Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Chapter 68: Tier 2 Howitzer Turret

Jax threw a glance over his shoulder. The darkness of the valley remained undisturbed. The Spiked Dune Lord hadn’t followed.

He let out a ragged breath, the tension leaving his body in a rush. He slumped forward, hands bracing against his knees as he gulped down the humid, ozone-rich air. Only when his heart rate slowed did he turn to Kaleb.

“Jesus,” Jax wheezed, shaking his head. “I thought you had some spine, Kaleb. I didn’t expect you to freeze up like a statue the second things got ugly.”

Kaleb was still pale, his face slick with rain and sweat. He leaned against the damp rock wall, trembling slightly. “I… I wasn’t that scared, Boss. It’s just… the way you described it back then messed with my head. Honestly, seeing it up close? It’s just a big worm.”

Jax couldn’t help but snort. “Right. Keep telling yourself that. I had to physically drag you out of the mud because your legs stopped working. You expect me to believe you weren’t terrified?”

Kaleb opened his mouth to argue but shut it again, looking away.

Jax didn’t push it further. In this weather—black rain pouring down, visibility near zero—stumbling upon a Tier 4 Boss less than a hundred yards away would freeze the blood of a veteran, let alone a rookie. Fear was a survival instinct.

He didn’t blame Silas and Gareth for running, either. When he had first encountered the Spiked Dune Lord, he had been observing from a safe distance, hidden in the rocks. They had practically walked into its mouth. At a hundred meters, that thing could close the gap in ten seconds flat. If they hadn’t bolted, they would be dead.

Back inside the safety of the platform’s bunker, the mood was heavy. The silence was thick enough to choke on.

Silas and Gareth sat on crates, staring at the floor, their faces burning with shame. Abandoning their leader and a teammate was a stain on their honor they didn’t know how to wipe clean.

Finally, Gareth stood up, breaking the tension.

“I need to say this,” he started, his voice rough. “I messed up. I shouldn’t have run. I shouldn’t have panicked and started the rout. Jax, if you want to kick me out or beat me senseless, I’ll take it. I accept the Penalty.”

Silas stood up immediately after, glancing at Jax and then at Kaleb. Mistaking Kaleb’s paralysis for bravery, Silas shot the younger man a covert thumbs-up before turning to Jax.

“Boss, I’m responsible too,” Silas said gruffly. “I abandoned the team. Punish me.”

Jax looked at the two men. Their remorse was genuine.

“Alright,” Jax said, nodding. “Since you’re asking for it, here’s the Penalty. By tomorrow night, before the wave hits, I want forty Tier 1 Energy Shards on my desk. If you can’t find them, don’t bother coming back.”

The two men blinked, then nodded vigorously. “Done.”

Kaleb, watching this, shifted uncomfortably. His conscience was eating him alive. He knew he hadn’t stayed behind out of loyalty—he’d stayed because his brain had short-circuited.

“Uh, Boss?” Kaleb raised his hand timidly. “I… I messed up too. Maybe you should punish me as well.”

Jax raised an eyebrow, hiding a smirk. “You want a Penalty? Fine. Tomorrow, your job is to clean up every single corpse on the battlefield.”

Kaleb froze. “All… all of them?”

“Not just that,” Jax continued mercilessly. “Refill the woodpile. Stack it to the top. If the firewood isn’t ready by sundown, you don’t eat.”

Kaleb swallowed hard. He wanted to say thank you for the leniency, but the sheer volume of labor Jax had just assigned him made the words die in his throat. That was back-breaking work.

With discipline restored, Jax retreated to the command console. The upgrade permission for the Howitzer Turret was burning a hole in his mind.

His anxiety wouldn’t settle until his defenses were maximized. He pulled up the schematic.

[Upgrade Requirement: Tier 2 Howitzer Turret]

Refined Iron: 100

Stardust Stone: 100

“A hundred of each again,” Jax muttered, rubbing his temples. “Inflation is a bitch.”

Resources were his biggest bottleneck. He had plenty of common materials, but rare ores like Stardust Stone were a nightmare to source. Usually, he’d have to hoard for days.

