Although Winterspring was an undeniably bitter and cold land, compared to Felwood Forest, the Satyrs had an important reason for choosing it as their base of operations: Winterspring provided direct access to Mount Hyjal.
Due to the impact of the Sundering, the topography of Mount Hyjal—which originally had entrances from all four directions—had undergone significant changes. Nowadays, the only path to ascend the holy mountain was located at Frostwhisper Gorge in southern Winterspring, which directly bordered the Gorge of Sothann at the foot of Mount Hyjal.
Despite Shandris sending multiple warnings to Tyrande in Astranaar after deducing the Satyrs' whereabouts, the High Priestess atop the canopy of Nordrassil had remained unconcerned. Tyrande subconsciously believed that the Satyrs would never dare attack the sacred peaks, which served as a sanctuary for the Wild Gods to recuperate.
However, she had overlooked a critical issue.
Most of the Wild Gods had sacrificed themselves in the brutal war hundreds of years ago. Today, the only Wild God active and capable of combat was Cenarius; both Goldrinn and Tortolla had fallen into deep slumber due to their severe injuries. Coupled with the departure of many Demigod kin, the deterrent power of the holy Mount Hyjal against the Satyrs had dropped to its historical lowest point.
The leader of the Satyrs seized upon Tyrande's negligence and abandoned their original base in Felwood Forest. This currently nameless leader stationed heavy forces throughout the freezing Winterspring to tie down the Sentinel forces, while preparing to lead the Satyrs' most elite troops in a direct assault from Frostwhisper Gorge into the heart of the Night Elf residential area—Mount Hyjal.
By the time Andreas received the urgent report from Mount Hyjal, this full-scale war against the Satyrs had already raged for over two months.
The situation in Felwood Forest remained relatively stable. As long as the Satyrs in Jadefire Path and Jadefire Glen could be suppressed, the defense forces in Felwood could concentrate their strength to surround Shadow Hold and gradually capture that fortified underground bunker.
Just as Andreas had predicted, perhaps the poor performance of the Dragonflights during the War of the Ancients had given the Satyrs a certain misconception. The Satyrs stationed at the ruins of Kel'Theril expanded their territory recklessly and soon provoked their neighbors—the Blue Dragons living in Mazthoril.
Although Neltharion's betrayal had almost driven the defenseless Blue Dragonflight to extinction, it was, in the end, only "almost." A small number of Blue Dragons had luckily survived the war, and the adult Blue Dragon Azuregos was one of them.
Since Malygos had fallen completely into madness after the war ended, most of the surviving Blue Dragons were unwilling to return to Coldarra, their ancestral home in Northrend. They had ventured out to find places to settle, with no intention of returning to the Nexus in Coldarra for the time being.
Having lost everything in an instant, Malygos—who found the cruel reality impossible to accept—had entirely lost his reason. Following the war's conclusion, the Blue Aspect soon vanished, and even his last surviving consort, Saragosa, had no idea where he had gone. The heavy burden of managing the Nexus now fell upon Malygos's eldest son, Arygos, while Saragosa spent her days searching for her husband, though so far without success.
As an adult Blue Dragon, although Azuregos had rather peculiar personal preferences, his strength was undeniably up to standard. Faced with the Satyrs' provocation in his territory, Azuregos was stunned for a long time; he hadn't expected the irrationally confident Satyrs would dare to actively provoke a Dragon.
Once he snapped out of it, Azuregos felt endless rage and humiliation. While it was true that the Dragons' performance during the War of the Ancients had been poor, that was because the Dragon Soul had weakened the four Aspects, and all the flights had been affected as a result. As the saying goes, "a starved camel is still bigger than a horse." For these half-demon mongrels to dare actively provoke a Dragon, Azuregos was beyond furious.
Although the Blue Dragons in Mazthoril were mostly drakes who had grown up in the past few hundred years due to the heavy losses in the war, with Azuregos presiding over them, their combat power was still far beyond what the Satyrs could match. Led by Azuregos and followed by dozens of drakes, almost every combat-capable Blue Dragon in Mazthoril surged forth.
Heaven-shaking Arcane dragon breath descended from the sky. As the Aspects of Magic, the large-scale spells constructed by Azuregos nearly leveled the entire Kel'Theril ruins to the ground. The ambitious Satyrs were wiped out in a single wave by the enraged Blue Dragons before they could even organize a proper offensive.
While this unexpectedly resolved the supply line crisis in central Winterspring, the pincer movement of the Satyrs from the Hidden Grove in the east and Frostsaber Rock in the north remained extremely dangerous. Shandris and Lunara, stationed at Starfall Village, even took to the field personally to bolster morale, but facing the frenzied assault of over 100,000 Satyrs—a race where everyone was a soldier—the Sentinel forces, numbering fewer than 50,000, could only struggle to hold their ground.
...
Since the start of the War of the Satyrs, Andreas had been presiding over the Lord's Manor at all times. He dispatched all active scouts to Felwood and Winterspring to gather intelligence, keeping a close eye on the progress of the war at the front lines.
"The Druids have finally awakened from the Emerald Dream?" Receiving the intelligence from Fandral, Andreas rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That is good news. It must have been Malfurion's decision."
The prideful Tyrande refused to recall garrison troops from the Night Elves' various frontiers, as asking for outside help would be an admission of her own strategic failure. Shandris had warned Tyrande long ago to bolster defenses near the foot of Mount Hyjal, but the High Priestess had ignored it, leading to today's dire consequences.
In the end, it was Malfurion who made the decisive call to summon nearly 10,000 Druids from the Emerald Dream, personally leading them to the Gorge of Sothann to stand guard. They barely managed to block the 20,000 elite troops led by the Satyr leader.
However, although Druids can form an independent army thanks to their versatile combat style, their absolute numerical disadvantage made it very difficult to withstand the attacks of the elite Satyrs. Particularly that Satyr leader named Xavarian; it was said he could actually hold his own in direct combat against Malfurion.
Regarding Xavarian, Delier Star-Eye, being a fellow former Highborne, had some knowledge.
"Xavarian was also one of Queen Azshara's advisors and Xavius's most valued deputy. His personal strength is on par with Xavius," Delier said with a serious expression. "Most of Queen Azshara's advisors sank to the bottom of the sea with her, but a few followed Xavius and were transformed into Satyrs. Although their character is wretched, every individual capable of becoming an advisor possessed immense personal power as an Arcanist."
"Even if they have become Satyrs and the energy they manipulate has turned into Fel, I suspect their combat power has not diminished because of it. In fact... they might even be stronger."
Andreas tapped his finger lightly on the council table. "Meaning, there are still several former advisors of Azshara with formidable combat strength among the Satyr elites, and the outnumbered Druids likely won't be able to stop them?"
Delier nodded slowly. "Yes, at least that is what I believe. For a short time, both sides should be able to maintain a stalemate, but if this continues, it is only a matter of time before the defensive line is shattered."