Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Chapter 125: A Useless Hero?

It was time for the debut.

Every eye on the platform was fixed on Elena. She stood at the edge of the rampart, shouldering the sleek, silver [Soul Collector Rifle]. She took a deep breath, sighting down the barrel at a snarling [Rodent-Maw Creeper] in the distance.

“One shot,” she whispered, steadying her aim. “Let’s see what this thing can do.”

She squeezed the trigger.

Thrum-CRACK!

There was no gunpowder explosion, only the high-pitched whine of discharged energy. A lance of silver light erupted from the muzzle, traversing the battlefield in an instant. It drilled through the Rodent-Maw Creeper’s skull with surgical precision.

The beast collapsed without a sound, a clean kill.

“Whoa,” Barnaby muttered. “Is it that strong?”

Simultaneously, a crisp notification chimed in Jax’s mind.

[System: Killed Tier 2 Rodent-Maw Creeper x1] [EXP +20]

Jax blinked, immediately pulling up his status screen. He watched his experience bar tick upward.

“Oh? I get credit for her kills?”

[System: Affirmative. As a Fortress Hero, all combat experience gained by the subject is funneled to the User.]

“Haha!” Jax grinned, a predatory glint in his eyes. “That’s a beautiful rule. Passive leveling. Finally, the boss gets to exploit the employees.”

He watched with renewed interest as Elena treated the battlefield like a shooting gallery.

The two [Tar Pit Traps] deployed near the breach were doing their job perfectly. The viscous sludge slowed the charging insectoids to a crawl, turning them into stationary targets for the towers and Elena’s sniper fire.

Ten minutes later, Jax’s EXP had surged to over 4,700.

“I’m less than two hundred points away from a level up,” Jax calculated, his excitement building. “If I hit Level 4, maybe I’ll finally unlock an offensive skill.”

Watching Elena drop target after target, Jax felt a pang of genuine envy. Currently, his kit was purely utilitarian: [Holo-Decoy] for distraction and [Aero-Step] for running away. He lacked the raw DPS (Damage Per Second) to stand and fight.

Suddenly, the ground beneath the wall began to tremble.

The rhythm of the battle shifted. The chaotic screeching of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 fodder died down as they scurried aside, parting like a disciplined sea to make way for something heavier.

Long, hairy, chitinous legs stabbed into the earth, pulling massive, bulbous bodies out of the darkness.

“Tier 3s,” Jax hissed. “[Acid-Web Arachnids].”

He counted a pack of them emerging from the gloom, their multiple eyes glowing with malice.

“Let’s see if the rifle can pierce that armor,” Jax muttered. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Elena! Heads up! Tier 3 incoming!”

Elena glanced up, nodding grimly. “I see them!”

Instead of fear, a spark of challenge lit up her face. “The Tier 2s are dropping like flies. Let’s see if you big uglies can take a hit.”

She adjusted her stance, aiming directly at the lead Arachnid’s cephalothorax.

Thrum-CRACK!

The silver beam struck the spider dead center. But instead of piercing through, the creature’s carapace deflected a portion of the energy. The Arachnid recoiled, screeching in pain, but it didn’t fall.

Furious, the monster reared back, its mandibles clicking. A stream of viscous white webbing shot from its maw toward the rampart.

“Move!” Jax shouted.

Jax knew that webbing. It was corrosive and stronger than steel cable. If it tagged her, she was dead.

Elena threw herself sideways, diving behind the stone merlons just as the web slapped against the position she had occupied a split-second prior. The stone sizzled where the acid touched it.

“Close!” Elena gasped, clutching her rifle against her chest. “Too dangerous to peek.”

She looked at the weapon, frustration evident. “It didn’t kill it. One shot wasn’t enough.”

She took a steadying breath, popped out from cover, and fired again. Bang! Then moved. Bang!

She kited the monster, firing and relocating. It took over a dozen shots, combined with the suppressive fire from the [Sentry Towers] and [Howitzer Turrets], before the first Acid-Web Arachnid finally curled its legs and died.

Elena looked at her gun, disappointed. “The damage output is too low. It’s weaker than Jax’s hammer.”

“Pull back!” Jax signaled her. “Your weapon scales with souls! It’s currently equivalent to a Tier 2 tower. It lacks the penetration for Tier 3 armor. Don’t waste your energy on the tanks!”

Jax had analyzed the weapon’s stats. It was a late-game bloomer. Right now, Elena needed to farm trash mobs to stack her [Soul Harvest] passive. Trying to duel a Tier 3 spider with base stats was inefficient and suicidal.

Elena retreated to the safety of the platform. “I get it,” she huffed, wiping sweat from her brow. “I need to feed the gun on the small fry first. Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

“I wanted to benchmark your burst damage,” Jax admitted with a shrug. “Now we know. Rest up. We need the heavy artillery for the spiders.”

“But what about the rest of them?” Elena pointed to the encroaching pack. “Can the towers hold them all?”

“We stall them,” Jax said.

“Stall? How?”

Jax smirked. “I might not have a big gun, but I have plenty of ways to stay alive.”

He vaulted over the railing, landing softly on the inner grounds before sprinting toward the breach in the wall.

He assessed the battlefield. This wasn’t a skirmish; it was a siege. There were at least a thousand insectoids pressing against the choke point.

Jax waited for the spiders to cluster near the [Tar Pit Trap].

“Now.”

He deployed a [Holo-Decoy] right in the center of the kill zone. The shimmering projection of a survivor drew the immediate, frenzied attention of the arachnids.

While they lunged at the illusion, Jax activated [Aero-Step].

The world seemed to slow. He felt weightless, as if gravity had loosened its grip on him. He sprinted forward, stepped onto the vertical face of the wall, and ran straight up it.

“Haha! This skill is broken!” Jax laughed, feeling the wind rush past him.

He crested the wall, dancing along the edge. He taunted the spiders, drawing their acidic spray, then effortlessly sidestepped the projectiles with his enhanced agility.

While Jax played bait, the [Howitzer Turrets] rained hell.

BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions tore through the clustered spiders. Without Jax distracting them and the tar slowing them, the base would have been overrun. But stuck in the mud and chasing a ghost, they were fish in a barrel.

It took fifteen grueling minutes, but the tide finally turned.

The remaining Acid-Web Arachnids, sensing the futility of the assault, screeched a retreat. They scrambled back into the darkness, and the lesser bugs followed suit.

[System: Mission Complete.] [Reward: Stardust Stone x100, Refined Iron x100]

Jax exhaled, landing back on the platform as the adrenaline faded. He opened the Bounty interface.

“A new C-Rank mission refreshed?”

He hesitated. High-level bounties were rare and lucrative.

“Accept.”

[C-Rank Bounty Protocol Initiated] [Objective: Raise Hero No. 1 to Level 2 within 24 hours.] [Reward: Stardust Stone x200, Refined Iron x200]

Jax immediately checked Elena’s status.

[Hero: Elena]

Level: 1

EXP: 15/50

Skills: Locked (Unlock at Level 10)

He looked at the empty battlefield, where the last of the bugs were disappearing over the horizon.

“Damn it,” Jax cursed, staring at the dust settling in the distance. “I need thirty-five more kills. Why did I accept the mission after the swarm retreated?”