While the citizens of Astranaar were cheering and celebrating the victory, and the new system of promoting commoners to honorary nobility was being discussed with fervent excitement...
Aside from officials in various departments, few noticed that the current leader of the Republic's government had suddenly vanished. The political and military powers were temporarily delegated to Fandral Staghelm of the Cenarion Circle and Sentinel General Shandris Feathermoon, respectively.
Andreas had taken Onyxia, Celeas, Leticia, and his personal guard to teleport to Stormwind Harbor, located in the Azshara region on the eastern coast of Kalimdor.
After a brief inspection of Stormwind Harbor's development, the group boarded a ship and set sail, riding the wind and waves northward toward the continent of Northrend.
Compared to crossing the Great Sea to reach the Eastern Kingdoms, the route to Northrend could be considered relatively calm.
However, as they neared the far north, the ice floes drifting on the sea surface caused some frantic scrambling among the sailors visiting Northrend for the first time.
"Don't panic."
The captain of this ship was named Edward. He was quite different from the imposing image of a warship captain Andreas remembered; he did things slowly and methodically, possessing the elegant air of a noble.
He spoke to the crew in a steady tone, "The Moonlight Maiden we are piloting is the latest model of icebreaker. A few ice floes cannot block our path. Everyone, return to your stations."
The captain's calm voice soothed the panicked sailors, and subsequent events proved him right.
The icebreaking ram at the bow of the Moonlight Maiden was forged from sturdy Thorium and had been reinforced with hardening enchantments by Highborne sorcerers.
When the bow struck the drifting ice floes, it crushed through them almost without resistance, easily shattering any ice it encountered into countless fragments.
Northrend in this era was still a wild and primeval landscape. Andreas did not intend to take any detours and followed the nautical chart provided by Alexstrasza, landing directly on the southern beaches of Dragonblight.
To Andreas's surprise, there were intelligent beings living near the beach where the Moonlight Maiden landed—and these residents were their own kin.
Out of caution, Andreas did not immediately make contact with these Night Elves of unknown origin. He cross-referenced the area with the map in his memory.
"Moonrest Gardens?"
Scratching his head, Andreas thought thoughtfully, Does that mean we landed on the western beaches of Dragonblight?
By the time players reached Northrend in the original timeline, the native Night Elves here had long since died out, and Shandaral City had left behind only a field of crystallized ruins.
It was said that the Highborne of Shandaral, limited by insufficient energy sources, had foolishly turned their sights toward the Blue Dragonflight.
Following a series of incidents, they eventually accidentally crystallized the entire city of Shandaral, forming the region known in later generations as the Crystalsong Forest.
At that time, Moonrest Gardens had long been abandoned, leaving only a large number of Night Elf ghosts wandering the area.
But for now, none of that had happened yet.
Leticia led the stealth specialists among the personal guards to quietly scout the vicinity of Moonrest Gardens, bringing back valuable first-hand intelligence for Andreas.
Although the Highborne here lived a difficult life due to the freezing climate, they relied on a nearby major ley line nexus to absorb enough ambient energy to prevent their mana addiction from flaring up.
However, aside from the climate and food supply, the Highborne of Moonrest Gardens faced one major problem.
The Nerubians.
The exit to the underground kingdom of these ancient insectoids was located near Moonrest Gardens. During her scouting, Leticia had spotted many of them wandering around.
They maintained a state of mutual wariness with the Highborne of Moonrest Gardens; clearly, the relationship between the two sides was far from friendly.
After considering for a moment, Andreas finally decided to attempt contact with the Highborne of Moonrest Gardens.
These elves likely migrated out of Shandaral City; perhaps he could learn about the current state of Shandaral from them.
...
Just as Andreas was leading his guards to openly enter Moonrest Gardens, the Nerubians—commonly known as spider-fiends—happened to launch an attack on the settlement.
The insectoids were loyal followers of the Old Gods, remnants of the Black Empire established by the Old Gods in ancient times.
The insectoids of Azeroth originally belonged to the Aqir Empire. After the war with the great Troll empires many years ago, the Aqir Empire collapsed, and the remaining insectoids scattered across the world, gradually evolving into three major ethnic groups.
The most famous were naturally the Qiraji entrenched in the Silithus desert, who obeyed the Old God C'Thun.
Next were the Nerubians under Yogg-Saron, and finally, the Mantid followers of Y'Shaarj settled in Pandaria.
Although Andreas did not want to enter Yogg-Saron's sight too early, it was unclear if these Nerubians still maintained a connection with the Old God, and he could not stand by and watch his kin be slaughtered by the insectoids.
Because they were backed by a ley line nexus, the Highborne of Moonrest Gardens possessed sufficient magical power to maintain a defensive barrier covering about 270 degrees facing the direction of Azjol-Nerub.
Flying Nerubians would be affected by an anti-air effect as soon as they entered the barrier, falling from the sky. This greatly alleviated the anti-air pressure on the defenders of Moonrest Gardens, who lacked an air force.
However, this was, after all, right at the doorstep of Azjol-Nerub. Backed by an entire kingdom, the spider-fiends held an absolute advantage in numbers.
From the back-and-forth offensive and defensive tactics of both sides, it was clear that this was not their first battle. Both were well-acquainted with the enemy's various secret methods.
Andreas personally saw hundreds of spider-fiends burrow underground, attempting to bypass the Moonrest Gardens' front line from below using earth-tunneling.
But the Highborne were prepared for this; they cast spells to reinforce the density of the ground beneath them, suffocating the group of infiltrators directly underground.
The Highborne's joint spells also failed to achieve a decisive effect. Whenever they began casting, the spider-fiends would burrow collectively to hide. Under the influence of their innate spells, small-scale earthquakes prevented the elves from concentrating enough to complete their incantations.
The location where Andreas and his group landed was the area named the Brilliant Strand in later generations, situated directly behind Moonrest Gardens. The Highborne never expected anyone to circle around from that direction.
The 270-degree defensive barrier, constructed to save mana, happened to leave the rear unprotected. However, just in case, the Highborne had left a small number of troops to stand guard.
"Who goes there!"
Sensing hundreds of upright creatures dressed in fur coats and wrapped up like bears advancing toward the blind spot of their barrier from a distance, the Highborne guarding the rear broke out in a cold sweat.
Although their numbers were small, the battle on the front lines had reached a fever pitch. It was difficult for the Highborne to spare any troops to handle the rear. If this group of humanoids were enemies...
Watching as the leader raised a hand to signal, all the mysterious visitors drew their weapons. The rear guard of barely a hundred soldiers could only brace themselves and assume a combat stance.
The mysterious person at the head of the group gave the command as he swung his hand down: "Counter-attack! Support our kin! Drive back the insectoid raid!"
"Yes, sir!"