Eater Blade: Grinding in Apocalypse
Chapter 68: SAVIER VERSUS THE DIGGER.

Chapter 68: SAVIER VERSUS THE DIGGER.

Savier braced his feet against the narrow walls of the tunnel, forcing himself to stay upright, fighting the downward pull. The space was tight and cramped, barely wide enough for his body. No air flowed through—it was suffocating. His breaths came hard and shallow, but he stayed alert, trying to anticipate where the Digger would strike next.

Then—

SCRRAAAATCHHH!

A claw scraped past his ear. It wasn’t meant to kill—just to slow him down.

"You! Stop harassing me!"

The Digger slithered through the tunnel system like a parasite, scratching at every angle. It wasn’t hunting.

It was sabotaging.

Savier growled, sweat and blood streaking down his face.

"You wanna play dirty?"

He flipped his shotgun, slammed in a fresh shell, and grinned.

"Let’s dig, bitch."

Then he kicked off the wall, let himself fall, turned mid-air—

BOOOOOM!

The blast lit the shaft like a flashbang, cracking resin and splattering blood across the walls. The Digger shrieked somewhere behind the stone, its voice raw and wet like meat grinding in a blender.

"Thought you’d sneak me, huh?"

Savier panted, shotgun smoking in one hand, hybrid blade buzzing in the other. "I ain’t food, dirt rat—I’m the fuckin’ pest control."

He jammed the blade back into sword mode with a click-shhk, spun it once, then plunged it into the side wall to slow his fall. Sparks and blood flared as he dragged the edge down like an anchor. His boots sliding against the slick tunnel, barely gripping the resin.

The Digger came again.

SHRAAAK!

A massive claw burst from the wall to his left. He twisted, just in time.

CLANG!

Savier parried with his sword, sparks flying as the monstrous limb skidded across the blade’s edge. The Digger didn’t fully emerge—just pieces. That’s how it fought. Guerilla-style. Always vanishing, always circling.

"Coward!" he shouted, flipping to shotgun mode mid-spin.

BOOM!

The shell exploded into the claw, blasting off chunks of mud-flesh and bone. The limb twitched, pulled back. But not gone.

It came again. From above.

CRACK—SHRAAAK!

Savier ducked. The wall above split, and the Digger dropped partially in—half its face showed for the first time. It was worse up close. Its skin was waxy and tight, like leather stretched over dying meat. The eyes were milky and half-lidded, but focused. Not blind. Not dumb.

"Ugly bitch," Savier muttered, shotgun barrel rising.

The Digger lashed with both arms this time.

CLANG—CLANG—CLANG!

He blocked the first, dodged the second, but the third slammed his shoulder, hard. He flew sideways, smashing into a curve in the tunnel.

"NGHH—!"

Pain flared through his ribs.

He rolled, forced himself to his feet, blood trailing from his lip. "Alright. No more hide and seek. I’m ending this now."

The Digger hissed low. It began to burrow into the tunnel again, preparing another ambush. The whole place shook with its motion.

But this time, Savier didn’t run.

He charged.

Sword drawn, feet slamming into the curved tunnel, he sprinted toward the last place the claws had vanished.

"You picked the wrong hole, mole rat!"

The walls trembled. The Digger burst out to meet him head-on.

A full body now. Arms like monstrous excavation tools. Its shoulders scraped the sides of the tunnel. Then it shrieked—high-pitched, sharp, and maddening.

Savier slid into a low crouch.

The creature lunged.

Too tight. No room to dodge. "Come on then!"

He triggered the transformation—

CLACK!

Sword to shotgun.

BOOM! BOOM!

He fired into its chest. Resin and flesh exploded. The Digger roared, slashing wide. One claw barely missed Savier’s neck, the wind from it enough to sting.

Savier ducked and rolled, blade switching back mid-motion. He stabbed into the joint of one shovel-arm.

"Feel that?!"

The Digger shrieked, pulling back but Savier wouldn’t let go.

He climbed the monster, using the embedded blade as leverage. Scrambling up its chest.

The Digger slammed its back against the tunnel walls, trying to shake him loose. It scraped and thrashed, cracking the resin.

But Savier held on like a parasite.

He kicked off the Digger’s arm and flipped behind it. The tunnel was too narrow for the beast to fully turn.

"This tunnel’s too tight for you."

Savier said, panting, blood running down his leg. "But not for me."

He backed up. Five feet. Ten. Then fifteen.

His blade glowed faintly red in his grip.

He raised it.

[Skill: DASH STRIKE – Blood Cost: 3%]

Activating...

"Let’s end this!"

He launched forward like a missile.

The Digger tried to block, but too slow.

Savier vanished in a blur—

Then reappeared in front of the Digger mid-dash, his blade driving straight into its skull with brutal force.

CRACK!

A shockwave exploded through the narrow shaft. The impact caved in the walls behind him. Stone and resin shattered. Dust roared like smoke.

The Digger screeched, twitching, clawing at the sword embedded between its eyes. But it was already falling.

Spasming...

Dying.

Savier ripped the blade out.

The creature collapsed.

Dead.

[Feed Count: +1,000]

[Feed Count: 15,800 / 20,000] – Savier

The tunnel groaned, slowly starting to shift and then freeze.

No more movement. No more reshaping.

The maze... had stopped.

Savier stood over the corpse, chest heaving, drenched in sweat and blood.

"Yeah..." he spat, flicking blood off his blade. "Guess that’s checkmate."

The tunnels around him were still. No more shaking. No more sabotage.

The architect was dead.

Now he had to find the others. But for now he leaned against the wall, smiled faintly, and whispered:

"Dig that, asshole... You won’t beat me at my own game. I’ve dug more holes than you ever could."

Back to the others.

Johnquis was still falling.

The wind had stopped screaming around him five seconds ago. His body no longer flinched—just dropped, weightless, his cape fluttering like torn wings in the dark.

"Longest damn fall of my life," he muttered.

His voice was swallowed by the silence of windless descent. The chain in his hand rattled, scraping against the smooth resin walls every time he tried to slow himself.

No grip. No catch. Nothing but the endless slide down.