Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Chapter 72: Tar Pit Trap

For the first time in days, Jax slept like a corpse in a morgue.

No nightmares, no system alerts, no sudden ambushes. The silence was absolute. When he finally dragged his eyelids open, the light filtering into the bunker told him he had lost half the day.

“Noon already?” His voice was a gravelly rasp.

Annie sat nearby, her face brightening the moment he stirred. “Mhm! It’s past twelve. The Chief said we weren’t allowed to wake you. He said you needed to recharge properly.”

Jax rubbed the sleep from his eyes and nodded, his gaze drifting to the reinforced viewport. The relentless deluge that had hammered the wasteland for days had shifted.

“The rain… it’s letting up.”

“Yes! It turned into a light drizzle this morning,” Annie said, handing him a bowl of steaming rations.

Jax didn’t take the bowl immediately. He walked to the fortress blast door, staring out at the grey, weeping world. The ominous quiet pressed against his temples.

Yesterday was a wake-up call, he thought, his jaw tightening. Sentry Towers aren’t enough. They can pick off stragglers, but against a swarm? I need crowd control. I need mass destruction.

He turned back, took the bowl, and shoveled the food into his mouth with mechanical efficiency. Fuel for the engine.

“At this rate, the storm will break completely before nightfall,” Jax said, his voice flat.

The others exchanged uneasy glances. The cessation of the Black Rain wasn’t a blessing; it was the starting gun.

“Yeah,” Kaleb muttered, wringing his hands. “Once the rain stops, the Insect Swarm moves.”

“Boss,” Kaleb continued, his eyes darting around the cramped interior. “Are we… are we staying here? Should we move to higher ground?”

Jax chewed slowly, considering the logistics. “I want to move just as much as you do. But the Defense Towers are static structures. We can’t pack them up. If we run, we lose our firepower. We have to stand our ground.”

The mood in the room plummeted. The reality of a stationary defense against a tidal wave of chitin and acid was settling in.

“Don’t look so grim,” Jax said, forcing a confident tone. “I have a plan. We survive this together.” He turned to the hulking figure in the corner. “Barney, what’s our energy status?”

Barnaby, the gentle giant with the mind of a toddler, was the keeper of the hoard. He took his job very seriously.

“Brother Jax!” Barnaby straightened up, counting on his thick fingers. “We have… one hundred and fifteen Energy Shards left!”

Jax frowned. “A hundred fifteen…”

It sounded like a lot, but the math was brutal. A standard Sentry Tower burned two shards per reload. The Howitzer Turret—his only source of splash damage—guzzled four.

“When the swarm hits, it won’t stop for a breather,” Jax murmured. “They attack day and night. We’ll burn through that stockpile in hours.”

Kaleb stepped forward, his expression hardening with resolve. “Boss, let me take the Miner class. I can’t fight like you, but I can dig. I need to pull my weight.”

Jax looked at him. In the past, he might have hesitated, but with Silas away on a recon run to The Sprawl and Redrock Bastion, they were short-handed. And if the swarm was as bad as he feared, they would need every scrap of resource they could scrape from the earth.

“Alright.”

Jax reached out, placing a hand on Kaleb’s head. A holographic interface flickered into view.

[Target: Kaleb | Age: 22 | Loyalty: 75]

Jax blinked. Seventy-five? That was a significant jump. The kid was truly committed.

“Listen to me,” Jax said solemnly. “I’m granting you the Miner subclass. It’s hard labor, but it’s the lifeline of this base.”

Kaleb nodded, not flinching. “I’m ready.”

A warm, golden light flowed from Jax’s palm, cascading into Kaleb. The young man gasped, flexing his hands as a new surge of systemic power flooded his muscles.

“Whoa,” Kaleb whispered, staring at his palms. “I feel… heavy. But strong.”

“That strength is specific to breaking stone and harvesting nodes,” Jax explained. “Put it to good use.”

Kaleb grabbed a pickaxe from the supply rack, the tool looking like a toy in his newly empowered grip. “I’m on it, Boss!”

As Kaleb rushed off to the makeshift mine shaft, Jax opened his own System interface. He navigated to the defensive blueprints, his eyes landing on a specific item he had unlocked but ignored.

