As the tide of Sandworms receded into the darkness, the adrenaline crash hit the team like a physical blow. Gareth slid down the wall, his chest heaving, wearing the shell-shocked expression of a man who had just cheated death.

“That… that was too close,” Gareth wheezed. “I thought we were done for.”

“My god,” Kaleb muttered, wiping sweat and grime from his forehead. “They don’t call Sector 33 the ‘Land of Death’ for nothing. I’ve never seen a swarm attack like that.”

“Thank god for the Sentry Towers,” Annie whispered, clutching her chest. “If we didn’t have those two towers… we’d be insect food right now.”

The group sat in the heavy silence of the aftermath, staring down at the smoldering heaps of insect carcasses below the platform. The air was thick with the acrid stench of burnt chitin and ozone.

Viper was the first to snap out of it. Greed, it seemed, was a powerful stimulant.

He scanned the group, straightened his collar, and cleared his throat.

“Alright, the bugs are gone. Let’s go down and split the loot,” Viper announced, his voice regaining its usual swagger. “I did a lot of heavy lifting back there. I downed at least twenty of those bastards. I can’t identify which ones were mine in that mess, so I’ll just take twenty random corpses as my share.”

Viper moved toward the ladder, intent on claiming his prize.

“Is that so?”

Jax’s voice cut through the air, cold and sharp.

Viper froze. He turned slowly to see Jax staring at him, eyes flat and unamused.

“I didn’t know you were such an elite marksman,” Jax said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “Twenty kills in an hour? With that bow? You must be packing some serious draw weight.”

Viper narrowed his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Jax said, hefting his iron hammer and taking a slow step forward. “I just want to see the power of this legendary bow of yours.”

Viper sensed the threat immediately. The warning in Jax’s eyes was unmistakable. He instinctively took two steps back.

“You… what are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” Jax scoffed. “I’m calling your bluff. I watched you the entire time. You didn’t kill a damn thing. Those arrows of yours? They didn’t even scratch the paint. Hell, I doubt you could even pierce my leather armor, let alone a Sandworm’s carapace.”

Viper panicked. As Jax closed the distance, Viper whipped the bow off his back, nocked an arrow, and aimed it straight at Jax’s chest.

“Stay back!” Viper shrieked, his voice cracking. “Don’t take another step or I’ll shoot!”

Jax didn’t flinch. He smiled, a cold, predatory baring of teeth, and kept walking. He tapped a finger against his chest.

“Go ahead. Shoot.”

Jax’s voice was calm, almost bored. “If you have the guts, loose that arrow. I don’t believe you can pierce my armor. And you know as well as I do—my armor is soft compared to a Sandworm’s shell.”

“I’m warning you!” Viper shouted, sweat stinging his eyes. “I’ll do it!”

Viper’s arm began to tremble under the strain of the draw—or perhaps the fear. Jax stopped a few paces away, staring directly at the trembling arrowhead.

“Come on then. Let’s verify your claims right now.”

Jax didn’t wait for Viper to respond. He turned his head slightly toward Silas. “Silas. Go down there and bring up a helmet piece—a carapace from one of the Sandworm’s heads.”

Silas nodded immediately, grabbed the rope, and slid down the wall. Moments later, he scrambled back up, holding a curved, blackened plate of chitin peeled from a dead Insectoid.

Jax pointed to the carapace Silas threw on the ground.

“Here’s the deal,” Jax said, locking eyes with Viper. “If you can punch an arrow through that shell, you can take your pick of twenty corpses. Hell, take the whole pile. But if you can’t… you leave at dawn. Alone.”

Viper stared at the carapace. His heart hammered against his ribs.

He knew he couldn’t do it.

His bow was a prop. It was a softwood recurve with a pathetic draw weight, a tool for posturing, not killing. When he was in the city defense force, he had used it to fake competence, aiming for soft spots or just firing into the mass to look busy. The standard-issue military bows were too heavy for him—he was too lazy and too underfed to pull them consistently.

So, he had cheated. He became a master of “faking it” to collect a paycheck. Eventually, he was caught and kicked out, which led him to the Dire Wolves.

Tonight, his arrows had bounced off the Sandworms like rain off a tin roof. He hadn’t killed a single one.

