Zombie Apocalypse System

Chapter 15: Dragon Breeding, Absolute Resource

"...avoiding its mouth that's big enough to almost cover the Jakarta sky, you idiot!" Axel yelled, grabbing his iron pipe which was vibrating violently, responding to the pure energy waves emanating from the north.

"Axel! Are you even looking at the screen?! That's not just any dragon, that's a walking disaster! Its energy scale has already surpassed our fusion sensor limits!" Abby screamed hysterically, her fingers dancing wildly over the holographic console which was now emitting thin smoke.

"Quiet down, By! I have eyes, I see that giant lizard flying over here!" Axel spat to the side, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the colossal shadow that was beginning to obscure the moonlight. "But do you know what I see?"

"What?! Our death?!"

"Nah, come on. I see a walking material warehouse! Can you imagine how many scales, how much blood, and meat we could get from one mountain-sized dragon like that? That's what I call a business opportunity, By!" Axel grinned wildly, showing absolutely no fear.

"Your business is insane! We're about to be swallowed whole, Axel! Look, it's taking a breath! It's about to blast!" Abby pointed at the main monitor screen.

On the horizon, the Abyssal Calamity dragon opened its jaws. Dark purple light gathered in its throat, creating a spatial distortion that shattered the buildings below into pieces before the fire even touched them.

"By, activate maximum shields on the north side! I'm going out for a bit!" Axel commanded, stepping towards the balcony door.

"What are you going to do?! Do you want to become human satay?!"

"I'm going to give it a welcoming greeting! Prepare the blood collection tanks in the lower warehouse, we're going to have a huge harvest today!" Axel didn't wait for an answer. He leaped from the hundreds-of-meters-high balcony, letting gravity pull him down towards the approaching dragon.

"AXEEELLL! YOU'RE REALLY INSANE!" Abby's scream echoed through the intercom.

The dragon unleashed its black fire blast. The resulting heat wave was enough to vaporize steel in an instant. Axel, hovering in the air, clenched his right hand, which was already enveloped in a dense, dark golden aura.

"Sorry, ugly lizard. I'm the boss here! Critical Concept... Thousandfold Energy Division!"

BOOOOOOOMMMMMM!

The dragon's fire blast, which should have leveled Absolute Fortress, suddenly split into two right in front of Axel. The explosion created a giant crater in the Jakarta ground, but Axel still shot forward, piercing through the black flames. He landed squarely on the dragon's nose with an impact that forced the colossal creature's head downwards.

"Crazy! You actually landed on its nose?!" Abby's voice sounded amazed through the intercom.

"Yep! It feels like landing on hot asphalt!" Axel yelled, plunging his iron pipe into the dragon's nostril. "Hey, Lizard! Shut up! I need your blood for my assistant's supplements!"

The dragon roared in pain, its voice shaking the entire city. It tried to shake its head, but Axel gripped its scales tightly.

"By! Send the mining drones now! I've already made the hole!" Axel yelled.

"You're crazy! My drones will melt if they get close to it!"

"No way! I've already 'criticized' the temperature around here! Hurry up!"

Abby hesitantly pressed the launch button. "Okay! Ten thousand mining drones launching! Don't you dare die yet, who's going to pay my salary then?!"

Thousands of tiny drones emerged from the fortress, speeding towards the dragon. Axel touched the dragon's back, channeling his energy. "Critical Concept... Thousandfold Genetic Weakening and Cell Modification!"

Suddenly, the previously ferocious dragon became limp. Its steel-hard scales began to soften in several spots, and from the wound on its nose, thick purple blood started gushing out. The mining drones immediately swarmed the wound, sucking up liter after liter of the pure energy-infused dragon blood.

"I got it! Axel, its blood... the energy is insane! One liter of this blood is equivalent to ten barrels of fusion fuel!" Abby exclaimed excitedly, her fear replaced by a technician's typical greedy appetite.

