Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Chapter 75: Eliminating the Test Subject

Sawyer led the way across the wet pavement to a reinforced three-story concrete block adjacent to the main hall.

When they reached the second-floor observation deck, Sawyer briefed the team. The reaction was immediate and hostile.

“Supervisor, you can’t be serious,” a lead researcher snapped, gesturing wildly at the containment glass. “My team risked their lives to capture that specimen intact! And you want to hand it over to this… rookie? To kill for sport?”

“He’s right, Sir,” another technician chimed in, adjusting his glasses nervously. “That’s a Tier 3 Acid-Web Arachnid. It’s vital for our materials research. If he terminates it, we lose months of data. It’s a waste of a strategic asset.”

The room filled with murmurs of dissent. They looked at Jax with a mix of skepticism and disdain—he was just an outsider, an interloper interfering with serious work.

Sawyer raised a hand, cutting through the noise. “Enough. I take full responsibility. If the higher-ups ask, send them to me. Now, stop stalling and get us the hazmat suits.”

The researchers glared, their jaws set tight, but they didn’t dare defy a direct order from a Supervisor. Reluctantly, they unlocked a locker and handed over two heavy protective suits. As Jax took his, he caught the burning glare of a lab assistant. He ignored it.

Jax pulled the heavy, rubberized suit on, sealing the clasps.

“Let’s go,” Sawyer said, his voice muffled slightly by the gear. “The lab is through here. We lost three good men bagging this thing alive. It’s a prize catch.”

Jax walked beside him, his boots squeaking on the sterile tile. “What exactly are you testing?”

“Ballistics, mostly. Armor penetration values, acid composition, nerve response times,” Sawyer explained. “We need to know where the weak points are. But don’t worry about the waste—we can always catch another one.”

“You don’t need to test it,” Jax said nonchalantly. “I know the data.”

Sawyer stopped dead in his tracks. He turned, looking at Jax through the faceplate of his suit.

“Excuse me? You know the biometric data? How? Have you studied these things in a lab?”

“No,” Jax replied, checking the seal on his gloves. “But I’ve killed one.”

Sawyer blinked. “You… killed a Tier 3 Arachnid? With what? I know what kind of heavy ordnance it takes to crack that shell. Your outpost doesn’t have that kind of firepower.”

Jax smirked behind his visor. “It’s simple physics. You lure it into a kill zone, kite it until it exposes a vulnerability, and then you hit it with everything you have.”

Sawyer stared at him, stunned into silence.

Before he could respond, the heavy steel doors at the end of the hall banged open. Hurried, angry footsteps echoed off the walls.

“Who the hell authorized this transfer!” a booming voice roared. “That Arachnid is property of the Defense Division! If that thing dies before I get my stress-test results, I’m holding every single one of you liable!”

“Uh… Captain Vance, please, this is Supervisor Sawyer’s order…” a technician stammered, trailing behind a burly man in military fatigues.

“I don’t care if it’s the Pope’s order! Does Sawyer think these things grow on trees?”

Vance stormed around the corner, practically vibrating with rage. He pulled up short when he saw Sawyer and Jax standing by the airlock.

Sawyer’s expression hardened. “Captain Vance. Do you have a problem with my command?”

Vance’s face flushed red, realizing he had just shouted at his superior. He swallowed his pride but didn’t back down completely. He braced himself and pointed at the containment unit.

“Supervisor, with all due respect… giving a Tier 3 specimen to this kid is reckless. I object. My squad bled for that thing.”

“Hmph. Since when do you have veto power over me, Vance? Are you teaching me how to do my job?”

“No… I wouldn’t dare,” Vance gritted out. “I’m just… frustrated. We haven’t even finished the preliminary scans.”

Jax stepped forward, interrupting the standoff. “You want the data? Is that it? I’ll give it to you.”

Vance turned his glare onto Jax, looking him up and down with sneering contempt. “You? Give us the data? Don’t make me laugh, kid. You wouldn’t know a carapace density reading from a hole in the ground.”

Vance took a step closer, looming over Jax. “This is a Tier 3 monster. If you saw it awake, you’d be pissing your pants, not taking notes. I can make up numbers too. Doesn’t make them useful.”

Jax didn’t flinch. He didn’t even blink.

“Get me a notepad and a pen,” Jax said calmly. “I’ll write it down now.”

He glanced at a nearby clipboard filled with partial data on Sandworms and Rodent-Maw Creepers. He already knew exactly what format they needed.

The researchers looked at each other in confusion. Is he serious?

Sawyer leaned in, whispering, “Brother Jax, you don’t have to do this. Just kill the thing. Scientific data is precise—if you get it wrong, they’ll never let you hear the end of it.”

“Trust me, Sawyer,” Jax said, a confident smile touching his lips. “My data holds up. Compare it to whatever you have. If I’m off by even a decimal, you can keep the blueprints.”