But Lady Luck was smiling on him tonight. Between the system rewards for the “Total Annihilation” mission and the payouts from the Bounty Protocol, his inventory was flushed with exactly what he needed.

“Finally,” Jax whispered, feeling the tension in his shoulders dissolve. “Time to bring out the big guns.”

He walked over to the silent, menacing silhouette of the Tier 1 Howitzer Turret and placed his hand on the cold metal.

[Tier 1 Howitzer Turret] Status: Durability 100% Upgrade Available Cost: 100 Refined Iron, 100 Stardust Stone Construction Time: 10 Minutes

“Upgrade,” Jax commanded.

His inventory lightened instantly as the materials were consumed. A geometric grid of blue light enveloped the turret, pulsating with energy.

Jax waited in the rain, anticipation buzzing in his veins. I wonder if the stats will double like the Sentry Towers? If the damage doubles… this thing will be a monster.

Ten minutes later, the light shattered into particles, revealing the new war machine. The barrel was thicker, longer, and reinforced with glowing runic etchings. The base was armored with heavy plating.

Jax tapped the interface.

[Tier 2 Howitzer Turret]

Attack Power: 80 (Previously 50)

Range: 220m (Previously 200m)

Fire Rate: 0.4 rounds/sec (Doubled)

Special Effect: Splash Damage (Radius Enhanced)

Jax frowned slightly. “Huh. Not exactly what I expected.”

The raw damage hadn’t doubled—it only went up by 30 points. The range increase was negligible.

“But the Fire Rate…” Jax did the math. The attack speed had doubled. That meant it was spitting out shells twice as fast. Combined with the Splash Damage, the DPS (Damage Per Second) against crowds was actually insane.

“I get it,” Jax mused. “Sentry Towers are for single-target elimination—sniping elites. The Howitzer is for crowd control. It doesn’t need to hit hard enough to one-shot a boss; it just needs to turn a swarm of small fry into paste.”

He felt a renewed sense of confidence. With the Tier 2 Howitzers providing suppression fire and the Tier 2 Sentry Towers picking off stragglers, his kill zone was becoming impenetrable.

The week flew by in a blur of rain and gunpowder.

Sunday was approaching. The convoy from Outpost 15 was scheduled to arrive soon to collect the mounting pile of insectoid corpses.

Jax took a moment to review their efficiency. The numbers were staggering. In just over two weeks, his small team had slaughtered nearly three thousand Sandworms and two thousand Rodent-Maw Creepers.

“Not bad for a start-up,” Jax murmured.

He opened his personal status panel.

[User Profile: Jax]

Age: 21

Bio-Score: 87 (Rating: Excellent)

Exclusive Skill: Decoy Clone

Architect Level: Novice Architect

EXP: 920 / 1000

Assets: Tier 2 Sentry Tower (x2), Tier 2 Howitzer Turret (x1)

Seeing his Bio-Score at 87 brought a smile to his face. He was nearing the peak of human conditioning. But his eyes narrowed when he looked at his Experience Points.

“System,” Jax queried, “I’ve killed thousands of enemies. Why is my EXP stuck at 920?”

[System Alert] Current Class: Novice Architect. Constraint: Hunting Tier 1 entities (Sandworms) no longer grants EXP. Constraint: Hunting Tier 2 entities (Rodent-Maw Creepers) grants 0.5 EXP per kill.

“You’re kidding me,” Jax groaned. “Diminishing returns?”

He looked out at the field of corpses Kaleb was currently cleaning up. The Sandworms were now worthless for leveling, and the Creepers were barely a trickle.

“At least the Cores are still worth something,” he consoled himself. “I’ve got over three thousand Cores sitting in storage.”

A sudden thought struck him, wiping the smile from his face.

“Wait. If I dump three thousand Cores onto the market at once… or if everyone else starts farming this efficiently… the value is going to crash.”

He needed to liquidate his stock. Fast. Before the market flooded and his fortune turned into pocket change.

“I need to talk to Hazel,” he muttered. “I need to sell before I lose my shirt.”