His arm was screaming in protest now. The tension left his muscles. He couldn’t keep the bow drawn. Slowly, he lowered the weapon.

Cornered, Viper turned his desperation toward Gareth.

“Guild Leader, look at this!” Viper pleaded, pointing a shaking finger at Jax. “He’s trying to break up the Dire Wolves! I told you this kid was bad news, but you insisted on following him!”

Viper’s voice rose to a whine. “This is classic ‘kicking the donkey after the milling is done’! He used us to defend his base, and now that the danger is over, he wants to cheat us out of our loot! He knows we’re exhausted! He’s robbing us!”

Viper grabbed Gareth’s arm. “Don’t just stand there! Say something! We should leave. We’ll pack up tomorrow morning and let him rot out here alone!”

Gareth looked down, his face flushing with embarrassment.

He wanted to support his guild member, but the words died in his throat. He remembered cowering in fear while the towers did the work. He remembered Viper’s arrows dinking harmlessly off the monsters.

Defending Viper now would mean lying to Jax—a man with two Sentry Towers and the power to crush them. Gareth didn’t have the spine for it.

Before Gareth could mumble a response, Kaleb stepped forward.

“I don’t think your bow can do it,” Kaleb said, his voice surprisingly firm. “I was watching. Your arrows bounced off. Even the ones that hit dead center didn’t penetrate.”

Annie, emboldened by her brother, raised her hand. “I saw it too! They just fell off!”

Silas crossed his arms, staring at Viper with contempt. “I’ll testify to that. I served in the city defense with this guy. ‘Padding the numbers’ is his specialty. He’s been a fraud for years.”

The walls were closing in. Viper looked around wildly, his gaze landing on Gareth one last time.

Gareth hesitated, looked at Jax, then at the floor. He sighed, a sound of defeat.

“I… I saw it too, Viper.”

Jax smirked. He looked at Viper, waiting. “Well? Do you still want the loot?”

Viper’s face twisted in hatred. He glared at everyone in the circle, his eyes burning with humiliation.

Snap.

He threw the arrow to the ground and crushed it under his boot.

“Fine! Bullying me because I’m outnumbered, huh?” Viper spat on the ground. “I see how it is. Keep the damn bugs! I’m leaving tomorrow morning. And don’t come crying to me when you all die out here!”

Viper stormed off to the far side of the platform, isolating himself in the shadows.

He knew he had lost. His little tricks didn’t work here. Silas knew his past, Kaleb and Annie were siding with strength, and Gareth was too weak to lead. Viper realized that staying here meant being under Jax’s thumb, and likely being exposed further. Leaving was his only option to save face.

Jax shrugged, addressing the group. “You all heard him. I didn’t kick him out; he volunteered. If he wants to go, let him go.”

The line was drawn. Viper was out.

The group settled down around the campfire to wait out the rest of the night. The adrenaline had faded, leaving behind a heavy exhaustion. No one slept. They just stared into the flames.

Barnaby, oblivious to the political tension, kept tossing logs into the fire with diligent enthusiasm.

Jax watched him, shaking his head with a wry smile. The Sandworms weren’t coming back tonight—the system quest was done—so the fire was just making the hot night even more unbearable. But Barnaby was determined to be helpful.

Finally, Barnaby threw the last stick of wood into the flames. Finding nothing left to burn, he obediently sat down next to Jax.

Jax leaned back against the cool stone of the fortress wall. He closed his eyes and pulled up the System interface.

He navigated to the rewards tab.

[Blueprint: Tier 1 Howitzer Turret] Status: Unlocked

He tapped on the blueprint to check the construction requirements.

[Construction Costs]

Refined Iron: 50

Stardust Stone: 50

Jax frowned. He checked his [Storage Space].

“I have 30 Refined Iron left. And thanks to the last mission reward, I have 40 Stardust Stones.”

He was short.

“I need 20 more Iron and 10 more Stones. Where do I get those?” Jax muttered to himself. “I can’t exactly mine Refined Iron.”

His mind drifted to the rumors he had heard in The Sprawl. There were special vendors that appeared in the wasteland, or perhaps unlocked through the System.

“Maybe… The Vault?”