19: Chapter 19 The Necromancer from Sixty Million Years Ago Said: Your Evolution Speed ​​is Unscientific

Six days after the orbital war of attrition, there were no longer any shadows of Imperial ships in the low orbit of Dead Silence-42.

Replacing them were sixty-four Brood Lords, arranged in groups of eight, weaving a crossfire net that covered the entire planet in low orbit. Swarms of parasites were released periodically, shuttling like patrol hounds between the debris belt and orbital blind spots, transmitting real-time data of every inch of space back to the Hive Mind using their compound eyes and antennae.

The Swarm had completely seized control of the planet's orbit. The wreckage of the Imperial Fleet was attached to, dismantled, and classified by Drones—every fragment of armor was measured for thickness and hardness, every section of a Lance Weapon barrel was analyzed for alloy composition and focusing principles, and every piece of Warp engine wreckage was reverse-engineered in search of the Imperial Navy's secrets to interstellar travel.

This data flowed into the analysis sacs of the underground lair, where it was cross-referenced with the orbital engineering technology provided by the Necron Node. A new genetic template was pushed into the design dish on the seventh day—larger than a Brood Lord, wingless, and specifically born for deep-space combat. The Overmind named the template and initiated the incubation countdown for the first batch of prototype embryos simultaneously in the low orbit of Dead Silence-42 and the fourth planet.

Meanwhile, The Swarm's ground forces were expanding in sync.

The enriched Adamantium veins provided by the Necron Node were being fully exploited. The reserves in the fourth layer of veins far exceeded initial estimates—the veins beneath those black stone gates extended throughout the underground of the entire Hive City Ruins, forming a rich ore network that The Swarm called the "Adamantium Veins." Drones dug six transport tunnels into the veins, continuously sending ore into the biological smelting sacs deep underground.

The number of Ultralisks increased from four to twelve.

Every newly hatched Ultralisk underwent targeted improvements based on the previous generation. The mono-molecular bone blades of the second batch of Ultralisks were lengthened by fifteen percent, specifically targeting the frontal armor thickness of Imperial Knight-class Titans. The third batch of Ultralisks had a buffer gel layer added beneath their carapaces, capable of absorbing the impact of larger caliber weapons. The fourth batch was undergoing genetic implantation—The Overmind had found a blueprint in the Necron database for a sonic weapon used by the Necrons during their early colonial era to suppress carbon-based lifeform riots, and intended to transplant an improved ultra-low-frequency sonic pulse organ into the throats of the Ultralisks.

On the ground, creep had already covered forty-three percent of the land area in the northern hemisphere of Dead Silence-42. The expansion speed was three times that of pre-war levels—the number of Brood Queens had increased from one to four, with each Brood Queen responsible for an independent expansion sector. They synchronized expansion data in real-time through the Hive Mind, adjusting the growth direction of the creep to avoid areas with lingering Chaos corruption, prioritizing the coverage of Adamantium veins and geothermal fissures.

The total volume of the underground lair had expanded to more than twenty times its pre-war size. Two main hatcheries were operating simultaneously, adding over two hundred combat units every day. The carapaces of all Zerglings adopted a second-generation anti-psychic lattice structure, and the bone-spine warheads of the Hydralisks were replaced with high-energy focusing crystals reverse-engineered from the wreckage of Imperial Lance Weapons. Even the lowliest Drones had been integrated with Necron quantum stabilization algorithms, allowing them to increase the rock density of tunnel walls to near-Imperial fortress-grade hardness when digging deep underground.

This was an all-encompassing evolution. It was not just an upgrade of a single unit, nor the breakthrough of a single genetic chain, but a systematic leap for the entire Swarm—from ground to orbit, from carapace to weapon, from tactics to strategy.

And at the peak of this evolutionary wave, The Overmind was examining the most important trophy of this war—all the tactical data accumulated from over a dozen battles of varying sizes. Every battle was broken down into independent decision units: the chaotic charges of Chaos Hounds, the psychic coordination of the Grey Knights, the wedge assaults of Imperial armored companies, the orbital bombardment rhythm of the Imperial Navy—every enemy's tactical characteristic was translated into tactical modules that The Swarm could execute itself, and integrated into the Hive Mind's shared decision-making system.

