Recaps

Zhang Han rebuilt the Swarm on Tabi Star while Chloe formed a mental contract with him and helped the Zerg expand through Death Forest. The arc ended with Chloe empowering Raul to command Zerglings as the astrologer Stars knelt before her.

• Zhang Han awakened on Tabi Star after the Swarm’s escape, hunted local beasts, and began rebuilding the Hive while the Antill Empire pursued the Swarm elsewhere.
• Chloe led her knights to Zhang Han’s lair, where she formed a Mental Contract with him after failing to control him, and he allowed her limited command over the recovering Swarm.
• Chloe and the Swarm hunted together, and Zhang Han explained Psionics, the Shroud, and the Astrologers’ Association as Chloe revealed her ambition to become empress.
• A giant worm attacked Chloe’s party, and Zerglings sacrificed themselves to help the humans escape before Zhang Han entered Chloe’s mental world and strengthened her mind.
• Zhang Han granted Chloe limited Executor permissions over the Hatchery, which produced Zerglings that bowed to her and joined her hunts across Death Forest.
• Chloe received a Neural Thorn implant to strengthen her connection to the Swarm, led hundreds of Zerglings through the forest, and drove magical beasts toward the Border Marquisate.
• The Hive reached its second stage, and Chloe offered Neural Thorn implants to three deserving knights to connect them to the Swarm.
• Chloe implanted a Neural Thorn in Raul, shared his pain through the Swarm network, and taught him to lead Zerglings before Stars knelt before her.

Chloe led the Swarm through a brutal battle against the Beast Tide, using Creep, tactical retreats, and new units to break the beasts’ forces. The Swarm captured the surviving herd, trapped the Frost Serpent, and engulfed the wounded Behemoth as Ymir and the Knights watched.

• Stars received a Neural Thorn and told Chloe she wanted to fulfill the prophecy, while Ymir and Chloe underwent implantation and the Swarm expanded its hunts across Death Forest.
• The Three Legendary Beasts united the magical beasts in a Beast Tide, and tens of thousands charged the Swarm’s territory.
• Chloe joined with the Level Two Hive, took command of up to twenty thousand units, and used Creep Tumors, formations, and ambushes to inflict heavy losses on the advancing beasts.
• Stars joined the defense, commanded Enhanced Zerglings, and used Psionics Shock to devastate the beasts while Chloe’s forces attacked from multiple directions.
• Chloe’s Swarm fought the Frost Serpent and its forces through the night, then developed Venomspiders as the beasts struggled through the hardened Creep.
• The Frost Serpent led a massive force through the tunnels toward the Hatchery, where Chloe and Stars used web mazes and coordinated attacks to rout the beasts and wound the Frost Serpent.
• Chloe ordered the Swarm to control the surviving beasts, while the Behemoth sent the Storm Dragonhawk away and charged the Swarm’s defenses alone.
• The Swarm overwhelmed the beasts and wounded the Behemoth, while Venomspiders attacked the Frost Serpent in its icy refuge and Ymir and the Knights watched the battle.

Zhang Han returned to lead the Swarm as it subdued the Frost Serpent, forged alliances, and expanded its power and industry. Meanwhile, Chloe asserted her claim to the Altia Empire and marched toward Warrior Fortress, but the Swarm departed with her before the siege began.

• Zhang Han awakened, reviewed Chloe’s memories, and killed the Frost Serpent after it refused his offer of mercy.
• Zhang Han persuaded the Behemoth to serve him for ten years, spared the surrounding beasts, and revealed to Chloe that he was both the Functional Consciousness and the Overmind.
• Zhang Han restored Chloe’s connection to a new Swarm Network and gave her troops and a Behemoth contract, while Stars chose to become a Swarm Node and shared psionics knowledge.
• Zhang Han discovered magi-crystal and directed the Swarm to build power stations, gather resources, and defeat the Harpies and Flyers, and Rosesta surrendered her tribe to him.
• Zhang Han addressed the Harpies’ misery by improving their living conditions and creating a work-points system, while the tribe began studying and working as Swarm Nodes.
• Chloe returned to Guardian Fortress, rallied nobles in the crown princess’s name, and prepared to attack Duke Duke’s Warrior Fortress as the royal succession crisis grew into civil war.
• Zhang Han and Stars developed the Swarm’s technology and excavated beneath a volcano, then Rosesta and the Harpies diverted its eruption into a prepared channel.
• Chloe marched toward Warrior Fortress with Marquis Jonathan’s troops, but after the Swarm completed its volcanic project, it departed with Chloe and apparently left the human army behind.

Chloe defeated Robert’s army at Turningback Hill with help from the Behemoth, then began consolidating power in the Altia Empire. Meanwhile, Zhang Han stabilized the Psionics Sea and learned the Ivan Zerg’s history, before the story shifted to Joey and Terrell’s dangerous business venture.

• Chloe attacked Warrior Fortress, forced Duke Duke to surrender, and gathered nobles and troops while declaring her intent to defeat Robert and claim the throne.
• Zhang Han awakened his psionic abilities, restrained the waves threatening Behemoth, and ordered the Swarm to prepare for a possible battle.
• Chloe chose to meet Robert at Turningback Hill, where her forces fought through successive attacks until the Behemoth and Warrior Bugs routed the False King Army and drove its soldiers to surrender.
• Chloe let Robert’s surviving troops retreat and welcomed the Siege Beasts, while Duke, Ymir, and Raul recruited prisoners and nobles to her cause.
• Zhang Han cautiously replaced the Psionics Sea’s core power as Stars expanded the Swarm’s facilities, and the Swarm’s recovered memories recounted the Ivan Zerg’s revolt, technological rise, failed escape plan, and extinction.
• The Swarm deciphered the Ivan Zerg’s message, replenished its fleet, and eventually consumed the galaxy, while Zhang Han explored stories in the Hatchery database.
• Joey showed Terrell a plan to breed and sell cloned hybrids on a planet near a bug war zone, and persuaded him to join the venture despite the danger.
• Joey and Terrell set off with combat robots after hiring mercenaries, but Joey admitted they could not pay the mercenaries and that the robot loan held them both liable, prompting Terrell to punch him.