I Am The Swarm-Chapter 810: Spoils of War

With the Ji fleet in full retreat, their hundreds of Battle Stars quickly shifted from being the safest rearguard units to becoming the most vulnerable forward targets. At this moment, they were unleashing their formidable firepower, and even their secondary cannons—larger than the primary cannons of most warships—were being brought online for the first time in centuries of warfare.

Unfortunately, it was a debut destined to be their last.

In truth, the mobility of Ji Battle Stars, while not on par with standard warships, still surpassed that of many mid-ring civilizations. After all, each Battle Star was equipped with more than 200,000 planetary thrusters—not something to be scoffed at. If they wanted to flee, they could have at least traveled several light-years before being intercepted by the Swarm.

But the Ji had seemingly abandoned these Battle Stars. None of their thrusters ignited. Evidently, the Ji had accepted that even if they tried to escape, they wouldn’t get far. Instead, they chose to remain and hold back the Swarm, buying time for their other fleets to withdraw.

Battle Stars were indeed terrifying weapons in deep-space warfare. Even in their twilight, their fully unleashed firepower was not to be underestimated. The Primordial bodies charging in hordes couldn’t even get close. They had to call for Desolation-Class Motherships to assist.

These motherships, slower than the Primordial bodies and positioned toward the rear of the formation, still needed a bit of time to arrive. Once they did, their more advanced weapon systems could hopefully suppress the Battle Stars.

The Battle Stars blazed with light—secondary cannons blazing in rapid fire. Their fierce energy output formed a wall of death that forced the charging Swarm units to split and flank. Some Primordial bodies circled around to the rear of the Battle Stars, only to find a bizarre sight that left Luo Wen shaking his head with a half-laugh.

The backs of the Battle Stars were completely gutted.

Not only had their rear-mounted proton cannons, photon cannons, and secondary turrets disappeared, but even large sections of the spherical hull had been carved out.

No wonder these Battle Stars didn’t flee. What remained was little more than frontal armor, weapons, and a limited energy system. The rest had been devoured by nano-bots and secretly transported away.

Well played. This was the epitome of “creating something from nothing,” “moving secretly under the cover of darkness,” and “fabricating out of thin air”… wait, too many metaphors.

No one knew how the Ji had managed to keep these hollowed-out metal giants structurally intact. Even though they’d been stripped so thoroughly, the internal pressure had somehow been stabilized, preventing collapse—for now. But such methods clearly wouldn’t last. Without the Swarm attacking, these Battle Stars would likely crumble within a few months.

Still, a few months were all the Ji fleet needed to retreat several light-years at sub-light speeds, then enter warp travel. The Swarm clearly couldn’t afford to wait that long.

At this point, the Battle Stars were practically paper shells—unarmed in the rear, without reactive armor, even with many internal corridors exposed.

Large numbers of Primordial bodies flanked around and began pouring into the hollow interiors through those exposed passageways. Though the Battle Star schematics were highly classified, the Swarm had previously converted several Ji elders, giving them partial access to the blueprints.

With direction from the war intelligence entities, the Primordial bodies quickly mapped out the internal structure, even in its damaged state, and raced toward the remaining power cores.

If they could cut off the last of the energy supply, the Battle Stars’ main weapons would be rendered useless. And the still-massive remnants of the Battle Stars would serve as a satisfying appetizer.

Meanwhile, Swarm forces outside the Battle Stars suddenly stopped advancing—and even began pulling back.

This was Luo Wen’s order.

Based on what they knew of the Ji—or more accurately, Lumina’s nature—it was impossible they would leave such seemingly “free” gifts lying around.

Sure enough, just as the Primordial bodies penetrated deeper inside, volatile energy signatures surged from the damaged corridors. Detecting this, Swarm forces accelerated their retreat.

But it was too late.

The Ji’s trap triggered at terrifying speed. In just a few minutes, the unstable energy breached critical levels. What remained of the Battle Stars exploded in a sea of fire.

Fragments ranging from ten-meter hull slabs to hand-sized shards erupted alongside the shockwave, quickly overtaking the retreating Swarm units like a deadly storm. But the damage was minimal.

Thanks to Luo Wen’s foresight and precise command, the vanguard units were all Primordial bodies capable of shifting into defensive mode. In that form, they could tank even a Dark Energy Cannon—a little area-of-effect blast was hardly a threat.

The Ji had clearly anticipated this. The purpose of the trap wasn’t to kill Swarm units—but to destroy the Battle Stars themselves and deny the Swarm any easy resources.

To that, Luo Wen offered a stern condemnation. Then, he released a majority of the larval bodies he had brought along, tasking them with scouring the battlefield for debris. Though Battle Stars were huge, the materials used in their construction far surpassed those of conventional warships. Even to the Swarm, those alloys were highly valuable and couldn’t be wasted.

The larval bodies cleaned up while the Primordial bodies resumed the chase. But the short delay had allowed the Ji fleet to gain distance.

This part of the galaxy had already been stripped down by the Ji until only the stars remained. There was no need to clear a path; the route was smooth. The leading Ji warships had already reached a safe distance. One by one, amid strange fluctuations, they blurred out of sight—entering warp space.

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More followed—second, third, fourth…

Large segments of the Ji fleet began their warp jump, vanishing rapidly.

The Swarm gave chase, but only managed to intercept less than 20% of the Ji fleet. Without the Battle Stars delaying the Swarm, those intercepted ships were harassed into oblivion—unable to jump and lacking reinforcements, their defeat was inevitable.

Thus ended this stage of the pursuit campaign.

Post-battle assessments tallied that across the multiple fronts, the Ji had lost over ten billion warships. The Swarm’s losses were similarly high.

However, the value of a Swarm Primordial body was not equivalent to a Ji warship. With similar loss counts, this was an overwhelming victory for the Swarm.

And then there were the near five hundred Battle Stars.

Even if many had been gutted, this war was an enormous windfall.

Of course, not all was perfect. Based on post-battle scans, the Ji had managed to steal away materials equivalent to the mass of around 270–280 Battle Stars before self-destructing the rest. The Swarm only recovered materials equivalent to roughly 200 Battle Stars. Some additional fragments—estimated at twenty more Battle Stars’ worth—still needed time and effort to collect.