[Blueprint: Tier 1 Tar Pit Trap]

Effect: Creates a viscous zone that drastically reduces enemy movement speed.

Range: 4×4 Meters.

Durability: Single use (Requires 10 Stardust Stones to reset).

Construction Cost: 50 Stardust Stones, 50 Refined Iron.

“Fifty and fifty,” Jax sighed. “Expensive.”

He closed his eyes, visualizing the terrain outside. The fortress was nestled in a valley, but there was a natural choke point near the outer wall—a narrow funnel where the terrain forced any attackers to clump together.

“Four meters wide,” Jax muttered.

He walked outside, ignoring the drizzle, and paced the distance at the choke point. He grinned.

“Exactly four meters.”

If he placed the Tar Pit here, the bugs would have no choice but to wade through the sludge. Slowed enemies were easy targets for the Howitzer. It was a kill zone waiting to happen.

“But the cost…”

Jax gritted his teeth. He was bleeding materials.

Two days of grueling grinding followed.

Jax and Kaleb worked until their hands blistered, extracting every ounce of ore the valley could offer. When Jax finally stood over the four completed Tar Pit Traps, he felt a mixture of pride and financial ruin.

Two hundred Stardust Stones. Two hundred Refined Iron. Gone.

“System,” Jax groaned, wiping sweat from his brow. “There has to be a better way to get materials. I’m spending more time mining than commanding.”

[System Query: Resource Automation] [Answer: Tier 2 Fortresses unlock Resource Production Facilities.]

“Oh?” Jax perked up. “What kind of facilities?”

[Access Denied. Specific architectural data is locked. Please complete System Missions to advance Fortress Tier.]

“Useless brick,” Jax muttered, closing the window. “Fine. We do it the hard way.”

That evening, as the gloom of twilight settled over the wasteland, a shout from the watch post broke the silence.

“Boss! It’s Silas! Silas is back!”

Kaleb was pointing toward the valley entrance. His [Miner’s Eye] gave him exceptional vision, piercing through the mist.

Jax dropped his tools and jogged to the gate. A figure emerged from the grey curtain of rain, clad in a heavy poncho and sagging under the weight of a massive rucksack.

Silas looked like he had been dragged through hell and back.

“Help him up!” Jax barked.

The team hauled Silas inside. He collapsed onto a crate, gratefully accepting a canteen of water. He drained it in one long pull, gasping for air.

“Boss,” Silas wheezed, wiping water from his chin. “Mission… accomplished. I got the intel.”

A collective sigh of relief swept through the room. Silas fumbled in his drenched jacket, pulling out a sealed letter protected by a plastic bag. He handed it to Jax.

“But…” Silas hesitated, his expression darkening. “I picked up some bad news in The Sprawl.”

Jax froze, his thumb halfway under the wax seal of the letter. “What news?”

“The Elysium Lounge,” Silas said grimly. “It’s shutting down.”

“Shutting down?” Jax frowned. “That place is a gold mine. Why?”

“The owner,” Silas explained. “He’s terrified of the incoming Insect Swarm. He mortgaged the entire club to raise funds for buying military-grade Defense Towers. He’s liquidating assets. The staff… the girls… I don’t know what happens to them when the doors close.”

Barnaby, who had been listening quietly, suddenly lurched forward, grabbing Jax’s sleeve with frantic strength.

“Brother! Sister! Sister is still inside! Bad place closing… Sister is in danger!”

Jax caught Barnaby’s trembling hand, gripping it firmly. “I know, Barney. I know.”

“We go save her?” Barnaby’s eyes were wide, filled with innocent terror.

“We will,” Jax promised, his voice steel. “If the place is closing, it means chaos. I won’t let her get caught in the middle. We’ll get her out.”

Barnaby sniffled but nodded, trusting Jax implicitly.

Jax pocketed the unopened letter. That was a problem for later. “What about The Helios Syndicate? You stopped at Redrock Bastion too?”

“Yeah,” Silas nodded, regaining his breath. “That’s the good news. The Helios Syndicate pulled strings. Your wanted poster has been taken down.”

Jax exhaled, a tension he hadn’t realized he was holding finally releasing. “So I’m not a walking bounty anymore. Good. That makes returning to The Sprawl a lot easier.”

He looked out the window at the darkening sky. The rain had stopped.

The silence was deafening.