Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Before the team could process his words, Jax had already swung over the edge and was rappelling down the rope.

Barnaby let out a panicked cry, rushing to the edge.

Jax landed in the dust, looking up and waving. “Stay put, Barney! I’ll be back before you know it!”

The others stared in stunned silence. Gareth looked at Kaleb, who had already shouldered the Rifle, his cheek pressed against the stock.

“What… what the hell is he doing?” Gareth stammered.

Kaleb racked the bolt, chambering a round. “I’m covering him. He’s going to flush out the burrowers.”

The simple statement hung in the air. In the wasteland, self-sacrifice was a myth—something you saw in pre-apocalypse movies, not in the dog-eat-dog reality of the Sprawl.

Gareth shook his head, thinking Jax was insane. Maybe it was for his brother? Whatever the reason, it wasn’t worth dying for. But deep down, Gareth felt a wave of relief. At least Jax hadn’t forced him to be the bait.

Silas, on the other hand, watched with a gleam of realization in his eyes. A thought clicked into place.

[System: Silas’s Loyalty +2]

Barnaby was sobbing now, thrashing against Annie’s grip as she struggled to keep him from jumping after his brother.

Down in the kill zone, Jax sprinted into the heart of the swarm.

BOOM.

A shell from the Howitzer slammed into the earth ten feet away. The shockwave rattled his teeth, but the shrapnel and fire seemed to bend around him.

“Holy…” Jax gasped, checking his limbs. “Friendly fire safety protocols are active. Thank the System.”

Relieved, he pressed forward.

The Sandworms writhed around him, a sea of snapping mandibles and thrashing bodies. Jax moved like a phantom, weaving through the gaps in the horde. His leather armor deflected the occasional grazing blow, but he didn’t stop to fight.

He needed to reach the tunnel breaches where the Rodent-Maw Creepers were surfacing.

Suddenly, a Sandworm lunged from his blind spot, mandibles wide open, aiming for his throat.

CRACK.

A gunshot rang out from the platform above. The worm’s head exploded in a spray of green ichor, and it slumped to the ground.

Up on the wall, Kaleb cycled the bolt, ejecting a spent casing. He frowned. Why isn’t he attacking? He’s holding a shovel… is he planning to dig them out?

Annie held onto Barnaby, her eyes glued to the figure darting through the chaos, praying silently. Gareth’s gaze flicked between Jax and the automated Howitzer Turret. For a split second, a dangerous thought crossed his mind—if Jax dies, I could take the turret.

But he crushed the thought instantly. He knew himself. He wasn’t a hero. Even with a turret, he’d panic in the face of this swarm. Jax was the only one crazy enough to handle this.

Silas was so fixated on the battle that the torch in his hand burned down to the nub, the heat singing his fingers before he yelped and dropped it.

Jax reached the center of the disturbance. He stood still for a second, muttered a command, and then took a sharp step back.

What happened next made the team on the wall gasp in collective disbelief.

Kaleb froze, his finger hovering over the trigger. He blinked, thinking the heat and stress were making him hallucinate.

There were two Jaxes.

The first Jax stood defiant in the center of the swarm, shouting and waving his arms. The second Jax was sprinting away, keeping low and fast, heading back toward the platform.

Silas punched the air. “Yes! I knew it! The Boss has a clone skill!”

Gareth rubbed his eyes furiously, but the image remained. “What is happening? Is he… is he an Awakened?”

A cocktail of emotions churned in Gareth’s gut—envy, awe, and a massive dose of relief that he hadn’t tried to betray Jax earlier. He lowered his weapon, resigning himself to the role of spectator.

Down below, the real Jax scrambled up the rope, gasping for air. He hauled himself over the ledge and glared at Kaleb.

“I told you to cover me! Why did you freeze up? I almost got chewed on down there!”

Kaleb was still staring at the glowing holographic decoy in the distance. “That… that thing over there… it’s you?”

Jax sighed, dusting off his armor. “Secrets out. I’m an Awakened. Deal with it.”

The team stared at him, their expressions ranging from worship to terror.