A skeptical technician handed Jax a clipboard.

Jax uncapped the pen. Mentally, he pulled up the System Bestiary.

[Target: Acid-Web Arachnid (Tier 3)]

Attack Power: 500 (Crushing/Piercing)

Defense: 500 (Chitin Plating)

Agility: 30

Combat Rating: 300

Exclusive Skills: Web Entanglement, Venom Spray, Self-Destruct.

[Comparison: Giant Spider (Tier 1)]

Attack: 200

Defense: 10

Agility: 50

Jax began to write. He didn’t just copy the numbers; he translated them into the “scientific” jargon he had seen on their other reports. He detailed the tensile strength of the webs, the chemical makeup of the venom, and the specific triggering mechanism for the biological Self-Destruct sequence.

He filled the page in two minutes. He slapped the pen down on the table.

“Done,” Jax said. “Test it. Verify it. And just to make it interesting…”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fist-sized, glowing crystal. A Tier 3 Core. He slammed it onto the table with a heavy thud.

“If I’m wrong, this Core is yours. Compensation for the wasted specimen.”

The room went dead silent. You could hear a pin drop. The researchers stared at the glowing Core, swallowing hard. That stone alone was worth a fortune.

Sawyer, despite his faith in Jax, picked up the notebook with trembling hands. He read the first few lines and his eyes widened.

Vance snatched the notebook away, his skepticism written all over his face. “Bullshit. Let me see that.”

He scanned the page. His sneer faltered. Then it vanished. Finally, his face went pale.

“How…” Vance whispered. “How do you know the carapace density values? We only just measured that this morning.”

“Simple,” Jax shrugged. “You learn a lot when you’re killing them. Isn’t that how you do research?”

Vance looked up, speechless. He turned to the lead researcher. “Cross-reference this with the partials we have. Now!”

The team scrambled, pulling up charts and digital readouts. Minutes ticked by in agonizing silence. Finally, the lead researcher looked up, looking like he’d seen a ghost.

“It matches, Captain. In fact… his data is more precise than ours. The nerve cluster locations he marked… they explain the movement patterns we couldn’t figure out.”

“Impossible,” Vance muttered, staring at Jax with a newfound fear. “This is impossible.”

Jax tapped the table. “So? Do I get to kill the spider now, or do you need me to write a thesis on its mating habits too?”

Vance swallowed his pride. He looked at the Core, then at the notebook, and finally at Jax. He nodded slowly.

“The spider is yours.”

Vance turned and slunk out of the room, his team trailing behind him like beaten dogs. They had been thoroughly outclassed.

Sawyer stared at Jax, his eyes burning with a new intensity. He wasn’t just looking at a survivor anymore; he was looking at a goldmine. If we can get him to join the Syndicate…

“Brother Jax,” Sawyer said, his voice reverent. “The specimen is in Cryo-Stasis Chamber 1. It’s frozen solid. Should be an easy kill.”

“Thanks, Sawyer.”

Jax walked to the airlock. He didn’t draw a gun. He reached into his inventory and pulled out a heavy, long-handled sledgehammer.

He stepped into the freezing chamber. The massive arachnid was there, encased in a layer of frost, immobile but terrifying.

“Alright, you ugly bastard,” Jax muttered. “Time to pay up.”

He swung the hammer in a wide arc.

CLANG!

The impact rang out like a bell struck in a cathedral. Jax’s arms vibrated from the shock. He looked at the spider’s head. Not even a scratch.

“Tier 3 Defense is no joke,” Jax grunted, spitting on his palms and regripping the handle. “500 Defense… tough nut to crack. Again.”

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

He fell into a rhythm. It wasn’t combat; it was demolition. He hammered the frozen carapace with relentless force. Sweat poured down his back despite the freezing temperature.

Ten strikes. Twenty. Thirty.

The researchers watched through the glass, mesmerized by the brute force display.

Fifty strikes.

On the fifty-seventh blow, a hairline fracture appeared on the crown of the beast’s head.

“Open up!” Jax roared, channeling his strength into one final, devastating swing.

CRACK!

The hammer smashed through the chitin. A sickening squelch followed as the heavy iron head pulped the frozen brain matter beneath.

[System Notification] [Target Eliminated: Tier 3 Acid-Web Arachnid (Restrained)] [Mission Complete: Slayer of the Web] [Reward: Blueprint System Unlocked. You can now generate shareable schematics.]

[Class Progress: Architect] [EXP Threshold Reached.] [Rank Up Available: Novice Architect -> Ordinary Architect.]

[New Class Mission: Construction] [Objective: Assist in constructing 1x Tier 1 Sentry Tower, 1x Tier 1 Howitzer Turret.] [Reward: Title – “Ordinary Architect”]

Jax leaned on his hammer, panting heavily. A grin spread across his face as he read the notifications.

Finally.