Andreas admired the courage of the Trolls in challenging a powerful foe, but he was not optimistic about the amount of damage these Frost Trolls could actually inflict on Sabellian.
The development of the battle went exactly as Andreas had predicted.
The wave after wave of Icebite Trolls found it difficult to wound Sabellian with their crude weapons. When their blades struck the Black Dragon's scales, they only produced a tooth-aching "creak" and a shower of small sparks, unable to penetrate Sabellian's natural armor.
The clan's witch doctors performed ritualistic spells while protected by a large group of Trolls.
Although the variety of debuff spells had some effect, a dragon's magic resistance was formidable. Despite the witch doctors' best efforts, the casualties of the Icebite clan continued to rise sharply.
Sabellian wasn't fighting the Trolls out of boredom; he intended to use their blood to intimidate Onyxia, whom he believed was "shivering" in the shadows.
The gap in combat power between a drake and an adult dragon was immense. Furthermore, Sabellian was considered a top-tier fighter within the fallen Black Dragonflight. He didn't believe Onyxia could pose any threat to him, even with a sneak attack.
Confident in his own strength, Sabellian was not flustered at all, methodically clearing out the Icebite Trolls whose morale was gradually plummeting.
Through his observation of Sabellian, Andreas roughly judged the Black Dragon's power level.
Andreas had previously been in close proximity to or fought against powerful enemies like Deathwing, Queen Azshara, Mannoroth, and even Archimonde. His perspective had already reached a very high level.
Sabellian's strength was indeed much greater than the Nefarian of a thousand years ago, but compared to Deathwing, he was nothing special.
"Princess Onyxia, Sabellian's primary target is you. You and Celeste stay here for now and wait for orders. Letie and I will go out to fight."
Although Onyxia was quite annoyed by Andreas's tone—which treated her like a child—she had a clear understanding of her own strength. She was indeed no match for Sabellian.
"I understand. If things look impossible, look for an opportunity to escape. Judging by Sabellian's attitude, he probably won't kill me outright."
"Heh~"
Andreas grinned. "I don't like someone always staring at my back with malicious eyes. It's better to settle him once and for all."
By now, Leticia had put on the Warden helmet gifted to her by Maiev. During these thousand years, Maiev had accepted Andreas's pre-slumber request and frequently took time to guide her.
"Let's go."
Patting Leticia on the shoulder, Andreas said in a deep voice, "I'll draw his attention. You find the right moment to give him a few hard hits."
"No problem."
Both of them simultaneously activated Shadow energy to enter a state of shadow stealth. Celeste, watching them leave, bit her lower lip with some reluctance.
Onyxia noticed her companion's expression and put her arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "Your actual combat experience is not yet enough to intervene in this high-end battle. Observe carefully and strive to earn his recognition as soon as possible."
"Mm!"
...
Although the Icebite Trolls could not cause real damage to Sabellian, these fearless "vermin" eventually exhausted his patience.
"Enough!"
Flapping his wings to blow away the Trolls who were "pedicuring" his feet, Sabellian ascended from the ground into the air. His chest swelled as he took a deep breath, preparing to unleash an enhanced dragon breath.
Just then, a Shadow Raven suddenly burst out of the shadows behind Sabellian.
When this black raven flew over Sabellian's head, it accelerated and transformed into a purple-and-black "thick-bottomed" bear covered in magical runes.
"Roar!"
While still in mid-air, the black bear let out a deafening roar. The surrounding Trolls, affected by the sound, all clutched their heads in pain and knelt in the snow.
The primary target of the Heartshattering Roar was not the Trolls, but Sabellian, whose ears were perfectly aligned with the bear.
The magical sound waves boring through his ear canal and into his brain caused even the magic-resistant Black Dragon to suffer a brief moment of dizziness. By the time Sabellian shook his head to clear his mind, the heavy flying bear had already slapped him squarely on the nose.
"Puh~"
The Shadowflame that had been gathering in his chest nearly exploded inside him due to this sudden strike, and his ascending body fell back to the ground in a pathetic heap.
Choking and uncomfortable, the Black Dragon endured the sharp pain in his nose and struggled to cough out the stale Shadowflame from his chest.
"Cough, cough!"
Acrid black smoke leaked from Sabellian's nostrils. The dragon's fierce gaze fixed upon the black bear that was about to land, and he angrily raised his claws, intending to tear it apart.
"Hey~ Stupid dragon, where are you looking?"
A sharp, stabbing pain suddenly came from his "backdoor," which was supposed to be protected by his drooping tail. Sabellian couldn't help but roar in agony toward the sky.
A Night Elf woman dressed as a Warden had just retrieved a bloodied moon-glaive. Sabellian's eyes immediately became bloodshot from the attack on his vital spot.
"Mortal, you seek death!"
A powerful dragon tail swept toward Leticia, but she was clearly prepared and nimbly dodged before the tail could reach her.
Andreas, having landed successfully, changed his form once more. A majestic silver wolf stood in the middle of the snowy plain, tilting its head back to let out a resonant howl toward the full moon in the sky.
"Awoooo~"
The silver wolf, which shared a deep connection with the moon, began to emit a faint lunar glow. Before Sabellian could react, the silver wolf strangely began to split.
In just a few seconds, a pack of about a hundred wolves surrounded Sabellian. Led by the original silver wolf, the pack launched a synchronized attack on the massive Black Dragon.
These duplicate wolves were not illusions. Instead, Andreas had used his status as a favored one of Elune to cleverly manifest power borrowed from Elune through the White Lady.
Andreas had learned this technique while fighting mock battles against Satyrs in the Emerald Dream. At that time, he couldn't use Shadow energy at all. To defeat the Satyrs, who had an absolute advantage in numbers, he had to find a way to expand his own strength.
The well-coordinated wolf pack took turns climbing onto Sabellian's body to bite and tear. With the enhancement of Elune's lunar power, the pack's claws and fangs could directly bypass Sabellian's scales and dragonhide to wound his actual flesh.
"Ow!"
Drowned by the wolf pack, Sabellian roared in pain. He swung his body frantically, trying to shake off these annoying energy-form wolves, but to little effect.
The physical structure of the dragon race meant they couldn't twist their bodies as flexibly as humanoid creatures, and the ridge between their wings was the greatest weakness they could hardly reach.
Andreas's original body also leaped high. Taking advantage of Sabellian focusing his attention on the wolf pack, his sharp claws slashed across the dragon's murky yellow left eye.
"Aaaah!!"
The claws, imbued with lunar power, completely pierced Sabellian's defense. Blood mixed with tears sprayed from his left eye.
Blinded in one eye, Sabellian took flight regardless of the consequences, frantically flipping his body back and forth in mid-air.
Most of the wolf pack was shaken off, but his soft, vital underbelly was exposed to his enemies as he flew.
"Letie!"
"Coming, coming!"
Leticia, who had been charging her strength for quite a while, gave a cheerful response. Her flexible body spun in a circle on the ground, and a moon-glaive that had turned almost completely pitch-black was thrown toward Sabellian's underbelly with the force of centrifugal power.
"Take this—Moon-Collapsing Glaive!"