Under the 'Deceitful' effect of the "Chaos Power" title, eerie blue magical flames writhed across the Necromorphs' flesh, casting a demonic glow in the dark corridor. The Psychic Flying Knife's rapid attacks were perfectly suited to trigger the various unpredictable effects of Marcus's "Chaos Power". Between the relentless cutting of the Chainsword and the precise strikes of the Psychic Flying Knife, dozens of Necromorphs quickly collapsed into scattered pieces on the ground.
Half of the Slashers were utterly annihilated by the virulent effects of "Corruption" and the arcane flames of "Deceitful". The remaining Necromorph fragments, still attempting to aggregate, were blasted into dust by the Lictor's psionic attacks. In just a few minutes, dozens of Necromorphs had been completely wiped out.
Watching the Necromorph clearance progress rapidly increase on his panel, Marcus glanced at the loudspeaker on the ceiling. He knew Mercer was undoubtedly observing the battle through surveillance. A cunning plan sparked in Marcus's mind, and he deliberately spoke aloud, "Is this all the Marker can create? I think that trashy Marker is nothing special..."
Before he could even finish, Mercer's furious roar erupted from the loudspeaker. "Aggregation is unstoppable! You and that ugly monster beside you will eventually merge into the aggregation!" A normal person might have recognized Marcus's superhuman strength and unusual equipment, but Mercer had long since descended into complete madness under the Marker's influence. Marcus's provocation had clearly enraged him. "Let me show you the masterpiece of me and the Marker!"
Marcus raised an eyebrow, a flicker of grim satisfaction crossing his face. He knew the deranged scientist's "masterpiece" was the Hunter. "Good," he muttered to himself, "saves me the trouble of going over there."
From the direction of the biochemical laboratory, not far away, came an inhuman roar, far more terrifying than that of any ordinary Necromorph. Marcus didn't waste time; he simply pulled the Meltagun from his back. Facing an opponent with such powerful regenerative abilities, the Meltagun, capable of incinerating a target in a single shot, was undoubtedly the most suitable weapon.
Soon, the Hunter burst forth from a corner: two sizes larger than a typical Slasher, its entire body covered in blood-red skin, and a horrifying mass of twisted tentacles replacing its lower jaw. The Lictor beside Marcus immediately spewed a ball of psychic energy, striking the Hunter. The psychic energy ball exploded violently against the Hunter's upper body, the immense power instantly obliterating it. However, in the very next second, the Hunter's upper body began to regenerate with unimaginable speed. Countless crimson tendrils rapidly intertwined, reconstructing its form. Its recovery was even faster than that of a Tyranid Hive Tyrant.
"Conservation of energy and conservation of mass no longer exist," Marcus couldn't help but comment, watching the rapidly self-healing Hunter. This ability to regenerate from seemingly nothing was a blatant defiance of fundamental laws. Marcus wasn't foolish enough to let the Hunter fully recover. His Psychic Flying Knife immediately shot out, striking the Hunter from three directions simultaneously, piercing it through and through. The "Corruption" effect successfully triggered, corrosive venom instantly spreading over the Hunter's body, temporarily inhibiting its self-healing.
At this moment, the Hunter, whose upper body had been blasted to dust, had mostly regenerated. It now lay on the ground, frantically wriggling towards Marcus's position. To be honest, the sight was quite bizarre. The Hunter hadn't even regrown its head yet, with only the left half of its upper body and its lower body remaining, yet it was still capable of movement.
Marcus didn't stop. The Psychic Flying Knife continued its assault, triggering the "Deceitful" effect. Eerie blue magical flames rose, and along with the corrupting venom, continuously ravaged the Hunter's body. Under such a double assault, the Hunter's self-healing speed could no longer keep up. Marcus then flashed in front of the Hunter, raising the barrel of his Meltagun. At almost point-blank range, he pulled the trigger. A scorching torrent of molten energy instantly gushed out, blasting the Hunter's entire form.
"Boom!"
The unbelievably high-temperature torrent evaporated ninety-nine percent of the Hunter's flesh and tissue in an instant. After the molten torrent dissipated, Marcus leaned closer and found a small, fingernail-sized piece of flesh still wriggling on the ground, attempting to regenerate. Adhering to the excellent tradition of nipping evil in the bud, the Psychic Flying Knife immediately applied the "Corruption" and "Deceitful" effects to this final fragment. Soon, under the combined action of venom and flames, the last trace of the Hunter vanished from existence.
The system's prompt rang out at this opportune moment:
[Detected that the host has completed mission objective 1: Kill the Hunter. Mission evaluation in progress. Evaluation passed. Mission reward being issued. Obtained Random Draw Chance × 1. Obtained Title "Regeneration Suppression".
Title Effect: Each of your attacks will weaken the enemy's regenerative self-healing ability by 10%, stackable up to three layers.]
Before Marcus could even fully process the system message, Mercer's exasperated voice shrieked from the loudspeaker. "You damned bastard! Do you know what you've done!?"
"Just killed a twisted monster, that's all," Marcus said carelessly. The process of killing the Hunter had been surprisingly smooth. According to the original plot, after Isaac encountered Mercer, he would be relentlessly hunted by the Hunter until it was finally incinerated by the spaceship's exhaust flames. But now, Marcus had completely eliminated the Hunter with hardly any effort. For Marcus, the Hunter's threat level was far less than that of a lictor on Avarax. After all, besides its abnormal self-healing ability, the Hunter was essentially just an oversized Slasher.
On the other end of the loudspeaker, Mercer's voice continued, a stream of incoherent curses. Marcus ignored the deranged man, raised his hand, and destroyed the surveillance device in the corridor. Then he began to call out to the lictor not far from him through their mental link. Soon, the invisible lictor, carrying a necromorph it had caught, quickly rushed to Marcus's side. After having the Lictor dissolve this necromorph, Marcus gave the lictor new orders. Since he didn't have a specific photo of Mercer, Marcus roughly described the opponent's appearance. Then he sent the lictor to deal with Mercer.
He wasn't worried that the lictor would kill the wrong person. After all, in the entire medical bay, besides the poor crew members tied to hospital beds by Mercer, undergoing inhuman experiments, and on the verge of death, Mercer was the only one still actively moving. Upon receiving the hunting order, the lictor's mouth tentacles trembled with anticipation, and it then dashed off in one direction.
Meanwhile, Marcus, with the Lictor at his side, turned and walked back the way he came. Since he had completed the first mission given by the system, he no longer needed to stay in the medical bay. Mercer, a mere mortal, could not escape the lictor's relentless hunt. As for the remaining necromorphs in the medical bay, Marcus didn't have the time to track them down and kill them one by one. Such tasks were more suitable for the Tyranid Warbeasts he had left to hunt autonomously.
Soon, Marcus returned to the tram control room and rejoined Isaac and Daniels.