The mutant's upper body was almost blown to pieces, with charred flesh and bones splattering everywhere, and viscous flames clinging to the remains, continuing to burn.
Before the other two mutants could react, Dorio had already closed in like a whirlwind, smashing one's head with a hook punch, and grabbing the last mutant's neck with her other hand, slamming him hard against the nearby metal wall.
The immense impact caused the wall to dent, and the mutant twitched twice before falling silent.
Falco did not participate in the direct firefight; instead, relying on his enhanced senses and auxiliary systems, he calmly fired precise bursts at enemies attempting to ambush from the shadows.
Every one of his shots was incredibly accurate, often headshotting enemies the moment they exposed even half their bodies.
Sheriff Atkins and his marshals also demonstrated professional acumen, using precise short bursts to complement Maine's crew's heavy firepower, clearing any stragglers.
The battle was one-sided.
These Hive City thugs and low-level mutants were like paper in front of Maine's crew, a team upgraded to Adeptus Mechanicus standards and armed to the teeth.
Their crude weapons could only leave shallow scratches on the iron guard's armor, and when they hit Maine and others, whose bodies were covered in ceramic steel and plastisteel, they mostly ricocheted or failed to cause effective damage.
In just a few minutes, the more than twenty ambushing enemies were completely eliminated.
The passage was filled with the smell of gunpowder, blood, burnt flesh, and the unique stench of burned promethium.
"Threat cleared," Morris' voice came again. "No new ambush signals detected ahead."
Sheriff Atkins looked at the efficient slaughter scene before him, especially the passage entrance melted by Rebecca's plasma cannon, and his eyes twitched slightly.
He took a deep breath and said to Maine, "Well... that was clean and efficient. It seems these scumbags didn't cause you any trouble."
Rebecca proudly patted her plasma bombard: "A piece of cake! Not even enough to warm me up!"
Jackie's voice came from the iron guard's loudspeaker, with a hint of excitement: "This thing is awesome! I feel like I could punch through a city wall with one blow!"
The iron guard he controlled swung its massive metal arm, creating a whooshing sound.
Valerie remained silent; most of her consciousness was connected to the iron guard prototype, rapidly analyzing the performance data of the machine during the brief exchange of fire, including weapon system response, armor's feedback to attacks, and the energy core's load.
Everything was within design parameters, even exceeding expectations.
Maine looked around, confirming there were no overlooked threats.
"Keep moving," he said in a deep voice. "Stay vigilant."
The team set off again, stepping over the messy wreckage and heading deeper into the darkness of the passage.
The easily resolved battle allowed everyone to slightly relax their tense nerves, believing that this was indeed, as the briefing stated, a simple mission to clear out grunts and test equipment.
Even the experienced Sheriff Atkins thought the most dangerous elements would only be a few stronger mutants or more cunning gang leaders.
They did not know that in the deeper darkness of the Hive City, a twisted and tormented consciousness, undetected by any scanning instruments, was violently fluctuating due to the negative emotions generated by the external slaughter and death, about to break through its fragile restraints.
—
After passing through a long corridor, strange chanting and flickering firelight could vaguely be heard ahead.
The scent in the air, similar to a decaying fragrance, grew stronger, even overpowering the previous smell of blood and char.
Morris transmitted clearer images: the end of the passage connected to a massive space, which was the main hall of an abandoned water purification plant.
Rusting giant water tanks and broken pipes formed an eerie and grand backdrop.
In the center of the hall, a crude altar constructed from discarded parts, bones, and tattered cloth was particularly conspicuous.
Around the altar, approximately thirty to forty people were gathered, mostly ragged Hive City residents and a few mutants with obvious physical mutations.
They were prostrate on the ground, surrounding a gaunt figure in tattered robes on the altar, performing some kind of fanatical ritual.
On the altar lay several disemboweled corpses, their blood staining the crude surface.
The gaunt robed figure held a rusted serrated knife aloft, muttering incantations in a hoarse, distorted voice, filled with inhuman fanaticism.
"Main target found," Maine observed the situation in the hall through his tactical goggles. "Around forty targets around the altar. The one in the center appears to be the leader."
"Emperor above..." a young marshal muttered, seeing the bloody scene on the altar, his voice filled with disgust.
Sheriff Atkins' face was ashen: "These damned scumbags! Captain Maine, please end this farce as quickly as possible."
Maine nodded and quickly issued commands: "Valerie, Jackie, use your heavy firepower to cover the area around the altar, prioritizing the clustered cultists.
Rebecca, aim at the altar itself, vaporizing the leader along with it.
Dorio, Pilar, clear any remaining enemies attempting to approach or escape.
Morris, look for high-value targets or anomalous individuals.
Falco, monitor the entire area, provide early warnings. Marshal's squad, provide fire support, and watch for potential traps or hidden entrances."
"Received!"
"iron guard systems, weapon arrays fully open," Valerie calmly confirmed, as the heavy bolter on the shoulder of the iron guard prototype she piloted and the arm-mounted multi-laser cannon simultaneously rose, locking onto targets.
Jackie roared excitedly: "Watch me!" The iron guard he controlled made the same movement.
"Fire!"
With Maine's command, a storm of destruction instantly descended upon the blasphemous hall.
"Boom boom boom boom—!"
The heavy bolters on the shoulders of the two iron guard prototypes roared first, their 0.75-inch bolter rounds, like the scythe of death, cut through the air and landed among the dense crowd of cultists.
Each bolter round caused a secondary explosion upon hitting flesh or the ground, instantly tearing fragile flesh into fragments, with dismembered limbs and internal organs splattering everywhere.
The searing beams from the laser cannons precisely targeted and killed individuals attempting to find cover, leaving molten holes in metal walls and water tanks.
Rebecca's plasma bombard recharged again, and this time, she aimed at the bloody altar.
A blinding blue light flashed, and the plasma ball hit its target at an unperceivable speed.
"Boom—!!"
A more violent explosion than before occurred.
The altar, along with the corpses on it, the leader wielding the serrated knife, and the closest fanatical cultists around it, were instantly vaporized in the extreme heat, leaving only a charred crater with molten edges, and the shockwave even threw some cultists further away.