Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Chapter 64: The Swarm Arrives

Jax ran the numbers in his head. Three hundred Rodent-Maw Creepers.

Based on the destruction caused by the previous wave, his current layout of Barricades was insufficient. It was statistically impossible to wipe out a swarm of that magnitude before they breached the final line of defense.

“I need more walls,” Jax muttered, staring into the rainy gloom. “If only the Bounty Protocol dropped architectural supplies instead of just raw materials.”

He suppressed the anxiety gnawing at his gut and turned to the team. “Get the Torches ready. All of them. This isn’t a skirmish; it’s a siege.”

Silas, Gareth, and Kaleb exchanged glances. They were complacent, lulled into a false sense of security by the fortress’s recent performance. In their minds, the Howitzer Turrets and the maze of Barricades were an impenetrable shield. They saw themselves as spectators in a tower defense game, destined to watch the XP roll in from the safety of the high platform.

Gareth was even daydreaming about finding a safe spot to farm kills with just a torch, imagining himself making a killing without ever swinging a weapon. But that fantasy relied on one crucial detail he lacked: a Defense Tower of his own. Without the DPS to back it up, a safe spot was just a tomb.

Silas tossed another bundle of dry wood onto the fire. Because of the torrential downpour, they had moved the bonfire inside the safehouse. The room was now stiflingly hot and choked with thick, acrid smoke, making sleep impossible.

So, they stood out on the platform, braving the storm.

The ground below was a thirsty sponge; the sand drank the deluge so fast that no puddles formed. The team didn’t mind the soak. In this wasteland, exposure to the rain was rumored to trigger an Awakening. Though they didn’t say it aloud, every shivering second was a prayer for power.

Suddenly, Kaleb wiped water from his eyes and pointed.

“Contact! Creepers! A massive swarm!”

Everyone squinted through the curtain of rain.

At the edge of the floodlights, the darkness seemed to boil. A tide of Rodent-Maw Creepers poured into the canyon. Their long, matted fur was slick with rain, turning them into sleek, greasy missiles of muscle and hate.

BOOM.

The Howitzer Turret roared behind them, spitting a tongue of red fire. The shell arced through the storm and detonated in the center of the pack.

As expected, the blast triggered their instinct. The swarm halted and began to burrow.

Jax didn’t fire. He watched, calculating.

The Howitzer is effective, but the reload time is the bottleneck. I need to bunch them up.

He thought of his new skill: [Decoy Clone]. Combined with the Barricades, it could be the ultimate crowd-control tool.

The Howitzer thumped rhythmically, churning the earth and blasting exposed Creepers into paste. But it wasn’t enough. After two reloads of Energy Shards, the vanguard of the underground swarm reached the final Barricade.

“My turn,” Jax said.

He grabbed the rappel rope and vaulted over the edge of the platform.

The team didn’t panic. To them, Jax was an Awakened demigod. He had skills they couldn’t comprehend. Only Barnaby looked ready to jump after him, but Annie held the gentle giant back, whispering reassurances.

Jax hit the sand and sprinted toward the first line of Barricades.

Beneath his boots, the ground rippled. The small mounds of earth paused. The creatures sensed him. The vibration of his footsteps was a dinner bell.

Jax didn’t slow down. He was faster than they were underground. He sprinted past the flank of the swarm, running all the way to the edge of the Howitzer’s maximum range.

The sheer scale of the attack became clear. The line of burrowing monsters stretched from the first wall to the last, a continuous vein of death waiting to erupt.

Jax stopped. He stood his ground as the nearest Creepers surfaced, unable to resist the scent of fresh prey.

Sand exploded outward. Dozens of Rodent-Maw Creepers burst from the earth, their eyes glowing crimson in the dark. They shrieked, mandibles clacking, and surged toward him.

“Come on!” Jax roared, spreading his arms. “Let’s see how many of you there are!”

The ground around him erupted. Creepers from the second and third defensive lines abandoned their forward progress, turning back to converge on the lone human.

Jax waited until he could smell their rotten breath.

“[Decoy Clone].”

He took a single step forward, leaving a shimmering, exact replica of himself standing in the mud.

The effect was instantaneous. The Creepers, driven by a mindless aggro mechanic, lunged at the clone. Jax stood less than five meters away, completely ignored. The monsters flowed around him like water around a stone, piling onto the illusion in a frenzy of biting and clawing.

“It works,” Jax grinned, adrenaline spiking. “Total aggro dump.”

He had confirmed his theory: the [Decoy Clone] had a higher threat priority than the caster. The Creepers ignored the real meal to attack the fake one.

Jax didn’t waste time. He sprinted back toward the platform, weaving through the chaotic mass of fur and teeth.

He noticed that the Creepers near the first wall had been pulled in, but the ones that had already breached the perimeter were still pushing for the base.

Range limit, Jax noted. If the taunt radius was a hundred meters, I could kite the whole map.

He reached the safety of the tower’s shadow. Above him, the Sentry Towers hissed, raining bolts into the cluster of enemies surrounding the clone.

[System: Tier 2 Rodent-Maw Creeper eliminated x1] [System: Tier 2 Rodent-Maw Creeper eliminated x3]

The kill feed scrolled rapidly. Jax checked the mission counter.

Fifty down. Two hundred fifty to go.

“Just a little more,” Jax whispered. “Give me that Tier 2 Sentry Tower upgrade.”

Finally, the Decoy Clone flickered and faded. The Creepers, realizing they had been gnawing on empty air, shrieked in frustration. Their red eyes snapped back to the fortress.

BOOM.

Another Howitzer shell landed in the center of their confused formation. They scattered and immediately began to burrow again.

“If I could spam the Clone, this would be broken,” Jax sighed. “But a twenty-four-hour cooldown keeps it balanced.”

He climbed back up the rope as the mounds of earth resumed their advance.

Minutes later, the swarm breached the final Barricade again. Jax had less than one hundred and fifty kills left to go.

“Heads up!” Jax barked, drawing his iron hammer. “They’re surfacing. Get ready to fight!”

As he spoke, the ground at the base of the cliff exploded. The Rodent-Maw Creepers erupted from the sand, abandoning their tunnels for a direct assault.

They coiled their powerful hind legs and launched themselves at the platform.

The cliff face was ten meters high. The Creepers could only jump five. They slammed into the rock wall, scrabbling for purchase. But the rain had turned the stone into a sheet of ice. Claws slipped, and bodies tumbled back down into the mud.

“Burn them!” Jax ordered.

He hurled a Torch into the writhing mass below.

It landed squarely on a Creeper’s back, but the result was disappointing. The heavy rain hissed against the flames, suppressing the fire. Instead of igniting a chain reaction, the torch merely singed two of the beasts before sputtering out.

“Fire is a no-go!” Jax shouted. “The rain is too heavy! Prepare for melee!”

He gripped the handle of his hammer, his knuckles white.

The team finally shook off their lethargy. They realized the “tower defense” portion of the evening was over. This was real. They scrambled back into the fortress to grab their weapons—spears, rebar, anything with reach.

Skreee!

A shrill cry echoed over the lip of the platform. A Rodent-Maw Creeper, stronger than the rest, had managed to hook its claws into the stone and vault over the edge.

Jax didn’t hesitate.

He stepped in and swung the iron hammer in a brutal, downward arc.

CRACK.

The Creeper’s skull caved in with a sickening wet crunch. Brain matter and black ichor sprayed across the wet concrete.

“Hold the line!” Jax roared, kicking the carcass off the ledge. “If it climbs up, smash it back down!”