It took over an hour to trek back to Sector 33.

On the way, Jax had debated making a detour to Outpost 15. It was a major supply hub, only a few kilometers from Butch’s territory in Sector 17. Tracking the man down would be easy enough.

But logic won out over vengeance. First, he had been away from the base too long; leaving Barney unsupervised for extended periods was a recipe for disaster. Second, and more importantly, Butch had a rifle. Jax might have a System, but he wasn’t bulletproof. Going up against a firearm with nothing but a spear and a giant man-child was suicide.

Back on the safety of the platform, Jax calmed the anxious Barney before turning his attention to survival basics: fire.

He had never used a bow drill in his old life—he’d only watched survival videos—but the concept was simple enough. He found a sturdy branch, untied a length of cord from his supplies, and lashed it to the wood to create a rudimentary bow.

Friction, pressure, patience.

Smoke curled from the dry tinder, followed by a small, flickering flame.

"Got it," Jax breathed, nursing the spark into a proper fire.

The warmth was a relief as the desert temperature began to plummet. He toasted some dry flatbread over the flames and shared it with Barney. As they ate, Jax’s mind drifted back to the terrified investor from War-Tower Aegis.

Stronger insectoids are coming.

The warning gnawed at him. What kind of horrors were migrating underground? Tier 2? Higher?

A dark premonition settled in his gut. In his memories, the terrifying Tier 3 Man-Eating Spiders were the stuff of nightmares. Unlike their lesser cousins, they were armored tanks wrapped in steel-hard webbing. Even Sentry Towers struggled to penetrate their defenses. When a swarm of them had hit Redrock Bastion years ago, it had taken the entire Hunting Team and a battery of heavy turrets to repel them, and the casualty count had been catastrophic.

Jax shook his head, physically dislodging the memory. Focus. Panic leads to mistakes.

He pulled up his System interface, hoping for a new directive.

Silence.

"Seriously? No defensive quests?" Jax muttered, annoyed. "One tower isn't enough for a real siege. Call yourself a Tower Defense System?"

The interface remained blank. It felt like a stripped-down beta version—no shop, no chat, just stats and blueprints.

"Useless," he sighed. He closed the window and leaned back against the stone wall. "Get some sleep, Barney. Tonight might be rough."

Jax didn't know how long he had been out when a massive hand shook him awake.

"Jax! Jax!"

He blinked, groggy. The sky was a bruised purple, fading rapidly into black.

"It's dark," Barney whispered, his eyes wide.

"Yeah. Dark means trouble."

As if on cue, a cold, mechanical voice chimed in his skull.

[System Alert: Aberrations detected. Proximity Warning.] [Please insert Energy Shards to activate Defense Towers.]

Jax’s pulse spiked. Aberrations? Not Sandworms?

He grabbed a torch from the fire and rushed to the edge, waving it over the abyss. The weak flame sputtered, barely illuminating the rocks below. The visibility was garbage.

"This isn't going to work," Jax cursed. "I can't target what I can't see."

He scanned the terrain. The valley entrance was flanked by two lower rock formations. They were too small for a base, but perfect for...

"Light posts," Jax realized.

He moved fast. He jammed a fresh Energy Shard into the Sentry Tower’s intake slot, ensuring it was online. Then, clutching a bundle of burning wood, he grabbed the rope.

"Barney, stay here!"

Jax rappelled down the cliff face, his boots skidding on the stone. He sprinted to the flanking formations, scrambling up the rough rock. On each peak, he hastily built a large bonfire using the driftwood they had collected earlier.

Whoosh.

The flames caught, roaring to life. The twin fires illuminated the valley floor like stadium lights, casting long, dancing shadows across the sand.

Jax scrambled back up the main rope, his chest heaving, sweat soaking his shirt.

"Barney! Do you see them?"

The giant was crouching at the edge, pointing a trembling finger into the gloom.

"Jax... over there. Shadows are floating."

"Floating?"

Jax followed the line of sight. Deep in the valley, a mass of darkness was shifting toward them. But unlike the scuttling Sandworms, these shapes bobbed unnaturally, like black balloons tethered to the ground.

As they drifted into the ring of firelight, Jax finally saw them clearly.

They looked like Sandworms—bloated, segmented bodies—but protruding from their backs were two pairs of translucent, buzzing wings. Their heavy bodies made true flight impossible, but they hovered a foot off the ground, moving with an eerie, silent grace.

"Winged Ravagers," Jax whispered. "Tier 1."

[Mission: Cooperate with Defense Tower to eliminate 100 Tier 1 Winged Ravagers.] [Reward: Tier 1 Sentry Tower x1] [Penalty for Failure: All current EXP deducted.]

"Enhanced mobility," Jax analyzed, his grip tightening on his spear. "They evolved wings to cover ground faster."

Thwack.

The Sentry Tower engaged. An arrow whistled through the air, streaking toward the lead Ravager.

It missed. The creature juked sideways in the air, the arrow clattering harmlessly against the stone.

Two seconds later. Thwack.

This time, the bolt caught the creature in its open maw.

[Target Eliminated.]

The swarm surged forward. The narrow valley mouth funneled them together, slowing their advance, which played to the tower's advantage.

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

Arrows flew in a rhythmic cadence. The firelight provided perfect contrast, and the kill feed in Jax’s vision began to scroll.

"Headshots are one-hit kills," Jax noted. "The fire is doing its job."

But then the behavior changed.

Instead of trying to smash through the barricade below, the Winged Ravagers flared their wings and surged toward the cliff face. They slammed into the rock and began to climb, their wings buzzing furiously to boost their upward momentum.

They were swarming up the vertical wall like a rising tide of black sludge.

"They're stacking!" Jax yelled. "The wings let them climb faster than the crawlers!"

If they crested the lip of the platform, the fortress would be overrun in seconds.

"I need to break their momentum," Jax growled. He looked at the roaring fire pit in the center of their camp. "Barney! Feed the fire! Make it big!"

"Okay, boss!" Barney grabbed armfuls of timber and tossed them into the flames.

Jax grabbed a heavy torch, the resinous wood dripping with fire. He ran to the edge. Below, the wall of insectoid flesh was only a few meters down, a carpet of gnashing teeth and vibrating wings.

"Eat this!"

Jax hurled the torch into the center of the mass.

Whoosh.

The dry, papery wings of the Ravagers ignited instantly. The fire spread across the swarm like gasoline, jumping from one creature to the next in a chain reaction of destruction.

A vile, acrid stench filled the air—burning chitin and ozone.

Pop. Pop. CRACK.

The sound was sickeningly loud, like popcorn exploding in a metal pot. The Ravagers screeched as their wings disintegrated, sending them plummeting back down to the valley floor in flaming heaps.

The fire raged for a long time, turning the cliff face into an inferno.

Finally, the screeching stopped.

[Mission Complete.] [Reward Obtained: Tier 1 Sentry Tower x1]

Jax grinned, wiping soot from his face. He opened his inventory, seeing the beautiful icon of a new tower.

"Excellent," he said. "One in the front is good. But two is a kill zone."

He turned to the rear of the fortress. "Let's maximize coverage. Symmetry is key."

Green light flashed as Jax deployed the second structure. Five minutes later, the twin tower stood tall, its ballista mechanism locking into place with a heavy clank.

Jax stood between his two guardians, listening to the rhythmic thwack-thwack of double artillery cleaning up the stragglers below.

"Not bad," Jax murmured, watching the carnage. "Not bad at all."