As more Sandworms crested the ramparts, a cold pit formed in Jax’s stomach. The situation was spiraling out of control.

“Why are there so many of them?” he muttered, swinging his hammer to crush a climbing insect. “This difficulty spike is insane. It’s way beyond what a Tier 1 base should be handling.”

He spared a split second to check his interface.

[Current Progress: 98/200 Sandworms eliminated]

“I haven’t even hit the halfway mark,” Jax realized, his grip tightening on the hammer’s haft. “The only way we survive this is if that reward—The Vault—changes the game.”

He watched the kill counter tick up painfully slowly while the sea of chitinous monsters below seemed to multiply by the second. Staying here was suicide. But charging out was just a faster form of suicide.

Jax glanced at Barney. The giant was huddled against the back wall, trembling violently. His wide, terrified eyes were fixed on the wave of monsters pouring over the defenses.

“Forget the mission,” Jax decided, his jaw setting. “I need to get Barney out of here.”

He had already accepted the possibility of death. He was living on borrowed time as a transmigrator anyway. But Barney? Barney had the mind of a child, but he had a life ahead of him. If anyone was making it out of this hellhole, it should be him.

Jax crouched in front of the giant and patted his shoulder firmly.

Barney flinched, turning to look at him. Tears streamed down his grimy face, carving clean tracks through the dust, but he was silent, biting his lip so hard it was turning white.

“Scared?” Jax asked softly.

Barney hesitated, then nodded, shame filling his eyes. His massive legs were knocking together, betraying him despite his best efforts to be brave.

“It’s okay. Fear keeps you alive.” Jax forced a grin, trying to project a confidence he didn’t feel. He pulled the heavy pouch of Cores from his inventory and pressed it into Barney’s trembling hands.

“Listen to me, big guy. These are for you. Keep them safe.” Jax’s voice was steady, commanding. “In a minute, I’m going to go out there and carve a path. You stay right on my heels. Don’t look back, don’t stop fighting. Just run.”

He gripped Barney’s shoulder harder. “If we get separated, head back to Redrock Bastion. Find your sister. Tell her… tell her I went on a long mission far away. I’ll come back when I’m done. You got that?”

Barney stared at him, the realization sinking in. His face crumpled. “No!” he wailed, grabbing Jax’s arm with a desperate grip. “Jax, no! I’m not leaving you! We go together! We find my sister together! Don’t throw me away!”

The raw grief in the giant’s voice hit Jax like a physical blow. He felt a sour ache in his chest but forced himself to stay stern.

“I’m not throwing you away. I’m getting us out,” Jax lied smoothly. “I might still make it. Trust me.”

Suddenly, the rhythmic thump-thump of the nearest Sentry Tower fell silent.

[System Warning: Sentry Tower (Left) Energy Depleted. Reload immediately.]

Jax whipped his head around. The tower on the left flank had stopped firing.

“Damn it! It’s dry already?” Panic flared. “We’ve only killed a hundred and twenty! There are eighty left!”

The Sandworms, sensing the threat was gone, instantly shifted their focus. Like a swarm of angry bees, they surged toward the silent tower, clambering over each other to get at the metal structure.

Craaash. Skreeeee.

The sound of mandibles tearing into steel plating echoed through the night. In the flickering firelight, Jax saw the protective panels of the tower being ripped away like wet paper, exposing the delicate gears and mechanisms inside.

Jax took a deep breath. He grabbed Barney’s face, forcing the giant to look at him.

“Barney, focus! When I shout ‘Go’, we move. I’ll draw their aggro.”

“You run for the exit ramp. It’s clear for now. Find a safe spot outside the valley and don’t stop running!”

Barney opened his mouth to argue, but Jax’s eyes flashed with a terrifying intensity. “Do as I say!”

The shout shocked Barney into silence. He snapped his mouth shut, choking back a sob.

Jax gritted his teeth and pulled the very last Tier 1 Energy Shard from his inventory.

“This is it,” he whispered, feeling the cool stone in his palm. “One shot.”

He didn’t run for the exit. He ran for the tower.

Jax scrambled up the side of the platform, his heavy leather armor weighing him down. The moment he moved, the Sandworms tearing at the tower paused, their antennae twitching. They smelled fresh meat.

