on his instinctive reactions to dodge, thereby avoiding Li An's killing moves.

But even so, Deathstroke still couldn't completely avoid Li An's attacks. Finally, under Li An's sustained, high-intensity assault, Deathstroke was hit, and just that one blow almost made him unable to stand.

"Damn it."

Beneath his mask, Deathstroke let out a powerless roar. He didn't feel like he had lost. He knew that he was only lacking in strength and speed. If it were purely based on experience, Li An would definitely not be his opponent.

However, anger aside, Li An wouldn't give up this hard-won opportunity. He shimmered and vanished from his spot. Deathstroke only felt a blur before Li An appeared in front of him.

Pfft!

Without hesitation, taking advantage of Deathstroke's shock, the blade formed by Li An's right arm directly plunged into Deathstroke's head, then continued deeper until the blade pierced straight through Deathstroke's body.

However, that wasn't the end. Immediately, Li An's ability activated. The blade formed by his right arm exploded, turning into a crimson mist. The moment the mist appeared, it quickly enveloped Deathstroke's corpse.

Gulp!

Then, in the blink of an eye, Deathstroke was purified by the mist, turning into a single drop of water. As Li An opened his mouth and swallowed the drop, Deathstroke was truly eaten without a trace remaining.

After all this was done, Li An closed his eyes slightly. His Absolute Devour of Deathstroke was not without reason. From his battle with Deathstroke just now, he realized a problem: the opponent was indeed inferior to him in all aspects, but there was one thing in which he was not as good as Deathstroke.

That was experience!

Although he was once the Martial Arts King of the black market, compared to Deathstroke, as a former "modified human," the Combat Expertise and combat experience Deathstroke possessed were completely incomparable to his own.

And this was also why Deathstroke was able to endure Li An's continuous attacks for so long—his experience was too rich!

Therefore, Li An also realized his shortcoming. He needed stronger, more formidable combat experience, and Deathstroke was undoubtedly the best target for Absolute Devour. He could use his ability to gain stronger Combat Expertise.

[Active · Absolute Devour Lv.3: Will absolutely purify the Absolute Devour target, separating the target's memories, abilities, attributes, bloodline, etc. The Contractor can absorb and integrate as needed. No cooldown time.]

Combat Expertise! All Weapon Specialization!

Li An didn't hesitate. After extracting Deathstroke's abilities, he unhesitatingly chose Combat Expertise and All Weapon Specialization.

In an instant, a vast array of memory fragments suddenly appeared in Li An's mind. At this moment, Li An was like a dry sponge, constantly absorbing these memory fragments, strengthening himself. At the same time, his previously stagnant combat experience also began to grow rapidly.

Li An greedily immersed himself in this ocean of memories. Because he chose Combat Expertise and All Weapon Specialization, all these memories were related to these two categories.

And these, originally, were Deathstroke's memories, but now, they served Li An's purpose.

[Ding! Congratulations, you have gained new abilities: Combat Expertise! All Weapon Specialization!]

Li An's absorption process happened in the blink of an eye. With his intelligence attribute, he easily absorbed Deathstroke's memories, and as the Paradise's notification sound rang out, it also indicated that Li An had obtained these two abilities from Deathstroke.