Here's the expanded version with Adam finding the entrance to the mine, showcasing his unstable state due to H.S.D:
Chapter: The Abyss Howls Back
A Dance with the Wolves
The Savaris mines stretched endlessly, a jagged wound carved into the earth. Its depths swallowed the last remnants of moonlight, leaving only the flickering glow of distant energy lamps to fight back the suffocating dark. The air was thick with the scent of rust and damp stone, and somewhere in the distance, the slow, rhythmic drip of water echoed through the cavernous abyss.
Adam stood still.
His Energy Saber hummed softly in his grip, its blue glow casting long shadows across his face. His arms throbbed violently, the venom from the wolves' bites working through his system, twisting his nerves into knots of fire. His regeneration fought back, cells knitting together in real time, but the poison wasn't just trying to kill him.
It was trying to break him down.
'This isn't normal venom. It's designed to keep my body from healing… like it's waging a war inside me.'
Across from him, the two wolves prowled, their teal fur shimmering like ghostly fire, their fangs slick with his blood.
The larger of the two stepped forward, muscles rolling beneath its skin like coils of steel. It growled low, a deep vibration that reverberated through the stone, shaking loose dust from the cavern ceiling.
Adam licked the blood from his lip, tasting iron, feeling his heartbeat steadying.
'They think they've won. They think I'm weak.'
His fingers tightened around the hilt of his blade.
His emotions were being turned into a whirlpool.
Anger rose up from within his heart as he screamed.
"I'LL FUCKING GUTT YOUUU!!"
The first wolf lunged.
Adam moved in an instant, shifting low beneath the snapping jaws, the heat of its breath searing against his skin. He twisted—blade flashing—slicing a clean arc through the air.
A howl of pain.
The wolf stumbled back, a deep, gaping wound carved through its side, blood hissing as it hit the cavern floor.
But the second was already there.
A blur of muscle and death—
A CRUNCH as its jaws locked onto his left forearm.
Pain.
Blinding, burning, soul-ripping pain.
Adam's vision swam. His body buckled.
"MOVE. NOW!"
His chest heaved, and his breath came in ragged, shallow gasps, but his heart raced faster than ever. The pain in his arm was blurring his senses, and his mind spun. The edges of his vision flickered like a faulty circuit, and his thoughts began to fragment.
'Focus. Focus, damn it.'
He said slapping himself to make him think rationally again.
The wolf's teeth sank deeper into his arm, the venom pulsing in his bloodstream, spreading like wildfire through his veins. Every inch of his body felt like it was being ripped apart. The Madness kicked in—a sickening sense of panic clawed at his insides. His muscles seized, tightening and releasing spasmodically as his body fought against the foreign venom coursing through him. The blurred edges of his sight felt like they were closing in, like the cavern itself was collapsing in on him.
'No time…'
His vision flickered again, and for a split second, Adam could have sworn he saw the wolf grinning—its eyes glowing with a malevolent gleam. He snapped his focus back just in time to drive his knee upward, smashing it into the beast's ribs. The impact forced the wolf back, but his arm burned with every movement. The tension in his chest surged, like a tight coil, ready to snap. His blood thickened, his thoughts scattering. His muscles screamed for release, but his body refused to obey.
He couldn't think straight.
The first wolf, still bleeding, charged again, its glowing eyes burning with rage. Adam was gripped by a surge of desperation, his mind flickering between flashes of awareness and fleeting numbness. Every second, his vision blurred, his breath shallow and quick. His body no longer responded to his commands. He was moving on instinct—not consciously. Not fully.
But even in his fractured state, he stepped forward.
His blade cut through the air like lightning, a blur of movement, faster than his body should have been able to achieve. The wolf barely had time to react before its head hit the ground first, followed by its body.
The second wolf—still circling, still watching—hesitated. Its eyes flashed with a strange recognition.
Adam's breath came in quick, shuddering gasps, the chill of the cavern numbing his senses, the adrenaline and venom battling inside him. He exhaled sharply, his voice barely a whisper.
'Just you now, huh?'
The wolf lowered its stance.
Then it lunged.
A blur of motion—
Adam's blade met flesh.
The wolf shuddered.
For a moment, it didn't even realize it was dead.
Then, its front half slid off its hind legs, hitting the ground with a wet thud.
Silence.
Only the distant drip-drip-drip of water remained.
Adam exhaled, his arms trembling, his body a furnace of pain and exhaustion. The venom still raged in his bloodstream, but there was no time to rest.
His vision wavered again, the world around him twisting, and for a moment, he could have sworn the stone walls breathed—pulsing with an eerie rhythm, like the heart of some ancient beast.
'Focus… Focus…'
He dragged himself forward, a ghost in the dark.
The Descent into Darkness
The exit to the mines was hidden within the deep shadow, an oppressive weight bearing down on Adam as he moved further into the labyrinth of caverns. The air shifted, becoming heavier with each step. Adam's thoughts scrambled together in a haze, each new footstep feeling like a deeper sink into madness.
He stumbled.
His body felt like it was made of glass—cracking and ready to shatter, though his mind was too foggy to understand whether it was the poison, exhaustion, or the terrifying encroachment of madness making him lose himself. The walls around him pressed in, each crack and crevice seeming like a glimpse into a void.
His breath was ragged, his senses assaulted by everything—the oppressive dark, the smell of the earth, and the eerie hum of what sounded like machinery. It wasn't like the rest of the mine, the kind of mundane machinery used for digging. This was something different. Something alive.
And then—
He saw it.
A faint shimmer, barely visible in the dim light, caught his attention.
The entrance.
The stone around it was etched in strange, angular patterns, the symbols like runes he had never seen before. They didn't just mark the stone—they seemed to pulse, faintly, as if alive, glowing softly in the darkness.
Adam's pulse quickened, his mind grasping at clarity for just a moment. This was no ordinary mine. There was something far more dangerous within these walls than mere beasts.
The patterns around the entrance gave off a soft, melancholic hum, vibrating in the air, as though the mine itself was calling him forward.
Despite the waves of nausea and dizziness coursing through his body, despite the sharpness of his instinct to run, Adam moved forward.
With one final, desperate push, he reached the entrance, his fingers brushing against the stone—cold, yet somehow alive.
His heart raced.
He didn't know what lay beyond this entrance. But he knew one thing:
He was no longer running from the darkness.
The darkness was running toward him.
And whatever it was—it was waiting.
As he went in he felt his body quickly repairing.
The hyper regeneration is finally in full swing.
As he walked through the mines he noticed that it was gigantic.
The walls were the carved out earth so it still had slight mineral deposits here and there.
They looked reaaaaly shiny!
While Adam was admiring the place he heard a sickening and truly frightening.
ROOOOAAARRRRR!!
Adam looked at the giant carved out square entrance on the side of the wall about 70 meters away from him.
Then a thing came out.
It was massive.Atleast 7 normal stories tall.
It resembled the teal wolves he fought in every way except size.
[Species:Greater Teal Wolf(Anhafni Aratan)
Planet of Origin:Gravis
Bio:Greater teal wolves are the top predators of their biomes. They often command lesser teal wolves but a lot of them also operate on their own. They do not have the acidic toxin that Lesser Teal Wolves have but instead have can generate electricity with their limbs using a special organ]
"A big one,eh?" Adam remarked
"Sorry,bud,I'm more of a cat person and also not in the mood for a giant green dog"
Suddenly the wolfs body pulsated with electric force and it tried to run at him full force.
"Good...I was in the mood to kill something big...brutally"
Adam smirked as he smiled,a creepy elongated smile.
*BOOM*
End of Chapter