Shaking her head and pushing the useless thoughts of what had been to the back of her mind, the dragoness continued into the ever-narrowing cave system with grim determination.

She could not fail.

No, she would not fail.

As long as her body still contained life, she would fight to ensure the best possible start for her egg.

Small pools of bubbling, red blood were left in the dragoness' wake yet, even though her ability to think was diminishing along with her blood, she knew that she was unable to heal her wounds and only continue onwards.

The injuries she had sustained were from weapons, spells and abilities that drew their power from light essence, the natural counter to her bodies dark energy.

If she had the time and a safe place to rest, she could stop and forcefully close the wounds and expel the rampaging light essence. However, in her current situation, if the dragoness did that she would exhaust her remaining energy and leave herself and her child at the mercy of her pursuers.

Something she would not allow, no matter the cost.

Most Chosen would happily kill her so that they could consume her life essence and gain strength, refine her body parts into potions, elixirs and in the case her bones and scales, into weapons and armour. Some might even have nefarious designs on her soul, tethering it to a doll or worse, an inanimate object.

However, they were the preferable outcomes, at least in the mind of the dragoness.

The alternative was that the Chosen would capture her and force a spiritual bond which, while she was weak, would be tampered with to the extent that she would be little more than a slave.

A Chosen's slave monster did not live a good life. Her being a dragon would only worsen her fate.

Even worse, was that they could do that to her unhatched child.

A murderous glint flashed across her eyes as her pace quickened and a devilish promise escaped her lips "None of them should think of leaving this cave alive. None of them~."

Eventually, the cavern narrowed to the point where the dragoness' body could no longer continue. In fact, the dragoness couldn't even turn around if she wanted to.

Instead of panicking, the dragoness revealed a cold, calculated smile, knowing that in the upcoming fight, their numbers were the most prominent threat. If she could find a place where she could fight one or two of them at a time, her chances would significantly increase.

Loud cracking noises, which sounded strangely metallic in nature, rang out as the dragoness body contorted and shrunk at an alarming rate.

Within less than five breaths, the monstrous dragon had disappeared and in its place, still on all fours, crawled a naked, pale skinned, black haired woman.

Thick, black scales covered the woman's sensitive areas, her breasts and lower regions, elegantly protecting her modesty and creating a captivating, otherworldly sensation.

The dragon in the form of a female human slowly pulled herself to her feet, unaccustomed to her bodies change.

"I didn't think that I would use this form again," chuckled the woman, though the sound held no mirth.

The humanoid form, an evolutionary conversion that had been forced on monsters, even the most powerful ones, by the gods, was considered something of an insult to her kind. Something that had been done so that the Chosen races, which were all surprisingly humanoid, could exploit and reap even more benefits.

Destroying her lady-like appearance, the dragoness spat out a lump of clotted blood as she tested her humanoid legs while under the cave's natural light.

Standing in stark contrast to her pale, jade-like skin, bloody, gruesome wounds covered her body.

However, she didn't even seem to notice. Without paying her injuries any attention, the dragoness used a delicate hand, to run along the cave's wall to steady herself as she continued her journey.

Even though it felt like her pursuers were breathing down her neck and were just behind her, the dragoness continued to stop and mark the walls with her blood, occasionally with some sort of runic formation as well as checking any nests she came across, sometimes even examining the eggs briefly before moving on.

Time continued to flow, and for the first time in her long life, the dragoness seriously took note of it. On the one hand, she needed as much time as possible to prepare for the upcoming confrontation, but on the other hand, with each second that passed, she lost more of her precious life essence and became weaker.

The compressed blood, expanding back to its original size once it had escaped the control and humanoid body of the dragoness, dyed her almost perfect body a bloody crimson colour.

However, even for a creature as powerful as a dragon, the wounds and blood loss were becoming too much, and her body started to shake and jerk as she forced it to continue moving. Even her beautiful, amber eyes, majestic and proud, began to dim.

After a few more steps, she had to stop to catch her breath.

"It seems this is as far as I go," spat the dragoness in disgust.

The proud being could no longer ignore the barrage of complaints her body was sending. "I can't believe that it has come to this... chased into a cave and forced to use every trick in the book just to take my enemies with me. Mother would never forgive me if she were still alive. Then again, we would never have fallen into this state if she was still here."

Surveying the area and forcing her body to move, the dragoness made her final preparations, marking the walls in her blood while organising the eggs in a nearby hidden nest, before collapsing against the wall of a slightly larger tunnel. The tunnel's middle bloating out to make what was similar to a small room with two entrances making it a good place for her last stand.

The dragoness only lamented that it was slightly too small to use her true form.

A tired voice escaped her ruby coloured lips, smeared with her own blood. "It's up to fate now. I have done everything I can."

"Kaltheia~." A middle-aged voice echoed down the tunnels, causing the dragon to freeze in shock that her name was known to her pursuers.

"Surrender, and I can guarantee your life and that of your child," continued the voice. "A child does not inherit the sins of its parents."

Kaltheia couldn't help but smirk, knowing that the voice had no idea that even if he got her egg, he would never benefit from it. The gestation time of a dragon's egg was unknown to the other races. Generations of them would grow old and die before it hatched.

The smirk vanished as fear appeared in her eyes as she realised that their ignorance would work against her.

If they didn't know, then from what she understood of the Chosen race's behaviour, they would target the egg believing that they would have a better time bending her offspring to their will.

She had assumed because the Chosen races were so concerned with themselves and not their future generations, that they would see not see much value in her egg and practically ignore it.

It was something they could deal with later. Nothing more than a bonus with the injured dragoness.

Rage seethed in her chest as her breathing increased but, being a creature that had lived such a long life, she didn't panic.

With the flick of her wrist, a small, fist-sized egg, white with black spots appeared in the palm of her hands. "Looks like I will have to go with the backup plan. Luckily, I had already prepared this in advance."

Moments later, a weathered face appeared around the corner of the tunnel, saw her, and disappeared. Seconds later, faint whispers drifted towards her sensitive ears.

A terrifying smile appeared on the dragoness' beautiful face. It seemed like the group she had destroyed earlier had contained the Chosen's best trackers or they would not be relying on sight to locate her. "No wonder the fools followed me without destroying my formations."

Restraining a laugh, the dragoness tried to wipe the smile off her face knowing that without those that could use their mana to sense the world essence around them, her scheme was much more likely to work.