By the time Andreas received the news, the fervor of discussion within the city of Astranaar regarding the Sandfury Troll rebellion and its subsequent purge had only just begun to fade.
"So it was indeed pushed forward single-handedly by Malygos?"
Onyxia, who had just returned to Astranaar, nodded. "Although the Blue Dragon King has awakened from his madness, according to my mother, Alexstrasza, and other high-ranking members of the dragonflights, his condition is still very off."
"After returning to the Nexus, Malygos personally tightened the lax atmosphere in Coldarra."
"Kalecgos, who was previously favored by the entire flight, has been set up as a negative example. His life has been very difficult lately; Malygos often finds him an eyesore and drags him out for a severe thrashing."
Andreas ignored Onyxia's schadenfreude and nodded thoughtfully. "Even though he has emerged from a state of total insanity, the madness in Malygos's mind is still affecting him."
"Organizing a dragonflight coalition in just a few months? Was there really enough time..."
For mortals, preparing for a war requires a long period of stockpiling resources and mobilizing troops.
While the dragonflights don't require such tedious logistics, considering their lazier habits compared to mortals, even waking the dragons slumbering in various locations would likely take a considerable amount of time.
"How could it possibly be enough?"
Onyxia sighed. "Due to Malygos's urgency, the mobilization rate of the four dragonflights was less than forty percent. But Malygos, eager for revenge, simply couldn't wait any longer."
Andreas said helplessly, "That's just alerting the enemy. If they failed to gather enough strength to kill Deathwing in one fell swoop this time, who knows where he'll hide next to plot his schemes in the shadows."
However, this operation was ultimately an internal matter for the dragons, and as an outsider, Andreas was in no position to dictate their actions.
Currently, the number of black dragons stationed at the Obsidian Dragonshrine was gradually increasing. Under Sintharia's call, the black dragons who had gone into seclusion due to their dissatisfaction with Deathwing's methods were slowly converging on Dragonblight.
But these black dragons did not participate in this operation; Malygos had sternly refused their involvement.
Perhaps in Malygos's logical framework, the black dragons still couldn't earn his trust, even if they had long ago parted ways with Deathwing.
Sintharia hadn't intended to send her precious subordinates to their deaths anyway, so Malygos's exclusion actually suited her perfectly.
"Due to Malygos's aggressive attitude, the atmosphere at Wyrmrest Temple is very poor."
Onyxia curled her lips. "I've had enough fun in Dragonblight, so I took this opportunity to come back. The mortal world is much more entertaining."
Andreas had only been in control of Astranaar for a relatively short time, and many entertainment projects available in Moonshadow's Rest had not yet had the chance to spread to this capital city.
Even so, Onyxia believed that mortal life was more interesting than a dragon's.
A dragon's life was extremely dull, especially at Wyrmrest Temple, the holy land of dragons. Her kin would choose to sleep when they were bored, sometimes for hundreds or even thousands of years.
...
Onyxia's return made Celeste and Leticia very happy. The three reunited companions were often seen together wandering the streets and alleys of Astranaar outside of working hours.
After the long passage of time, the previous friction between Onyxia and Andreas had long since faded. Like Celeste and Leticia, she had taken up a position within Andreas's secretarial team.
Compared to the flighty Leticia and the often-muddled Celeste during work, Onyxia, as a dragon, was actually more efficient in handling administrative affairs.
The documents she organized were very easy to read. To keep the two girls who loved to "help" (but usually caused more trouble) in check, Andreas simply tied the three together, forming a work group so Onyxia could drive the group's productivity.
Although he was not directly involved in the dragonflights' actions, Andreas maintained the highest level of attention on the movements of the Wyrmrest Temple coalition.
The war progressed exactly as Andreas had predicted.
Although the dragon coalition destroyed Blackwing Lair, where Deathwing was hiding, and slaughtered nearly all of his black dragon subordinates, Deathwing himself escaped from the encirclement of the three Dragon Aspects.
Lacking the support and restriction of Nozdormu, and with Malygos's combat style being overly aggressive, Deathwing found a gap amidst the combined assault of the three dragons.
Confirming that Blackwing Lair was utterly lost, Deathwing fled in a fit of rage, reportedly leaving behind a vow that he would definitely return.
The failure to kill Deathwing left Malygos in a very violent mood. According to Arygos, he had been frequently losing his temper within the Nexus lately; clearly, the Blue Dragon King's madness was not fully cured.
Arygos had not contacted Andreas for no reason; the Blue Dragon Prince intended to issue a warning.
"Father might fulfill his promise soon and summon you to the Nexus for questioning. Andreas, you had better prepare yourself mentally in advance."
Arygos's warning came at the right time. If Malygos were in a normal state, Andreas wouldn't worry about speaking with him.
But Malygos's current mental state was unstable. If he didn't make some preparations... one wrong move might provoke Malygos's wrath.
Even if his strength had been partially weakened by the Demon Soul, as the Guardian of Magic, the Blue Dragon King was still not someone Andreas could defeat.
Considering his future plans, Andreas had to obtain the authority to adjust the Ley Line nodes from the Blue Dragonflight, which made him pessimistic about the prospects of this trip to the Nexus.
...
Before Malygos issued his summons, Andreas temporarily focused his mind on handling the internal affairs of the Night Elf Republic.
The aid promised to Shandaral had been delivered. The Moonwells and Nightwells built outside the city of Shandaral timely alleviated the magic addiction symptoms of the Highborne.
When Andreas met with Roddick previously, he had noticed a problem.
Despite trying their best to appear composed and indifferent, Roddick and the other leaders of Shandaral all displayed varying degrees of anxiety.
This anxiety stemmed precisely from magic addiction; the gnawing irritability was gradually eroding their spirits.
If Andreas had arrived a few hundred years later, these Highborne might have been tormented by their escalating magic addiction until they lost their sanity.
Andreas knew better than anyone what happened to elves ravaged by magic addiction.
Fandral had recently questioned Andreas's method of aiding Shandaral.
"Why not use the traditional method of the past and plant a World Tree in Moonsong Forest?"
"Because the environment is unsuitable."
Andreas tapped a large map of Northrend with his pointer. "I mentioned this to you before, didn't I? A dangerous prisoner is held beneath the Storm Peaks in northern Northrend."
"The Old God Yogg-Saron. Before the rise of the Trolls, the four Old Gods once established a vast Black Empire in ancient times."
Andreas cleared his throat and said, "I won't go into the details; you can read the relevant entries in the Great Library of Eldre'Thalas."
"In short, a World Tree's roots are very extensive and need to delve deep into the earth."
"In other regions, this wouldn't cause any impact. But Northrend is different. The World Tree's roots might uncontrollably delve into Yogg-Saron's prison."
Andreas looked at Fandral solemnly. "If that happens, Yogg-Saron could directly enter the Emerald Dream through the World Tree system, corrupting this mirror world of Azeroth."