BOOM.

The Howitzer fired again.

The shell arced through the air and slammed into the area around the decoy. The explosion cleared a circle of Sandworms, revealing the true threat.

The Rodent-Maw Creepers, driven into a frenzy by the decoy’s aggro signal, erupted from the ground. They ignored the explosions, ignored the Sandworms, and threw themselves at the glowing phantom of Jax.

From the wall, they could hear the sickening sound of hundreds of teeth gnashing against the air.

Jax shuddered. “Glad that’s not me. Those things would have stripped me to the bone in seconds.”

BOOM.

Another shell landed dead center on the clone.

Fire engulfed the cluster of Creepers. Bodies flew, limbs shattered, but the monsters were tough. They dragged their broken bodies back toward the decoy, driven by mindless aggression. More of them surfaced, drawn by the pheromones or whatever signal the skill projected.

BOOM.

The Howitzer found its rhythm.

[System Notification] Eliminated: Tier 2 Rodent-Maw Creeper Eliminated: Tier 2 Rodent-Maw Creeper Eliminated: Tier 2 Rodent-Maw Creeper …

Jax watched the timer on his skill. The decoy was starting to flicker and fade.

“Five seconds left,” he muttered. “Come on…”

BOOM.

The final shell impacted just as the decoy winked out of existence. The explosion caught the remaining cluster of monsters in a violent embrace of shrapnel and fire.

[System Notification] Eliminated: Tier 2 Rodent-Maw Creeper … [Quest Complete] Reward: Blueprint – [Fortress Upgrade (Tier 2)]

Jax exhaled, his legs feeling like jelly. He slumped against the parapet.

“It’s done. We’re safe.”

The silence that followed was broken by Silas.

“Boss! Those were Rodent-Maw Creepers! Tier 2!” Silas’s eyes were wide with greed. “They have Tier 2 Cores inside!”

Jax blinked. He had been so focused on survival he’d forgotten the loot.

“Right. Tier 2 Cores. Those are worth a fortune.”

Gareth stepped forward, eager. “We should go retrieve them immediately.”

Jax looked at them, raising an eyebrow. “Now you want to go down there? You aren’t afraid of dying anymore?”

“They’re dead! What’s to be afraid of?” Silas grinned.

“Go for it,” Jax waved a hand dismissively. “Just be careful.”

The team scrambled down the ropes, driven by the prospect of wealth. Jax watched them go. In the wasteland, greed was often a stronger motivator than survival. A single Tier 2 Core could feed a family for a year in the Sprawl.

Twenty minutes later, they returned, grimy and triumphant. They handed five fist-sized, glowing crystals to Jax.

Jax inspected them, feeling the hum of energy. He looked at the team, then plucked two of the cores from the pile and tossed them to Gareth.

“Put these in the guild treasury. Use them for future equipment purchases.”

Gareth caught the cores, his hands trembling. Two Tier 2 Cores. The value was astronomical for a small team like theirs. These were rare—most scavengers went their whole lives without seeing one.

He looked at Jax, stunned.

Jax just shrugged. “We need better gear if we’re going to survive what’s coming.”

Gareth swallowed hard. He swore a silent oath right there. He would never, ever cross Jax. Following this man wasn’t just safe; it was the ticket to a life of luxury.

“Thank you, Boss,” Gareth said, bowing deeply.

“Alright, show’s over,” Jax said, yawning. “Get some rest. We have work to do tomorrow.”

Jax didn’t even bother checking the upgrade blueprint yet. Adrenaline crash was setting in. He lay down on the hard concrete and was asleep within seconds.

The others sat around the dying campfire, staring into the embers.

Silas watched the sleeping figure of his boss.

[System: Silas’s Loyalty +1]

He looked up at the black sky. A few drops of the toxic rain hissed as they hit the fire. Yesterday, he would have given anything to be an Awakened. Today?

Why risk mutating into a monster when I can just follow the Boss?

“Forget it,” Silas muttered to himself, curling up on his bedroll. “Being an honest miner isn’t so bad. At least the pay is good.”