Saving Azeroth (By Stealing the Black Dragon Princess) - 24

Chapter 24: The Father-in-Law Arrives

Dustwallow Marsh's night was wrapped in damp mist, shrouding Onyxia's lair in suffocating haze. Moonlight filtered through thin clouds, casting mottled shadows on muddy ground like countless prying eyes.

Deep within the lair, mountains of "Blackwing High-Yield Fertilizer" sacks glowed eerily gray-white under dim swamp gas lamps. Each sack was positioned with mathematical precision. From an aerial view, these sacks formed a massive runic array—the trap's core.

"Move all these over there." Deren crouched in shadows, voice barely above a whisper. His grimy fingers clutched an invoice tightly. "Yes, exactly there."

Onyxia in high elf form stood beside the sack pile, golden hair still shimmering softly in dim light. Her slender fingers gently repositioned sacks, movements so elegant she might have been arranging dinner banquet tableware.

"Shipping this fertilizer batch tomorrow?" The high elf form slightly tilted her head, her voice carrying playful undertones.

Deren wiped cold sweat from his forehead. "Goblins have urged several times already. They are nearly sold out—"

His words stopped abruptly.

Swamp insect chirping suddenly vanished. Fog froze mid-air. Even water droplets falling from lair walls suspended in mid-flight, defying gravity.

Deren's blood instantly froze. He slowly turned toward the lair entrance—

A tall figure somehow already stood there.

Deathwing maintained human form, with black hair streaked with dark red like cooled lava. His golden vertical pupils burned in darkness, his gaze sweeping over accumulated fertilizer bags, over Onyxia's carefully maintained high elf illusion, finally settling on Deren crouched in shadows.

That instant, Deren felt millions of blades pierce his soul simultaneously. His knees buckled uncontrollably, teeth chattering audibly. This was the Destroyer's aura—no magic needed, mere existence sufficient to shatter mortals' minds.

"Father..." Onyxia in high elf form barely maintained her illusion, yet her voice was already distorted with strain.

Deathwing slowly advanced, boots making no sound on damp stone. His gaze fell on the nearest fertilizer sack, fingertips lightly tracing the surface with almost tender curiosity.

"Countess Katrana Prestor." His voice was low and calm, yet made the lair's temperature plummet. "Pearl of Stormwind noble circles, Bolvar Fordragon's most trusted advisor." He suddenly crushed the sack in hand, gray-white powder cascading through his fingers like sand. "Now... playing with manure?"

Deren's breathing nearly stopped. He saw Onyxia's illusion flickering unstably, pitch-black dragon scales appearing and disappearing beneath the high elf's elegant features like a failing hologram.

Most terrifying—Deathwing had not even released his full draconic aura yet.

From deep swamp came dragonspawn guards' agonized wails—merely the Destroyer's unconscious emanating presence was enough to torment these lesser creatures. Deren heard heavy thuds outside the lair, followed by scales scraping the ground—those guards dying in struggle, soon falling into eternal silence.

Deathwing finally turned his full attention on Onyxia. His lips curved slightly in a bone-chilling smile.

"My dear daughter," he said softly, each word dripping with menace, "when did you start... needing mortals to tell you how to arrange your toys?"

With the last syllable, the high elf illusion shattered like glass struck by a hammer. Pitch-black dragon scales covered Onyxia like a tide, dragon wings explosively unfolding, stirring storms that sent surrounding debris flying.

"RUN!" She roared at Deren before fully manifesting her dragon form.

Deren needed no second reminder. He scrambled toward the pre-dug escape tunnel on hands and knees. Behind him came Deathwing's cold, cruel laugh. "This is your beloved pet? A homeless dog abandoning you without hesitation?"

When Deren's figure disappeared into darkness, the entire lair began trembling violently. Onyxia fully manifested her true black dragon form, pitch-black scales gleaming metallic under crystal lamps. She blocked the tunnel entrance, dragon eyes fixed unwaveringly on her father.

Behind her, beneath the scattered fertilizer bags, the hidden runic array began emanating faint blue light...

Deren stumbled into the escape tunnel, rock walls crumbling behind him with thunderous roars that threatened collapse. His heart pounded wildly against his ribs, eardrums aching from the two black dragons' confrontational bellows that echoed like war drums.

"You DARE—!"

Deathwing's roar created tangible sound waves. Deren felt himself heavily shoved forward, sprawling face-first. He struggled upright, palms cut by sharp stones, blood mixed with cold sweat dripping on damp ground.

Can't stop. Keep moving.

He forced himself to keep crawling desperately. The narrow tunnel echoed with dragon roars and crumbling rock layers threatening to bury him alive. Just a bit further. He thought, crawling forward with raw determination.

In the main lair hall, Onyxia's dragon wings spread to full extension, pitch-black scales gleaming with a cold metallic sheen in dim light. She blocked the tunnel entrance where Deren vanished, throat rumbling with continuous low growls.

Deathwing still maintained human form, yet shadow and magma already boiled around him ominously. He stared at his daughter, golden vertical pupils contracting to predatory slits.

"Your human pet fled quite decisively."

His voice carried mocking amusement, but beneath it... genuine disappointment.

Onyxia's tail violently struck the ground, the impact shaking rubble from the ceiling.

"He is not a pet."

Deathwing sneered coldly, taking another deliberate step forward. This simple movement made the lair's temperature surge dramatically, moss on walls instantly withering to ash.

"Then what is he?" The Destroyer's voice rumbled low as distant thunder. "A mortal teaching you to play with manure? A worm daring to scheme against forces beyond comprehension?"

Onyxia did not answer. She tensed every muscle, dragon claws digging deep into the stone ground, preparing for her father's inevitable attack.