"See, what did I tell you! Don't just get the blood, By! I want its meat too! Get muscle tissue samples!" Axel hit the dragon's back again. "Quiet down, lizard! You're not a monster anymore, you're my company's asset!"

"You're really crazy, Axel. You're turning an ancient dragon into livestock?!" Abby let out a dry laugh in the control room, continuing to direct her drones.

"Why not? In this apocalypse, whoever has the most resources wins!" Axel grinned. He stood on the head of the dragon, which had now made an emergency landing on the ground because it was too weak. "By, do you see what's under its belly?"

"Hold on, let me scan... holy cow! Are those its eggs?! They're as big as houses!" Abby gaped at the sensor display.

"Perfect! We're going to have a dragon farm! Critical... Thousandfold Instant Reproduction Stimulation!" Axel stomped his foot on the dragon's back.

Instantly, the female dragon let out a long roar, and hundreds of giant dragon eggs began to emerge from beneath its body within seconds. A process that should have taken years, Axel completed in the blink of an eye.

"AXEL! YOU MADE IT LAY THAT MANY EGGS?! WHERE ARE WE GOING TO FIT THEM ALL IN OUR FORTRESS?!" Abby panicked, seeing the piles of eggs beginning to fill the streets of Jakarta.

"That's why, By! Activate the 'Abyssal Sanctuary' protocol from the blueprint! Build the underground fortress enclosure facility now!" Axel commanded, still holding the dragon's head.

"I'm trying! Critical Construction active! Destroying asphalt... building incubator facilities... done!" Abby worked with incredible speed. "Transport drones are already moving the eggs! But Axel, what about the dragon?! It's starting to rebel again!"

The dragon was indeed starting to regain its strength. Its eyes flashed with anger, preparing to fly again.

"Rebelling, huh? Okay, I'll give it a 'sedative' first," Axel took a deep breath. He punched the dragon's head with maximum critical force. "Critical Concept... Thousandfold Mental Taming!"

THWAAACK!

The punch didn't shatter the dragon's skull, but channeled an energy wave that directly struck its central nervous system. The giant dragon suddenly fell silent, its eyes, which had been red with rage, turned dull and obedient. It bowed its head before Axel, as if facing its master.

"Crazy... you actually tamed an ancient dragon with a punch?" Abby mumbled into the intercom, truly speechless.

"I didn't tame it, I just made it realize who's in charge here," Axel jumped down from the dragon's head. "By, bring it into the lower wing hangar. We'll start hourly scale harvesting operations. I want our entire fortress wall covered in these dragon scales!"

"Got it, Boss! Hangar open! Towing drones are moving!" Abby swiftly carried out the orders.

The giant dragon obediently walked towards the fortress, escorted by thousands of drones. The sight was truly insane; a futuristic fortress herding a legendary monster into its enclosure.

"Whew, one problem down," Axel walked into the fortress through a side door. He looked extremely tired, sweat drenching his muscular body.

"Axel, are you okay? Your energy is really low on my sensors," Abby met him in the lobby with a worried expression, but her hand still held a piece of dragon meat that the drones had just harvested.

"I'm fine, By. Just a little hungry," Axel took the piece of dragon meat from Abby's hand. The meat was dark red and still pulsed with incredibly dense energy.

"You're going to eat that raw?! That energy could make your stomach explode, you idiot!" Abby tried to stop him.

"Did you forget who I am?" Axel gave a faint smile. He bit into the meat, and instantly a powerful golden aura erupted from his body. "Critical... Thousandfold Energy Metabolism!"

SHUIIIIINNNNGGGG!

Axel's body suddenly shone brightly. His wounds healed instantly, and his muscles appeared even denser. System notifications filled his vision.

[NOTIFICATION: CONSUMING ABYSSAL DRAGON MEAT.]

[PHYSICAL STATUS INCREASED 1000X PERMANENTLY!]

[YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL: PEAK DOMINATOR.]

