Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Chapter 177: Occupying the Observation Point

The sudden appearance of the infested corpse put the entire team on high alert.

In The Forgotten City, there were many things that kept a seasoned scavenger like Vance awake at night, but the Parasitic Silkworm was in a league of its own.

Other monsters were simply efficient killers. They clawed, bit, or crushed. It was brutal, but it was simple.

The Silkworm was different. It didn’t just kill; it violated.

The sight of the hollowed-out insect husk sent a primal shiver through the group. It wasn’t just fear; it was a deep, visceral revulsion—the kind that made your skin crawl and your brain itch, imagining microscopic larvae burrowing into your pores without you noticing.

Vance had spent the entire trip warning them about the horror of the parasites, but his words had felt abstract. Now, staring at the empty shell, the reality hit them like a physical blow.

Jax’s expression darkened as he looked up at the looming office building.

“Is there anywhere in this city not infested by these things?”

Vance shrugged helplessly. “Not really. The parasites have permeated every sector. The only safe zone is our Outpost, and that’s only because we burn the perimeter daily.”

Jax sighed, his gaze returning to the high-rise.

This building was the closest structure to the nuclear plant. Originally, he had planned to clear it and establish a forward operating base—a safe house to grind EXP and whittle down the swarm. But seeing the nature of the threat, he abandoned that idea immediately.

He couldn’t risk sleeping here. The larvae were too small, too insidious. One slip-up, one gap in a sleeping bag, and it was game over.

However, he still needed the vantage point.

Jax pondered for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he formulated a plan.

“Alright,” Jax announced, breaking the silence. “Change of plans. We need to prep before we breach the lobby.”

Vance looked at him warily. He was getting used to Jax’s unorthodox tactics, but that didn’t mean they didn’t worry him. “Prep what? How are we supposed to fight microscopic bugs?”

Jax smirked. “Simple. We burn them.”

“Burn them?” Vance frowned. “There are millions of them. How do we—”

“Parasitic Silkworms are photophobic and thermophobic,” Jax interrupted, his voice confident. “They fear fire. As long as we keep open flames around us, the larvae won’t dare approach.”

“How can you be so sure?” Vance asked, skeptical. “Did you read that in a database?”

“No. I read it in the environment,” Jax said, pointing toward the distant smokestacks of the nuclear plant.

“Look at the steam. That plant has been running on automated cycles for a decade. It generates massive amounts of thermal energy. If these bugs didn’t fear heat, they would have swarmed the reactor core and destroyed the machinery years ago. The fact that the plant is still operational proves that the high-temperature zones are a natural barrier.”

Vance stared at the steam, blinking. “That… is a hell of a leap in logic.”

“It’s a hypothesis,” Jax admitted, bending down to pick up a dry wooden table leg from the rubble. He wrapped a piece of oil-soaked rag around it. “And now, we test it.”

“Are you crazy?” Elena grabbed his arm, her eyes wide. “If you’re wrong, those things will eat you alive. Don’t take the risk!”

Jax gently removed her hand. “Trust me. I need to know the engagement rules before we hit the main swarm.”

He lit the makeshift Torch, the flames casting dancing shadows against the darkened lobby entrance.

“Stay back,” Jax ordered.

He walked toward the building’s shattered glass doors. Immediately, a wet, skittering sound echoed from the gloom.

Skree-skree-skree.

Jax tensed. He watched the shadows, waiting.

Suddenly, a massive shape lunged from the darkness.

It was a Tier 3 insect beast—a beetle variant—but it looked wrong. Its carapace was riddled with holes, glowing with a sickly, pulsating green light.

Jax raised the torch. The light revealed the horror in high definition.

The “green spots” weren’t markings. They were clusters of larvae, writhing inside the host’s flesh. The beetle was a walking hive, its body consumed by hundreds of tiny mouths. There was no blood dripping from the wounds; the parasites had drunk it all.

“ROAR!”

The host beast shrieked, a gurgling, wet sound, and charged at Jax.

“Jax!” Elena screamed.