But Deathwing did not directly strike.

He slowly raised his hand, palm upward in a gesture almost gentle—

"Look at yourself now."

"You were once the Destroyer's scion, Deathwing's bloodline." His voice was nearly gentle, which somehow made it more terrifying. "And now? You hide in swamps, haggling with goblins, letting humans teach you how to handle fertilizer."

Onyxia's pupils trembled slightly, but the next instant, she bared her dragon maw, revealing razor-sharp fangs.

"At least I know what I am doing."

Deathwing's eyes flashed with true, volcanic fury.

"You think you are rebelling against me?" His voice finally carried draconic roar tremors. "You are just playing a ridiculous game of house!"

BOOM!

He finally released his full draconic aura.

Tangible oppression swept like a tsunami across the entire lair. Rock walls instantly cracked in spiderweb patterns, lamps exploding one after another in showers of glass. Onyxia was knocked back several steps by the shockwave, dragon claws plowing deep furrows in stone.

But she did not fall.

"House playing?" She raised her head within the crushing dragon aura, golden vertical pupils burning with light Deathwing had never seen before. "Then what about you, Father?"

Her voice no longer trembled with fear.

"Ten thousand years—what have you accomplished?"

"Madly trying to destroy the world?"

Deathwing's pupils suddenly contracted with genuine shock.

Deep in the tunnel was a preset portal. When Deren passed through, he arrived at the safe house on the swamp's outskirts. He tremblingly pressed the wall mechanism, drilling into the basement, isolating most of the external draconic aura.

He collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, ears still ringing painfully.

Before him were three prominent switches connected to three sets of simple voltaic batteries.

In the dragon lair, Onyxia's dragon eyes fixedly stared at her father, throat rumbling with continuous low growls. Her dragon claws slightly tightened, sharp talons plowing several shallow furrows in the ground.

Deathwing's calculating gaze swept over the overturned fertilizer bags. Gray-white ammonium nitrate powder scattered everywhere, revealing blue runes meticulously carved into underlying rock. Those runes flickered faintly, bright and dim like breathing lungs, forming a massive arcane energy array.

His lips slowly spread in a mocking smile.

"Runic trap?"

His voice dripped with contempt, as if evaluating a child's crayon doodle.

"When did you... become so naively predictable?"

Onyxia did not answer, but her dragon wings trembled slightly, muscles beneath scales tensing like coiled springs.

Deathwing sneered coldly, taking one deliberate step forward—

BOOM!

His humanoid shell suddenly shattered like an egg.

Shadow and magma intertwined in chaotic dance. The Destroyer's true form manifested with terrifying majesty. Pitch-black dragon scales erected like blades, lava-like patterns flowing through armor gaps, bathing the entire lair in blood-red hellish light. Merely the shockwave of manifesting dragon form cracked rock walls deeply, rubble falling like apocalyptic rain.

"Runes of this pitiful level..."

His dragon claw heavily stamped the ground—

CRACK!

The runic array instantly exploded.

Blue energy veins shattered like fragile glass beneath a hammer. Runes extinguished one by one, becoming dispersing magical dust. The entire lair violently trembled, yet Deathwing's massive body remained utterly unmoved, golden vertical pupils containing only cold mockery.

"That is it?"

His dragon tail swept violently, sending all the scattered fertilizer bags flying like toys. Gray-white ammonium nitrate powder drifted through the air like artificial snow.

"Your rebellion... just these petty tricks?"

Onyxia's breathing quickened noticeably, yet she seemed to fearfully retreat slowly. Her gaze toward her father began showing terror and panic.

Deathwing noticed her frightened expression, scoffing with satisfaction. He advanced step by thunderous step.

"What game are you playing?"

His dragon wings slowly spread, shadow shrouding the entire lair in suffocating darkness. His daughter indeed retreated fearfully step by step. Confidence refilled his ancient heart. That feeling of dominance and absolute control returned like an old friend.

"Let me see... what other pathetic skills you possess."

When Onyxia nearly reached the rear cave wall, the fear in her eyes suddenly slowly evaporated. She took a deep, steadying breath, her dragon maw slightly spreading, revealing sharp fangs in a predatory smile.

"As you wish... Father."

In the next instant, her form suddenly contracted. Pitch-black dragon scales receded like a tide, transforming back to human form in a flash of dark light.

Deathwing narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"You think you can escape?" His voice carried heavy mockery.

"Surprise!"

His mockery stopped abruptly.

A golden light suddenly exploded behind Onyxia. From the temporal rift emerged two small hands, violently grabbing her collar.

"Excuse me, excuse me!"

Chromie's face squeezed from the rift, the bronze dragon's signature pigtails already singed and curled by heat waves. She grimaced while dragging Onyxia into the rift, simultaneously throwing a smoking hourglass at Deathwing:

"Gift you a clock—ah no, gift you temporal sand!"

The hourglass exploded into golden mist upon touching dragon scales. Time laws wrapped like ethereal chains around the Destroyer's massive limbs. But this restraint was not as effective as hoped—Deathwing merely struggled lightly, and the temporal sand began crumbling away. At Chromie's power level, completely using time stop to restrain a Dragon Aspect proved far beyond her capability.

"Bronze dragon tricks..." Deathwing's face showed utter disdain. He calculated he could break free from time's bonds in mere seconds. Then have a proper discussion about dragon life with his daughter and the meddling bronze dragon.

Chromie was already halfway back into the rift, with no time for banter, directly closing the portal and fleeing. A flash of bronze light dissipated, leaving only the temporarily time-frozen Black Dragon King in the lair. He suddenly felt creeping panic, as if something terrible was about to happen.

He recalled his daughter's mocking lip movement before disappearing:

Times have changed, Father.