"Huh... it feels like drinking rocket fuel," Axel exhaled, releasing hot steam. "I feel like I could flatten an entire continent with just my pinky finger now."

"Crazy... your physical status increased a thousandfold?!" Abby checked her tablet, her eyes nearly popping out. "Axel, your power now... it can't be measured by numbers anymore! You've truly become a god in this world!"

"Not a god yet, By. I'm just an Architect building a house," Axel patted Abby's shoulder. "What's the status of the sanctuary? Has the dragon blood entered the reactor?"

"Yes! The fortress's energy output is up five hundred percent! Our shields can now withstand a star explosion if needed!" Abby smiled proudly. "And the eggs... they'll hatch in twelve hours thanks to the time acceleration you gave them. We're going to have a dragon army, Axel!"

"Good. Now that's what I call an investment," Axel sat in a lobby chair, leaning his head back. "Now we have energy, we have materials, and we have an army. It's time we tell the Global Lords that their lease on this planet is up."

"But Axel, there was one small problem in the sanctuary earlier..." Abby suddenly looked hesitant.

"What problem? The dragon didn't eat enough?"

"No... earlier, when my drones were harvesting blood from the dragon's heart, they found something embedded in its flesh," Abby showed him a small, disc-shaped metal object stained with purple blood. "This is a signal emitter belonging to 'Genesis'. It seems this wasn't a wild dragon, Axel."

Axel took the disc, his eyes flashing coldly. "You mean, this dragon was intentionally sent as a courier?"

"Not just a courier. This emitter has a remote explosive function. Genesis could have blown up this dragon once it was inside our fortress!" Abby's voice trembled.

"Wow, they're pretty cunning, aren't they?" Axel crushed the disc until it was destroyed. "But they miscalculated. They didn't know that I've now completely modified this dragon down to a cellular level."

Suddenly, heavy footsteps were heard from the direction of the underground elevator. The elevator doors opened, and out came the general Axel had previously captured. He looked very pale, his body trembling violently.

"Mister Axel... there's a message... from the crater of Mount Salak..." the general stammered.

"What's the message? Genesis wants to apologize?" Axel asked without turning his head.

"No... they said... 'Thank you for housing our dragon. Now, please enjoy the second gift we've hidden inside each of those dragon eggs'..." the general collapsed, fainting from fear.

Axel and Abby simultaneously turned to the monitor screen displaying the dragon egg incubator room. There, hundreds of giant dragon eggs that had been black suddenly turned glowing red and began to tick like time bombs.

"AXEL! THE EGGS! THEY'RE NOT DRAGON EGGS, THEY'RE BIOLOGICAL BOMBS!" Abby yelled in panic.

"Damn it! They really intend to flatten this fortress from the inside!" Axel stood up, his golden aura erupting again. "By! Lock down the entire underground area! Don't let any energy leak into the main reactor!"

"I can't! The doors are jammed because of the energy pressure from those eggs!" Abby yelled, continuously pressing the emergency button.

Axel ran towards the elevator. "I'm going down! You stay here, guard the fusion system!"

"What are you going to do?! Those are hundreds of eggs, Axel! If they explode all at once, this fortress will fly into space!"

"I'm going to use the 'Mass Compression' technique! I'm going to compress the explosion until it's as small as a peanut!" Axel jumped into the open elevator shaft.

He slid down into the underground room. Upon arriving, he saw a horrifying sight. Hundreds of dragon eggs had already begun to crack, emitting extremely toxic and hot red gas.

"Okay, Genesis... you want to play games with an Architect, huh? I'll show you how to turn bombs into batteries!" Axel spread his arms, touching the incubator walls.

"Critical Concept... Thousandfold Explosion Compression and Energy Conversion!"

DUMMMMMMMMM!

The entire underground area vibrated violently. Abby in the control room could only watch as the temperature indicator suddenly surged past the red zone, then abruptly dropped drastically to zero.

"Axel! What happened?! Are you still alive?!" Abby yelled through the intercom.

