9

Galloping up the wall as I forced her to chase after me. Thank god. At least I'm faster. That gives me at least a shot of killing her. I leapt out of the hole first, and rushed toward the group.

There was a tunnel that led into the rock face, but the walls of that tunnel were squirming. I inhaled as I ran. Leaping over the group, and pouring fire down the tunnel. It killed everything my fire reached, but there were still more creatures rushing up the tunnel. It was beginning to look like we were cornered.

The queen's ass end alone was the size of a house. Her front the size of a compact car. Her massive legs slammed into the ground punching holes into the dirt. Suddenly she leapt forward. I'd never expected something of her massive heft to be able to jump.

I was behind the group, and didn't have time to move myself between them, and her without risking their safety. Instead I chose to flare my wings all the way around the group as fast as I could. Her massive front two legs punched holes in each of my wings as she landed. Sliding my entire body back with the force of the hit. I could feel my bones crack under the pressure, but somehow I held.

Maybe thinking I could beat her was a little too optimistic. Her legs stopped just a few inches from hitting the people I'd just protected. She was heavy. I could feel my membranes slowly tearing under her weight.

"Just one push," I growled to myself as I started forcing her back with pure brute force.

Grabbing her legs in my hands so that my wings wouldn't have to bear the full burden of her weight. Biting into the right leg as I began pumping venom into the offered limb. I just poured it all into her. All of all three kinds. She screamed, and brought up her other two front legs as her mana began to pour into me.

Spitting her own venom onto my exposed wings, and left shoulder before bringing those massive legs down. Aiming for my body this time. I couldn't let this attack land. She'd put more force into it since I was actually managing to wound her. I instinctively switched to a smaller form.

Shredding my own wings in the process, but it worked. Her attack missed. My hybrid from was the same basic size, and shape as a human while retaining the more beneficial traits of a dragon. The armored scales, jaws, wings, and tail. It looked better with the horns so I kept those as well.

Giving me an appearance that resembled the lizardmen of old fantasy stories only with wings, and my crown of horns. I channeled my mana through my limbs. Boosting my strength the the absolute limit of what my muscles could take. Jumping off the ground the instant I touched it at a speed past my normal limit, and slamming into the under side of her face. Tilting her up in the air enough that six of her eight legs came off the ground.

Those six legs scrambled around empty air as she tried to retain enough grip with the last two to bring her front back down. I slammed my foot down. Jolting the earth with my own elemental mana. Freeing her footholds from the grip the ground had on them. The ground her last two feet was holding came up with her feet as the massive nightmare fuel queen spider landed on her back, and screamed again.

Sending the smaller spiders fleeing while drawing the bigger ones in.

"Down the tunnel!" I shouted much louder then necessary as I rushed toward the group again.

Glancing back only once as I grabbed hold of the three humans that could not run as fast as me. Just in time to see the queen slice off the leg I'd bitten into. Before the effect of the basilisk venom could reach her body. I tucked two of them under my arms. Wrapping my tail around the third, and slamming him into the small gap between my wings a little more forcefully then necessary.

Not taking the time to check who was who as my bonded each borrowed my speed to keep up with me. I knew their strength wouldn't last forever. My own wouldn't last much longer with the amount of damage I was taking as soon as we gained on the little spiders that were fleeing ahead of us I turned sharply. Creating my own tunnel through the rock forcefully. Not bothering to stabilize it as it collapsed behind us.

Skidding to a stop when Savannah, and Jax ran out of energy. Dropping the three humans I'd been carrying as my limbs trembled. Sure they weren't that heavy, but I'd been past my limit when I threw the queen off of us. That fact didn't go away because I stopped moving. Savannah lit up the cavern as Jax worked on stabilizing it so it wouldn't collapse on us.

Pain was the only thing I could feel right now as the familiar feeling of burning pushed it's way through my scales. Luckily I'd thrown Calen under my right arm so he didn't get any acid on him, but the other two rushed to strip off their burning clothes before it got to their skin. The guy that had been slammed into my wings had small acid burns on his hands, but seemed otherwise okay. They weren't going to die for now so I could focus on my own injuries.

I walked over to the wall tensely before planting my palms firmly against the wall. My claws dug in as I growled angrily. The acid that had burned into my shoulder, and wings made me want to heal it all at once but I knew I couldn't do that right now. I'd run out of mana before I managed to completely heal myself. That was a major problem since healing wasn't the only thing I needed mana for right now.