The combat environment in the Hive City was far more complex than the jungles on Kadaku. There were extreme drops from rooftops and spires everywhere, and a moment's carelessness in combat could lead to a fatal fall. Moreover, the Tyranid could use this to launch attacks on Marcus and the others from unexpected positions.
Looking at the Tyranid rushing down the stairs, Marcus, Titus, and the others immediately prepared for battle. Bolter rounds and plasma bolts immediately whistled towards the Tyranid. Several psychic flying knives, controlled by Marcus's mind power, swiftly reaped the lives of the Hormagaunt and Gun Worm.
Not only that, but seizing this opportunity, Marcus intended to test the power of the Ryzan-pattern hellgun in his hand. He quickly adjusted the parameter buttons on the energy backpack with his mind power, setting the hellgun's power to a medium level. Marcus raised the muzzle, aiming through the scope at a Tyranid Warrior in the distance, armed with a Devourer.
The trigger was pulled, and a scorching laser beam shot towards the Tyranid Warrior. Although the Tyranid Warrior reacted quickly, raising the Devourer in his hand to block, the scorching laser beam still penetrated the Devourer, directly charring it into cinders, and then continued towards the Tyranid Warrior's head behind it.
Unfortunately, due to the angle, this laser only hit the chitinous carapace covering the Tyranid Warrior's head. It melted a large hole in it but did not directly kill the Tyranid Warrior. Seeing that the first shot failed, Marcus continued to pull the trigger, firing two more laser beams in quick succession. One hit the torso, and one hit the head, directly blowing apart the head of the Tyranid Warrior, who had already lost its ability to resist.
"Codex Unlocked: Tyranid Warrior (Devourer)"
The system's prompt sounded in Marcus's mind; this was his first time killing a Tyranid Warrior armed with a Devourer, hence the codex unlock. Touching the slightly warm hellgun barrel, Marcus nodded with satisfaction. He was very pleased with the power of the Ryzan-pattern hellgun. If he had used a psychic flying knife just now, it would have been impossible to kill a Tyranid Warrior so quickly. As for the plasma pistol, it could also quickly kill the opponent. However, Marcus did not want to overuse the plasma's charge mode, or who knew when the machine spirit would be displeased and explode.
Under everyone's efficient slaughter, this wave of Tyranid was quickly wiped out. The group was about to continue climbing up the stairs. Before leaving, Marcus also scavenged two armor-piercing grenades from the corpses of the Astra Militarum defenders on the bridge, which was an unexpected bonus.
While ascending the stairs, the group could also see the Hive City spire area, which had already fallen into chaotic battle. Large numbers of Tyranid spore pods were rapidly falling from the sky, plunging towards various areas of the Hive City. Even with the Imperial Fleet in space and the Hive City's ground-based anti-aircraft defenses firing at full power to intercept them, a large number of spore pods still reached the interior of the Hive City.
The Tyranid were devouring the Imperial forces' defensive lines at an astonishing rate. Even relying on the complex terrain of the Hive City, the Imperial Guard could only desperately hold on. This was just the spire area. The lower, middle, and bottom levels, tens of kilometers below Marcus and the others, would only fall faster. The cruelty of war with the Tyranid was now laid bare for all to see.
After a silent sigh, Marcus quickened his pace, catching up with Titus and the others ahead.
After crossing a pile of rubble and ruins, a dilapidated rooftop platform appeared before them. According to the route planned on the auspex, they needed to cross this rooftop and activate a retractable bridge on the other side to enter the control room.
The group stepped onto the dilapidated rooftop platform and walked upwards. In a corridor above, they also discovered a damaged Hydra anti-aircraft tank. Around it, there were also more than a dozen broken corpses of Astra Militarum soldiers. It seemed that this place was originally an anti-aircraft position responsible for intercepting spore pods.
Based on his understanding of the original game's plot, Marcus quickly found the bridge activation device located at the edge of the corridor. After pressing the activation button, the retractable bridge on the opposite side immediately flashed with dazzling sparks. Then, it slowly began to move, emitting smoke.
"This thing is damaged; it's very slow. We need to hold this position for a while."
No sooner had Marcus finished speaking than large numbers of Tyranid immediately emerged from several spires and rooftops around them. They began to surround the group. Among them were many long-range Tyranid Warriors, hiding on various high platforms in the distance, armed with Devourers, Venom Cannons, and Barbed Stranglers, attacking the group. Fleshborer Beetles and corrosive crystals continuously assailed them. On the ground, many annoying toxic vines had already grown, hindering their movement.
Restricted by the terrain, although they knew that those long-range Tyranid Warriors were the greater threat, Marcus and the others could only deal with the close-range Hormagaunt and melee Tyranid Warriors first.
Bolter rounds intersected, chainswords roared. Psychic flying knives swiftly reaped the lives of the Hormagaunt and Gun Worm. Titus, Chairon, and Gadriel broke through the Hormagaunt's obstruction, focusing on dealing with the Tyranid Warriors within the swarm.
Marcus, meanwhile, multitasked. He controlled the psychic flying knives with his mind power to harvest the lives of the surrounding Hormagaunt. At the same time, he quickly moved behind cover, dodging the various long-range attacks coming his way. Although Marcus was now wearing Kasrkin carapace armor, he still couldn't withstand a large number of Tyranid long-range attacks like an Astartes.
After adjusting the hellgun's output power to maximum, Marcus held his breath, quickly locking onto the long-range Tyranid Warriors on the surrounding high platforms through his scope. Under his superhuman vision lock and recoil control, Marcus quickly pulled the trigger. More than a dozen scorching laser beams erupted one after another, flying towards the dozen Tyranid Warriors on the surrounding high platforms.
Having lost sight of Marcus, these long-range Tyranid Warriors were currently focusing their attention on attacking Titus and the two others. They didn't even notice Marcus attacking from the shadows. Therefore, the hellgun's attacks easily hit these long-range Tyranid Warriors. And because Marcus spared no energy, adjusting the hellgun's power to maximum, the scorching lasers, powerful enough to penetrate ceramite armor, easily pierced through the heads and bodies of these Tyranid Warriors.
In less than ten seconds, the long-range Tyranid Warriors on the surrounding high platforms had already been cleared out. And the Ryzan-pattern hellgun in Marcus's hand was emitting scorching heat. This was also a characteristic of the Ryzan-pattern hellgun; high power came with a greater risk of overheating.
"Codex Unlocked: Tyranid Warrior (Venom Cannon), Tyranid Warrior (Barbed Strangler)"
The system's prompt sounded again.