[Mission Briefing: Operation Fortress]
The world is in ruins.
Civilization has fallen.
The undead roam unchecked, turning once-thriving cities into lifeless graveyards.
The streets are no longer safe.
The walls of the old world have crumbled, and monsters—both dead and living—roam freely.
But survival is not enough.
A leader does not hide.
A leader builds.
And time is running out.
The more undead that gather, the greater the threats that will appear.
Your Mission:Secure a base of operations.
This condominium complex will become more than just a shelter.
It will become a fortress.
A stronghold.
A sanctuary.
A place where survivors can regroup, plan, and strike back against the horde.
Objectives:
✔️ Eliminate all hostiles.
✔️ Sweep every floor, every room, every corridor.
✔️ Fortify defences.
✔️ Establish a command center.
✔️ Claim the high ground.
Failure is not an option.
You either claim this base, or you become another corpse in the ruins of the old world.
~
Carter turned away from the mission briefing that was being reviewed before his eyes, his sharp gaze locking onto his assembled warriors now standing idle in the courtyard below.
His suite, his home, once a lavish sanctuary of his meager collected wealth, now felt like a war camp—its halls, and suites bursting with activity as nearly two hundred primal warriors, had been summoned within the day and had gone on the offensive taking the fight to the undead while a token force remained behind to protect Carter, their muscles corded with raw strength, their stone clubs, spears, and axes resting within arm's reach.
The space was tight.
The stakes were tighter.
Carter crossed his arms and exhaled.
The battle below had started dozens of minutes ago, and as a result the courtyard had become a battleground, as the influx of cavemen took on the undead they fought tooth and nail to push the undead forces back until they had been pushed from the complex grounds and allowing the support summons to close the gates before beginning reinforcement to prevent it from being breached once more.
In the end this was a self sacrificing move since those brave men and women who left the grounds had to remain trapped on the other side of the gate fighting their hardest to buy the support summons time enough to secure the gates, all the while the ranged fighters were slinging stone and arrows trying to keep them off their warrior comrades.
"This mission isn't just about survival. It's about domination."
The warriors around him grunted in agreement, their fingers tightening around their weapons of war, as their unease of having to sit back and watch their brothers and sisters dieing on the battlefield against the raging undead.
"We secure this complex. We turn it into our fortress. Every building, every room, every corridor—Until it all belongs to us. If something moves and it isn't one of us, it dies. If it's human, we make sure it's not infected, and we decide what to do with them later."
He was mostly saying this to himself but the warriors around him still perked up hearing their chiefs grand plans.
The warriors nodded sharply, the brutal efficiency of his orders resonating with their battle-hardened minds.
Carter turned his gaze from the battle raging below and instead moved his focus back to his computer.
He'd looped the security camera footage but there was a second method of accessing this complex aside from the main entrance on the surface.
The complex had a vast underground parking lot, with two garage door entrance/exits.
His fingers danced across the keyboard, and outside, the sound of heavy metal tumblers groaning to life echoed across the complex, as the long unused garage locks were engaged preventing the doors from being raised.
Carter turned back to his warriors, all of whom were still watching the battle outside.
"No more dead. Now, onto buildings."
~
The cavemen army was surprisingly efficient against the undead horde, though this wouldn't be the case if Carter had lived in a massive city like New York, or Tokyo the sheer numbers being able to fold his formidable prehistoric army without trying.
But in a city like this, of only 100,000 people the density of the undead hordes was not great enough to cause worry just yet, since the last vestiges of human resistance had not yet flickered out in the coming darkness, and the undead remained largely divided chasing after those whom still lived.
Having seen the successful operation at sealing the gates and the subsequent cleanup of the grounds, Carter turned to his men.
Before he made a conscious decision to replenish the ranks, after all they had lost quite a few in the offensive.
But when he opened the system he was greeted with a surprise.
[You have levelled up to Level 5]
[Scientific Military System was reached Rank 2]
Thanks to the efforts of his warriors fighting below he had earned enough experience to attain level 5, and better still his system had reached the next Rank.
At first it appeared that nothing had changed as the system still showed the same options to him, but upon clicking into the Unit summons tab, he was greeted with another surprise.
[Unit Summons]
-Predynastic-
-Paleolithic-
Now he had a new sub-tab option, before he could only summon cavemen, but now...
Clicking into the new sub tab he saw the same listed options as before for summon types but something about this seemed different and not just because their costs were considerably greater.
-: Contact Soldier | Ranged Soldier | Elite Soldier | Scout Soldier | Support Soldier
Left with little more information he selected to re-summon the lost warriors, but after selecting to summon twenty new contact soldiers, what rose from the summoning circles on the floor were not the hulking figures he'd grown used to seeing, instead they looked like regular humans, and better yet, relatively properly clothed ones, well as far as simple fabrics like linen, but not as pants or shirts but closer to robes or skirts.
