About an hour earlier, Claire had sat with the newcomers while they ate, trying to ease their nerves.

She asked simple questions at first... where they had come from, how long they had been traveling, and what they had seen in the Grid Region.

They weren’t huge secrets, and Claire herself would share information about the Haven Region.

Nadia, still clutching her pack, eventually opened up. "We saw more than Sentinels, Hounds, and Dragoons out there," she said quietly. "There’s another type of machine... one we haven’t seen mentioned in the chat after entering Haven Region."

Henry nodded as he continued with the explanation.

"They’re called Diggers. Mechanical units built for tunneling. They move underground, using grinder‑like heads to chew through soil, rock, even the hardest concrete..."

Claire paused after hearing this. They were right, this was indeed new information. No one had ever mentioned anything like this in the chat.

Seeing Claire looked surprised, they continued.

"We fought against them and saw them collapse shelters from below. They’re really tricky to deal with. They don’t storm the gates... they come up beneath your feet."

Enzo added grimly, "That’s true... Even a cemented ground would get pierced through by their heads. Ahh... Their heads are shaped like massive drills, and they’re spinning with serrated teeth. When they surface, the ground shakes like there’s an earthquake or something..."

"Just five days ago, we watched one tear through a bunker wall like it was paper. Once they breach, they release smaller units within their compartments, mostly Bomber Swarmers, directly inside. It’s not a normal siege. It’s infiltration."

Claire’s eyes widened. Diggers that release Bomber Swarmers...

"Is this a D-Rank? No... C-Rank Units?"

Nadia nodded. "Yes... All of them are C-Ranks at the very least... We saw them coordinating with Sentinels. They’d tunnel beneath, then emerge in sync with surface attacks. That’s how Grid shelters fell so quickly. Defenses meant nothing when the enemy came from below."

Henry’s jaw tightened. "We lost so many shelters to them. The defenders thought they were safe behind walls and artillery. But the Diggers undermined everything. Once they surfaced, chaos followed."

Enzo’s voice dropped. "And here’s the worst part. On our way here, we noticed signs. There were mall protrusions in the ground. At first, we thought they were debris or old pipes. But the patterns were too familiar. The soil was disturbed in ways we’d seen before. I’m telling you... The Diggers are already here, in the Haven Region. They’re scouting and probably waiting."

Nadia’s hands trembled slightly as she spoke. "If they’re here, then Haven‑45 isn’t safe. None of the shelters are. We might be expecting them soon."

The group around them fell silent, listening with pale faces.

The idea of machines burrowing beneath their feet was terrifying.

Walls, gates, trip wires, pit traps, artillery... They were all useless if the ground itself betrayed them.

Claire forced herself to stay calm, but she was already thinking what they could do against the Diggers.

’If what they’re saying is true, then every defense we’ve built could be compromised. Well, the Sentinels that got reprogrammed will be useful to tank them at the very least... However, the artillery we salvaged wouldn’t matter if the enemy came from below.’

She asked carefully, "Did you see how they detect targets? Do they move randomly, or do they track survivors?"

Well, the Diggers must have a method for finding their targets. She was curious if the targets were detected through heat signatures, trackers, or tagged by Sentinels first.

Henry shook his head. "We couldn’t figure it out. Sometimes they surfaced near large groups, sometimes near shelters. But they never wasted effort. Every time they appeared, it was coordinated. My guess? They’re guided by the A.I.’s network, scanning for concentrations of human activity. Not sure..."

Enzo added, "And once they lock onto a location, they don’t stop. They’ll grind through anything. Steel, stone, reinforced barriers... nothing holds them back."

Nadia’s voice was quiet but firm. "We need to prepare. If those protrusions we saw are signs of Diggers, then Haven‑45 could be next. You should warn Kai. He needs to know before it’s too late."

Claire nodded... She realized this wasn’t a simple matter. They were right, Kai needed to learn all of this.

These three had lived through it, seen shelters collapse from beneath. Their words carried the weight of survivors who had lost everything.

That was why, an hour later, after she gathered all the information she needed from them and even brought a sketch of the Digger, she rushed to Kai...

***

Claire laid the rough sketch of the Digger unit on the table.

The jagged drill‑like head, serrated teeth, and reinforced chassis were unmistakable.

"This is what they saw in the Grid Region," she explained. "They tunnel beneath shelters, breach walls, and release Bomber Swarmers inside. If they’re already scouting here, Haven‑45 could be next."

Kai studied the drawing in silence. This was indeed a huge deal.

He nodded slowly. "If they’re guided by the A.I. network, then brute defenses won’t be enough. We’ll need some countermeasures."

He tapped the sketch with his finger. "First, the disruptor field units. If these things rely on signals to coordinate, we’ll deploy more portable disruptor fields around the perimeter."

His Stealth Gift Pack has them... He believed that if they positioned those devices deeper underground and also in various areas outside their shelter, it would assist them in slowing down the enemies.

"Maybe they’ll scramble transmissions and weaken the Diggers’ ability to sync with surface units."

After all, if they were using the Sentinels to coordinate their siege, it would be a good method to counter that.

Claire agreed. "That could buy us time. But if they somehow surface inside the walls..."

Kai’s eyes narrowed. "Then we just hit them hard. More grenade launchers, fragmentation rounds. We will distribute the launchers from my Weapon Gift Pack. If a Digger breaches, we saturate the area before the swarmers spread."

He paused, considering the survivors. "We’ll also need to boost our fighters. Gene stimulant injectors from the Water Gift Pack... They will be rationed to everyone."

Claire nodded, already picturing the distribution.

Thankfully, Kai’s Infinite Gift Pack was still reliable...

Then, on the next day, as Kai distributed more Gene Stimulants, he suddenly got a message!

[ Congratulations! Monthly Rankings Concluded! ]