The Brood Queens learned local tactics from this data. The Overmind learned global strategy. It spent two full days translating the Imperial Navy's tactical manuals into the movement logic of The Swarm—the Imperial Navy was accustomed to conducting at least three rounds of long-range fire projection before engaging, with an interval of about ninety seconds because the charging cycle of a Lance Weapon was ninety seconds; in this gap, The Swarm could already use high-speed units to seize attack corridors.

"Advance on multiple fronts. Strengthen comprehensively." The Overmind attached a new strategic goal to its instructions for the Brood Queens—to build a permanent hive industrial system on Dead Silence-42, turning this planet into the first Forge World for The Swarm in the Warhammer universe.

This was no longer just a predator's lair. It was the foundation of a military civilization.

That day, communication with the Necron Node also entered a new stage. With the assistance of The Swarm, detection Drones had already located the antenna wreckage in synchronous orbit around the fourth planet, and the quantum entanglement core collection device was using the high-energy explosions generated when Brood Lords collided with Imperial wreckage to extract short-lived entangled particles. It was expected that the antenna repair could complete preliminary calibration before the next Imperial Fleet arrived.

The Necron Node spoke proactively during a routine call with the Brood Queen. He said he had confirmed The Swarm's current orbital units and other evolutionary data, and believed that if the Empire saw the full current strength of The Swarm, they would likely not just send a garrison fleet or a single Grey Knights squad again; the next to arrive would be a main battle fleet equipped with Void Shields. The "main battle fleet" he spoke of might include a Titan Legion and a complete Astartes chapter, and might even possess Exterminatus-class weapons.

"I suggest you complete the full deployment of your orbital defense system before the next offensive arrives. With your current number of orbital units, you can withstand at most three rounds of saturation bombardment. My database contains templates for early Necron anti-Titan weapon platforms—if you want them, you can use them for reference."

The Overmind accepted this data. The Necron anti-Titan weapon template was directly transferred into the design sequence of the leviathan mothership. The hive ship needed the ability to conduct precision strikes within the coverage area of Void Shields, and the Necron weapons happened to solve this problem.

"In exchange, I need you to help me send an encrypted message to the coordinates in the Orion Arm after you repair the antenna. The message content: This node is alive. Requesting reconnection to the master control matrix. The coordinates are the ones on that black stone gate beneath your Hive City Ruins. I have waited for this reply for sixty-two million years. After your war ends, if I am still alive, send it out. If I am dead, repair the antenna, and then send it out on my behalf."

The Brood Queen forwarded the Necron's request verbatim to The Overmind. After finishing processing the design draft for the leviathan mothership, The Overmind replied with one word: "Granted."

In the genetic design dish deep within the underground lair, the embryo of the leviathan mothership began its first cell division. Its size exceeded the sum of all units in The Swarm—the initial volume of the embryo alone was eight times that of an adult Ultralisk. Drones expanded a dedicated giant incubation chamber around the design dish, with mycelial cables connecting to the embryo from all directions, injecting nutrient solution and genetic information at a rate of hundreds of liters per minute.

The Overmind wrote the Necron anti-Titan weapon template into the hive ship's neural hub. The Void Shield penetration algorithm was translated into protein signals and encoded into the biological structure of the main gun that the hive ship would carry in the future—a living railgun capable of firing projectiles mixed with Adamantium armor-piercing rounds and high-concentration digestive fluid, delivering a devastating corrosive effect into the interior of Imperial ships after penetration.

One hundred and twenty hours. Most of the Empire's Astartes chapters were still assembling in more distant war zones, and Terra was still evaluating Marcus's report. One hundred and twenty hours later, The Swarm would no longer be a defender with only Brood Lords and Ultralisks. It would possess a hive ship.

This was no longer a defensive war.