"Still alive, By... but you have to see this..." Axel's voice sounded breathless.

Abby immediately opened the monitor screen for the underground room. Her eyes widened in disbelief. The hundreds of dragon eggs hadn't exploded; instead, they had shrunk and solidified into beautiful small red crystal spheres. And in the middle of the room, Axel stood holding the largest crystal sphere.

"This... what is this, Axel?" Abby asked softly.

"This is called an 'Abyssal Blood Crystal'. One of these has more stable energy than the dragon blood earlier," Axel lifted the crystal. "Genesis just gave us an eternal battery supply for free."

"You're truly insane... you turned their bomb attack into an absolute resource..." Abby chuckled, her relief immeasurable.

"That's how I work, By. Enemies send death, I turn it into profit," Axel walked out of the incubator room. "But there's one egg that's different. Come here and look."

Axel pointed towards an egg in the corner of the room that hadn't turned into a crystal. Instead, that egg hatched, and from within emerged a small, pure golden baby dragon that immediately ran towards Axel and licked his shoe.

"Huh?! A golden dragon?! That's the rarest type of dragon in the entire system!" Abby exclaimed in awe.

"Looks like it got all my critical effects when I compressed the explosion earlier," Axel picked up the baby dragon. "Cute, too. What should we name it?"

"You're really going to keep it?!"

"Of course. It'll be our fortress mascot. And when it's grown, it'll be my personal ride to attack Genesis headquarters," Axel smiled wildly.

Suddenly, sirens from outside the fortress were heard again. This time it wasn't the sound of an aircraft carrier, but the sound of thousands of car horns and ground combat vehicles.

"Axel! Look at the front gate! There are thousands of people gathered there!" Abby pointed at the external CCTV screen.

Axel looked at the screen. Thousands of refugees and survivors, led by the remnants of the surrendered Global Lords, were kneeling before the gates of Absolute Fortress. They all raised their hands, begging for protection.

"Mister Axel! Please help us! The world out there is completely destroyed! Only your fortress can save us!" they shouted in unison.

Axel stared at the scene coldly. "By, you hear that, right?"

"Yes, Axel. They're asking for asylum. What's our plan? Are you going to let them in?" Abby asked hesitantly.

Axel paused for a moment, looking at the golden baby dragon in his hand. "Let them in. But with one condition."

"What condition?"

"They all have to work in the underground dragon farm. There's no free lunch here. And tell them, starting today... Jakarta is no longer Jakarta. This is..."

Axel hadn't finished his sentence when suddenly a giant system message appeared in the sky, covering the entire view of human eyes on Earth.

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT: LORD TOURNAMENT STAGE TWO BEGINS.]

[PRIMARY TARGET: AXEL'S ABSOLUTE FORTRESS.]

[REWARD: WHOEVER SUCCESSFULLY BREACHES THE FORTRESS GATES WILL BE GRANTED POWER...]

"Well, it's getting even more crowded now, By," Axel laughed loudly as he walked towards the main gate.

"Axel! They're all going to attack us from every direction! We're not ready for a massive ground assault!" Abby panicked.

"Who says we're not ready? Did you forget I have thousands of those blood crystals?" Axel squeezed a red crystal in his hand. "Activate 'Hell's Gate' protocol. We'll give them a welcome they'll never forget for the rest of their lives."

"Got it, Boss! Hell's Gate protocol active! All plasma cannons are fully charged with dragon blood energy!" Abby yelled with fiery enthusiasm.

The giant gates of Absolute Fortress slowly began to open, emitting hot steam and intimidating red light. Axel stood in the middle of the gate, holding his iron pipe, which had now transformed into a formidable dragon spear.

"Hey, all of you who want to attack my fortress!" Axel yelled, challenging the thousands of approaching troops. "I'm giving you one last warning. If you dare step over that red line out there, I won't hesitate to..."

Just as Axel was about to flatten the enemy's front lines, the ground beneath his feet suddenly gave way and...