With a collective hiss, the swarm turned away from the metal and lunged toward Jax.

It was a nightmare made flesh. A carpet of clicking claws and snapping jaws flooded toward him. Jax felt his scalp go numb with primal terror, but he didn’t stop. He raised his long-handled sledgehammer and roared into the darkness.

“Come and get some, you ugly bastards!”

He swung the hammer in a brutal arc, smashing the head of the leading Sandworm into pulp. Green ichor sprayed across his armor.

Behind him, Barney was screaming his name, paralyzed with indecision.

“Run!” Jax didn’t look back, swinging wildly as the circle closed in. “Run, you idiot!”

Barney took two steps back toward the exit. He looked at the open path to safety, then looked back at Jax, who was disappearing under a tide of monsters.

Something snapped inside the giant. A surge of hot, desperate courage flooded his veins.

“I… I am a man!” Barney roared, his voice cracking. “Jax! I’m coming!”

He didn’t run away. He drew the long machete Jax had given him and charged straight into the horde, howling like a berserker.

In the center of the swarm, Jax was fighting for his life. Even with his leather armor and massive hammer, he was overwhelmed. There were simply too many angles to cover.

Claws raked across his ribs. Mandibles snapped at his legs.

Suddenly, a sharp, searing pain exploded in his back.

Jax spun around, swinging the hammer blindly. A Sandworm had latched onto his rear, its serrated teeth punching through the thick leather and sinking deep into his muscle.

Crunch.

The hammer crushed the creature’s skull, but its jaws remained locked in a death grip. As Jax twisted, the dead worm ripped free, tearing a chunk of flesh with it.

“Gah!” Jax staggered, nearly dropping his weapon. He reached back, his hand coming away slick with warm blood.

“Damn it…” His vision swam.

Through the haze, he heard a familiar screaming.

“Die! Die! Don’t touch him!”

Jax looked up, stunned. “Barney? Run, you moron!”

Barney was a whirlwind of clumsy violence, hacking at the worms with zero technique but terrifying strength. But he was surrounded. The tide was rising over him.

Jax felt a surge of fury. He wasn’t going to let the kid die here.

He was two steps from the tower’s maintenance hatch. Ignoring the agony in his back, he lunged forward and slammed the glowing Energy Shard into the receptacle.

[Integrity: 20%]

The tower shuddered. The gears groaned, and then—

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The heavy bolts began to fly again at point-blank range. The Sandworms closest to the tower exploded in showers of gore. The pressure eased just enough.

Jax didn’t hesitate. He raised his hammer and charged back into the fray. “Barney! Hold on!”

There was no answer.

Jax fought his way to where the giant had fallen, the reactivated tower providing covering fire. When he finally cleared the circle, his heart stopped.

Barney was a mess.

The giant was slumped on the ground, unconscious. He looked like a punctured water bag, blood leaking from a dozen vicious wounds. In one hand, he still gripped the machete; in the other, he was clutching the bag of Cores Jax had given him so tightly his knuckles were white.

Jax dragged him back toward the tower. The automated defenses created a small safe zone, a circle of death that the worms couldn’t cross.

Jax collapsed beside Barney, his own body screaming in protest. A wave of nausea hit him—the Sandworm venom was working its way through his system. It wasn’t instantly fatal, but without treatment, he’d be facing dehydration, organ failure, and death.

He checked Barney’s pulse. Weak, but there.

Jax sat there in the blood and dust, panting, waiting for the end.

Time seemed to blur. The thump of the tower became a rhythmic lullaby.

Suddenly, a cold, mechanical chime cut through the fog in his brain.

[Mission Complete.] [Reward: Special Building – The Vault.]

Jax blinked, shaking his head to clear the dizziness. He hurriedly opened his inventory.

There, sitting in a new slot, was an icon. It wasn’t a blueprint. It was a complete structure.

“It’s pre-built?” Jax let out a harsh, rasping laugh. “Thank god. No construction time.”

He didn’t hesitate. He selected the building and targeted the empty ground right next to the tower.

Shimmer.

Five minutes later, the air warped, and a small, pitch-black bunker materialized from nothing. It was blocky, ominous, and solid.

Jax gritted his teeth against the pain, hoisted Barney’s massive frame onto his uninjured shoulder, and staggered toward the black metal door.