Andreas spread his hands with a half-smile. "Are you sure you want to fight me? Have you considered the consequences?"
"I don't think Neltharion, in his current state of mind, would have the patience to listen to your explanations. And... are you so certain you can defeat me? Young Prince Nefarian."
"Arrogant mortal!"
Incensed by Andreas's mockery of his strength, the hot-headed Nefarian immediately flew into a rage. Flapping his wings to take flight within the spacious cavern, Nefarian no longer suppressed his voice, shouting thunderously, "I am the heir to the Black Dragonflight, son of Neltharion! The majesty of our dragonflight shall not be questioned by a mere mortal!"
"Die!"
"Roar!"
The Shadowflame breath, which he had been secretly gathering since they met, erupted toward Andreas below. The entire cavern was illuminated in a crimson glow by the light of the dragon's flames.
The massive commotion naturally alerted the guards at the entrance. The two Dragonspawn captains rushed into the cave, their bulky bodies swaying as they charged.
"Who dares to trespass— Prince Nefarian?"
Floating in mid-air, Nefarian looked down contemptuously at the area covered in flames. He spoke with righteous indignation to the two bewildered captains, "You've come at the right time. Someone sneaked in through the back door to steal father's treasures. I have personally—"
"Heh~ Nefarian, isn't it a bit too early to say that?"
A gust of wind infused with shadow energy surged from the center of the Shadowflame. Andreas, having just ended his Dispersion state, reappeared before Nefarian completely unharmed. The mocking smile on his face caused Nefarian's blood pressure to skyrocket.
"What are you waiting for! Summon all the guards immediately and help me kill this thief!"
For the two Dragonspawn captains to be assigned to guard Neltharion's lair, their status within the Black Dragonflight was naturally not low. The two exchanged looks; one of them cast a flame shield upon himself and charged at Andreas, brandishing an enchanted long-axe. The other turned and ran outward without a word, attempting to sound the alarm to bring all the guards in the lair to their position.
"Don't be in such a hurry."
With a playful tone, Andreas reached out toward both Dragonspawn. Thick shadow vines erupted from the ground, tightly binding the two captains who were moving at high speed. At first, the captains relied on their enchanted armor to resist the damage from the barbed vines, but as the shadow energy began to corrode them, their shimmering silver armor rapidly lost its luster.
"Shameless intruder, don't think you'll succeed!"
Seeing things go south, Nefarian took the initiative to descend, breathing high-temperature flames toward the ground again. However, his target this time was not Andreas. The precisely controlled fire landed on the shadow vines; the scorched vines writhed and lashed out in spasms but refused to release the Dragonspawn captains, who were gradually losing their ability to resist.
"Is this the only trick you have?"
Andreas snapped his fingers. A Hurricane—a spell unique to Druids—swept through the cavern. The soaring cyclone forced Nefarian to retreat temporarily, and the residual flames on the vines were quickly snuffed out by the buffeting winds.
Seeing that the enchanted armor on the two captains had been completely corroded, Andreas clenched his right hand. The shadow vines cooperated by dragging their prey downward. Amidst unwilling screams, the two captains were pulled completely into the earth by the vines, and soon, no further sound could be heard from them.
Controlling several black tornadoes to force Nefarian into a corner, a kind smile gradually appeared on Andreas's face.
"Now, can we have a proper talk?"
...
Forced back into his Night Elf form, Nefarian looked utterly aggrieved. The little prince of the Black Dragonflight, accustomed to acting overbearingly, had never encountered such a powerful mortal.
In Andreas's eyes, however, this "bratty dragon" had only just reached adulthood. His strength was still a far cry from a standard adult dragon, and compared to someone like Azshara, the difference was like heaven and earth.
Although during his battle with Azshara, Andreas had been almost one-sidedly toyed with—save for his final counterattack using Elune's divine power—that experience of fighting a top-tier powerhouse allowed him to remain calm and composed when facing the green Nefarian. At the very least, he wasn't intimidated by the dragon's future legendary reputation.
"So, you sneaked into Neltharion's lair just to steal precious books from his treasure pile?"
Andreas looked at the Black Dragon prince before him with a speechless expression. In his Night Elf form, Nefarian had long black hair and orange-yellow eyes. Though he already knew Nefarian was a research fanatic and a "tech-geek dragon," Andreas hadn't expected these tendencies to be rooted as far back as ten thousand years ago.
Nefarian sighed dejectedly. "That's right. Father used to say my research was a waste of ambition. But recently, he suddenly brought back many corpses of the four other dragonflights, telling me to try and see if I could merge their strengths to create a brand-new flight."
It seemed Nefarian had been holding this in for a long time. Having finally found someone willing to listen to his complaints, the young Black Dragon prince poured out all his emotional baggage in one go.
"Father doesn't understand research at all. He only knows how to angrily and crazily urge me to speed up. But how could such research, which transcends common sense, yield results in just a few years?"
"Besides, I have no grievance with these dragon kin. Even just tinkering with their corpses fills me with an invisible sense of guilt. And then there's mother's sudden departure..."
Nefarian's mood grew increasingly somber. Between his father's sudden descent into madness and his mother's flight due to the torture, the boy was showing signs of mild withdrawal.
Andreas did not interrupt Nefarian's muttering, but he didn't listen intently to those meaningless complaints either. Watching Nefarian's face full of resentment and displeasure, Andreas rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
The boy doesn't seem to have completely turned bad yet. Although under Neltharion's subtle influence, he inevitably has some cunning thoughts... perhaps there's still hope for him?
"Alright, hold on."
Interrupting Nefarian's mumbling, Andreas shrugged. "The complaints in your words are becoming more and more repetitive. Let's leave it at that. Don't you feel much better after venting?"
"Sigh..." Nefarian looked at the ceiling and sighed gloomily. "What's there to be better about? Father used to be strict, but at least he wasn't impossible to get along with. Now he's..."
Nefarian shook his head and didn't continue, but Andreas knew what he meant.
"Have you never thought about why the once warm and steady Black Dragon King became the way he is now?"
Nefarian curled his lip. "Of course I've thought about it. It's said that something ominous exists in Father's lair. Mother and the others reminded me to stay as far away from here as possible."
Patting the ground warmed by the subterranean magma, Andreas asked meaningfully, "Do you really think that staying away from the source will solve everything? Including yourself, can anyone in the Black Dragonflight resist Neltharion's orders?"
"If he orders you to continue these cruel experiments that violate the laws of dragonkind, are you certain that yourself in a thousand, three thousand, or even ten thousand years will still be able to stay sane and not be assimilated by his madness?"
Nefarian raised an eyebrow, and his originally gloomy expression gradually became solemn.
"What are you trying to say?"