At the same time, a large number of Hormagaunts and Gun Worms, acting as cannon fodder, poured out from the walls that the Exocrine had forcibly collapsed, rushing towards the people in the area. If these cannon fodder units were not quickly cleared, once surrounded, the Exocrine would crush everyone present into pieces.
Left with no choice, Marcus disregarded the risk of overdrawing his mind power. He forcibly activated several psychic flying knives, harvesting the lives of the surrounding Hormagaunts and Gun Worms. Afterward, Marcus hid behind a load-bearing pillar that the Exocrine had knocked down.
After quickly checking his equipment, Marcus found that he only had two weapons capable of inflicting large-scale damage on the Exocrine's heavy armor. One was the meltagun in his hand. The second was the two armor-piercing grenades he had picked up not long ago. Although both weapons could cause significant damage to the Exocrine, they each had their limitations. The former required close-range shooting to unleash its full power. Furthermore, since the meltagun in Marcus's hand was the mortal version used by the Astra Militarum, its power might not be guaranteed to destroy the Exocrine's armor one hundred percent. The latter was very likely to be blocked by the Hormagaunts and Gun Worms scurrying around the area, thereby wasting precious armor-piercing grenades.
After enduring a headache and pondering for a few seconds, a plan emerged in Marcus's mind.
"Don't worry about the Hormagaunts, focus fire on the Exocrine's side armor first!" Marcus poked his head out and shouted to Titus and the other two, who were still dodging the Exocrine's attacks in the area.
After speaking, Marcus used his mind power to lift his plasma pistol, which had already been charged to its peak, and fired a shot at the Exocrine's side armor, creating a small dent. At the same time, he also raised the hellgun in his hand, firing a full-power laser blast at the same spot, further denting the Exocrine's side armor.
These two attacks seemed to enrage the Exocrine, causing it to abandon Titus and the others and charge fiercely towards Marcus's location. Simultaneously, it spewed out a large number of highly venomous bone spines from over a dozen vents on its back, shooting them at Marcus. The pile of stones accumulated between the two offered no obstruction whatsoever and was immediately crushed into dust.
Marcus did not sit idly by; he retreated while dodging the attacks of the venomous bone spines. While running quickly, he did not forget to continue controlling the plasma pistol and hellgun with his mind power to attack.
With Marcus drawing fire, Titus, Chairon, and Gadriel immediately concentrated their firepower, precisely attacking the small dent Marcus had made earlier. Under the superhuman marksmanship of the Astartes, every bolter round and every plasma burst accurately hit the same spot.
Under the repeated attacks of the group, the Exocrine's slightly weaker side armor finally had a breach blown into it, exposing the strong flesh beneath its chitinous shell.
However, at the same time, the Exocrine, nearly five meters tall and weighing over ten tons, also charged behind Marcus. Feeling the immense pressure from behind, Marcus forcibly resisted the instinct to look back. After enveloping his legs with mind power, Marcus's speed increased by several points, briefly widening the distance between him and the Exocrine.
Without any hesitation, Marcus stepped on a protruding carving on the steel wall in front of him. With the exertion of his superhuman muscles, Marcus leaped nearly six meters high into the air and landed in an arc directly onto the Exocrine's back, a position where he would not be attacked by the Exocrine's four enormous claws.
After steadying himself, Marcus immediately clung to the protruding carapace on the Exocrine's back. At the same time, he pulled out the meltagun he had prepared earlier and fired a scorching meltagun blast at point-blank range. This meltagun blast accurately hit the Exocrine's back; the emitters that had been spewing venomous bone spines were immediately melted and blocked by the high-temperature torrent. Even a good portion of the Exocrine's thick chitinous armor on its back was melted.
However, although this meltagun blast was extremely powerful, just as Marcus had predicted earlier, it was not enough to directly destroy the Exocrine's armor defense.
In pain, the Exocrine directly slammed its head into the steel wall in front of it. Under the violent impact, the entire central hub room began to shake violently. Under the impact of the recoil, even the tough-skinned Exocrine was temporarily stunned.
Seizing the opportunity, Marcus continued to step on the Exocrine's back, continuously pulling the trigger of the meltagun in his hand, emptying an entire magazine, a total of five meltagun blasts. Under such close-range meltagun bombardment, the Exocrine's back armor had largely melted. The originally thick chitinous shell had melted into a black, viscous substance emitting a burnt odor. Even Marcus, wearing full carapace armor, could feel the scorching sensation on his feet.
Before the high-temperature viscous substance spread to his feet, Marcus leaped off the Exocrine's back. At the same time, he pulled out the two armor-piercing grenades he had prepared and accurately threw them into the breach that the group had previously created. Then he moved away from the Exocrine, which was waking up from its stunned state.
Even after being shot five times at point-blank range with the meltagun, the Exocrine was still not dead. Bathed in the viscous substance flowing down its back, the Exocrine roared skyward and was about to charge at the group again.
But after two crisp "beep-beep" sounds, two violent flames suddenly erupted from the Exocrine's side. High-temperature flames and shockwaves were gushing out from the breach in the Exocrine's side armor. Under the implosion of the armor-piercing grenades, the entire left side armor and body of the Exocrine were largely destroyed by the explosion. The violent shockwave even directly lifted the chitinous shell on its back, which was already on the verge of collapsing after the meltagun bombardment.
Suffering such heavy damage, even the Exocrine, a living killing machine, collapsed to the ground. Now, the Exocrine's most troublesome heavy armor had been largely removed.
Seizing the opportunity, the group immediately unleashed a fierce barrage on the unarmored parts of the Exocrine. Without the protection of the chitinous shell, whether it was bolter rounds, plasma, or the laser beams from the hellgun, all could cause effective damage to the Exocrine.
Finally, a scorching plasma blast and an equally scorching laser beam successively hit the Exocrine's head. The plasma destroyed the last bit of weak armor on the Exocrine's head. And the laser beam from the hellgun successfully pierced through the Exocrine's skull, vaporizing the brain matter inside.
The Exocrine, which had been struggling to get up, immediately stopped moving, with only a few pairs of limbs still twitching unconsciously.