Next he moved on to the weapons, and similarly a second section had appeared and within, he could purchase better equipment for his forces.
Specifically metal ones, bronze shortswords, bronze-tipped spears, javelin's, both half and fullmoon battle-axes, even something called a mace-ax combining blunt and bladed weapons together.
Even a Khopesh which upon being summoned was something like a staff blade, similar to a scythe except that the blade was curved outward and not inward.
As for ranged beyond javelins, composite bows and bronze tipped arrows had appeared.
Additionally and for the first time armor appeared, mainly shields, and scale armor.
While the transports had increased as well opening up Chariots and horses for purchase, while also offering up a small selection of watercraft.
Having seen what the system rank increase had meant he quickly moved to equip his new summons, and setup the templates to allow for faster summoning of these new forces in the future.
A deep rumble of agreement swept through the ranks, as his cavemen guard looked on their new breatheren with approval.
"We go, they stay to protect chief!" one of them grunted.
and without waiting for his approval every last caveman moved out of his room, and the new Ancient force took up the position as his guardians instead.
Carter could only grit his teeth, those were loyal men and women, and now they were basically openly putting themselves on the front line as sacrifices simply because an upgrade had come along, but the system did not allow him to enhance his cavement, there was not upgrade for them, and the weapons of the new troops seemed to be incompatible with the previous version.
So as much as it hurt him to abandon those masses of muscle he'd grown attached to he continued on summing new forces, and as they were summoned they moved on to replace the positions around the building currently held by the Cavemen forces, freeing them up to join the assault of the three buildings and what's left of the infected areas of the grounds.
With a sigh, mentally exhausted he took his seat at the laptop once more, pulling up the camera feeds, and watching the ongoing operation being undertaken by his pre-historic forces.
The greatest of his new forces, were the ranged troops.
Carter had summoned a new batch of warriors—this time, only ten men, but their weapons were different.
They wielded long-range throwing spears, perfected for silent, deadly kills, and with more mass than an arrow it meant they could have greater stopping power.
These were the snipers of the old world.
He ordered them to the rooftop, where they would watch the battlefield from above.
Their task?
Pick off any stragglers before they could become a problem.
As the new warriors filed out, Carter turned his gaze to a familiar figure—his most trusted warrior.
The first caveman he had summoned.
His strongest hunter.
The man who had proven himself time and time again.
"1."
The massive warrior was engaged in a battle against the undead in Building A.
"I promised you a name before, but now it seems I might not get the chance to honor that promise..."
The system was making him do this, if it was up to him he'd just upgrade the cavemen into these new ancient forces and be done with it.
Solemly in his heart he continued to speak out.
"You're now called Connor. And you're my deputy commander."
Carter smirked.
The man would probably never live to learn of this fact but it mattered to him.
The hunters continued to move out.
Bolstered by the reinforcements coming from Building C, their infiltration into the others quickened.
They swept through the entire complex like a storm of death, their stone weapons striking with brutal efficiency, crushing skulls, piercing hearts, and butchering the undead with primal precision.
Every Walker that fell sent Carter's resources climbing ever higher.
📢 [Mission Progress: 67% Complete]
📢 [Current Balance: 4,632,800 Dollars]
📢 🔥 Level Up! You are now Level 6!
Carter grinned.
This system was a war machine.
Every kill meant more strength.
Every victory meant greater numbers.
This wasn't just survival.
This was conquest.
Two Hours Later…
📢 [Building A: Secure.]
📢 [Building B: Secure.]
📢 [Building D: Secure.]
📢 [Mission Complete: Operation Fortress - Stage 1.]
📢 [New Mission: Operation Fortress - Stage 2.]
Carter leaned back in his office chair, flipping through the reports that the system presented to him.
Though his mood had soured greatly since before, to the point he had to invest some of the skill points he earned from levelling up to increase his mental resistance to deal with the pain.
He had been forced to watch, watch as 1 was infected and mercifully put down by his own brothers.
Of the 180 cavemen he's summoned as warriors, less than a hundred yet remained, and even with that they seemed to be preparing themselves to climb the walls and continue their offensive against the undead.
After securing the building's he continued to summon newer forces, and thanks to their greater intelligence he was able to get a proper report on the state of each building
"Building A has 52 survivors. Building B has 71. Building C—our building—has 24. And Building D has only 7."
Carter exhaled, running a hand through his hair.
"No survivor casualties at least... That's a good start all things considered."
Then, his eyes hardened.
The base was secure.
But the real battle was just beginning, it was well into the night now, but come the morning, the real challenge would begin.