BANG!

She didn’t wait for orders. The Soul Collector Rifle roared, the sound deafening in the enclosed street.

The bullet struck the beetle mid-leap, punching through its eye and scrambling what was left of its brain. The creature seized up in mid-air and crashed to the concrete at Jax’s feet, dead on impact.

But the threat wasn’t over.

As the host died, the green spots began to move. Sensing the death of their vessel, hundreds of neon-green larvae poured out of the wounds, a carpet of wriggling flesh seeking a new warm body.

Jax stood his ground, watching the tide of worms rush toward him.

They were grotesque—eyeless, gelatinous tubes tipped with a single, black bone-spike. Soft, vulnerable, but terrifying in their numbers.

“Come on,” Jax muttered, holding the torch steady.

The wave of larvae surged forward, moving with frightening speed. But the moment the lead worms hit the radius of the torch’s heat—about half a meter away—they recoiled violently.

The front line stopped dead, twisting and writhing in pain from the thermal radiation. They scrambled over each other to retreat into the shadows.

Jax let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

“Hah! See?” Jax grinned, turning back to the pale-faced group. “Hypothesis confirmed. They hate the heat.”

Vance wiped sweat from his forehead, looking at the retreating worms with a mixture of disgust and relief. “I’ll be damned. You were right. The big ones might ignore fire, but the parasites can’t handle it.”

“Exactly,” Jax nodded. “We can kill the hosts with guns, but the fire keeps the swarm off us. Guide!”

The guide jumped. “Y-Yes?”

“Run back to the vehicle. Get the fuel canisters. We need oil, rags, and wood. We’re making torches for everyone.”

“On it!” The guide didn’t need to be told twice. He sprinted back toward the parked convoy, happy to have a task that took him away from the worms.

Thirty minutes later, the team was ready.

The guide returned with two jerrycans of diesel. Vance oversaw the production line, wrapping thick cloth around heavy batons and soaking them until they were dripping with fuel.

“Light ’em up,” Vance commanded.

Whoosh.

Five torches flared to life, creating a protective circle of heat and light.

“Formation,” Jax ordered. “Vance, you and the guide take the flanks. I’ll take point. Elena, you’re in the center. You’re the DPS. Anything bigger than a worm, you put it down.”

“Got it,” Elena said, her face grim but focused.

They entered the building.

The strategy worked perfectly. The fire kept the carpet of larvae at bay, parting the sea of worms as they advanced. Whenever a larger host beast lunged from the stairwell, Elena’s rifle barked, dropping it before it could break their formation.

The first two floors were a nightmare of infested Tier 2 and Tier 3 beasts, but as they climbed higher, the density of the monsters thinned.

By the time they reached the third floor, the fighting had slowed. They paused at each landing to refresh the torches with diesel, ensuring the flames remained roaring hot.

It took them two hours of careful, methodical clearing to reach the ninth floor.

Jax kicked open the door to the executive suite and moved to the floor-to-ceiling windows. He wiped away the grime and looked out.

The view was breathtaking—and terrifying.

The entire nuclear facility was laid out before them. From this height, they could see over the perimeter wall and into the compound itself.

Jax’s heart sank.

The courtyard of the power plant wasn’t empty. It was a sea of chitin.

Thousands upon thousands of insect monsters were packed into the facility, shoulder to shoulder. The density was far greater than the Insect Swarm that had attacked Redrock Bastion. It was a living carpet of monsters, all waiting, all infested.

“My god,” Vance whispered, stepping up beside Jax. His face went ashen.

“There are too many,” Vance said, his voice trembling. “We can’t fight that. Even with the fire… that’s an army. If we step foot in there, we’ll be buried.”

Jax remained silent, his eyes scanning the horde, looking for a gap, a weakness, or a miracle.

But Vance was right. A frontal assault was suicide.

“But the insect monsters here are just too many,” Vance thought, his heart sinking halfway. “It seems this place is impossible to enter. We must find a spot with the fewest insect monsters to use as a breakthrough point!”