Soridormi, the consort of the Bronze Dragon Aspect Nozdormu, managed the major affairs of their flight.
The entire Bronze Dragonflight was essentially hers to command.
Even the flighty Chromie had to behave herself when she sought an audience with this uncrowned ruler of the Bronze Dragonflight.
When Soridormi saw Chromie arrive for an audience, she was a little puzzled by her sudden return.
"Chromie, why are you back?"
Chromie had worked out her approach on the way there.
"Your Majesty, things in Lordaeron have been stable all along. I'd like to go somewhere a little more exciting. Does Silithus need reinforcements?"
Soridormi knew a thing or two about this mischievous little troublemaker.
Still, wanting to head to the front lines was hardly a bad thing.
Chromie was fairly strong, enough to handle the endless swarms of Qiraji in Silithus.
A Bronze Dragon showing initiative was a rare sight, and Soridormi certainly wasn't going to turn down her request.
"Very well. Report to Silithus in a few days."
With the Bronze Dragon queen's approval secured, Chromie nodded her little head excitedly.
"Wonderful! I'll go tomorrow!"
Watching Chromie dash off, Soridormi considered the matter briefly and decided to send a novice to gain experience in Lordaeron.
Lordaeron wouldn't become the center of a world-shaking storm anytime soon, making it a suitable place to train newcomers.
She had no idea that undercurrents were already stirring in Lordaeron.
An earth-shattering war could break out there at any moment.
The Silvermoon City Council wasn't particularly efficient.
But anything that could be solved with money was no problem at all.
After a brief discussion, the councilors approved the proposal.
Large arms orders and deposits arrived at the Dawnblade family's armory.
Vast sums of High Elf money poured out through various commercial channels.
Those adorable little golden coins dazzled every power on the continent.
Even the Goblins caught wind of it and came knocking, hoping to cooperate with the Dawnblade family.
The Goblins were another race that specialized in engineering.
Goblin Engineering, however, was known for the power of its explosions. It specialized in producing every kind of massive blast.
Including the kind that went off before it could even be fired.
Herad absolutely refused to use the engineering creations of those little green-skinned runts!
But that didn't mean he would dismiss the Goblins outright and refuse to work with them.
Technological weapons had always won through sheer numbers.
Only by throwing enough of them into battle could they inflict the most effective damage.
Though Goblin engineering creations were highly unreliable, supplying semi-finished products was well within their abilities.
When it came to semi-finished products, no other race could truly compete with the Goblins except the Gnomes, who likewise possessed a complete industrial system.
Meanwhile, Herad offered generous sums to recruit outstanding engineers among the Goblins.
As long as they could break their habit of cutting corners, those Goblin engineers could still be salvaged.
The newly arrived Bronze Dragon Chronormu found Quel'Thalas's unusually booming trade somewhat puzzling, but paid it little mind.
The High Elves had the strongest and most economically developed Magic Kingdom in the Eastern Kingdoms.
Such prosperity was hardly unusual for them.
Rather than watching the High Elves, Chronormu focused more on the Kingdom of Lordaeron and the Dalaran Magic Kingdom.
Those two Human Kingdoms would be involved in important events in the future.
Arthas, for instance, was still just a little brat.
Nothing could be allowed to happen to the future Lich King!
The unfortunate mages of the Dalaran Magic Kingdom also needed to be watched closely.
Khadgar, for example, was about to infiltrate the mage tower of Karazhan as an undercover agent.
His mission was equally important.
He had to watch Medivh, discover his plot to collude with the Orcs, and then find people to kill him.
There could be no mishaps involving these important figures!
Thus, she devoted all her energy to monitoring the Kingdom of Lordaeron and the Dalaran Magic Kingdom.
Chronormu's rigid adherence to her duties reassured Chromie, who had been quietly checking on the situation.
Quel'Thalas would probably still need some time to complete its war mobilization.
Given enough time, Chronormu would definitely end up taking the blame in her place!
Events unfolded just as Chromie had expected.
The High Elves spent a considerable amount of time preparing their strategic supplies.
The Silvermoon City Council's endless bickering dragged on for almost half a year before finally ending.
Throughout that time, Chronormu never once considered taking a closer look.
At first, the Bronze Dragons' lack of response had made Herad uneasy.
Eventually, the vast stockpile of war supplies was ready, and the Silvermoon City Council's bickering had ended.
By then, he no longer worried about interference from the Bronze Dragons.
If the Bronze Dragons forcibly intervened at this critical juncture, they would directly make enemies of the High Elves and indirectly offend the Red Dragons, who stood at the head of the Dragon Aspects.
Overt interference was nothing to fear, and covert interference was even less of a concern.
Quel'Thalas had a Magic Defense Barrier, so he wasn't worried about the Bronze Dragons secretly teleporting troops inside and using their usual decapitation tactics against him.
The course was set. The Bronze Dragons could no longer dictate this war.
The High Elves' busy preparations lasted nearly half a year in total.
As the orders for full war mobilization were carried out, this immensely powerful war machine finally bared its terrifying fangs!
Like the Night Elves, the High Elves were a race of born fighters.
Though they had become considerably smaller, their combat prowess had barely diminished.
Equipping them with large quantities of firearms greatly increased their conventional fighting power.
Five hundred Arcane War Machines, five hundred arcane golems equipped with autocannons, and a sizable number of indirect-fire artillery pieces.
These were the Dawnedge Armory's full achievements with support from all sides.
The Gnomes and Goblins contributed the most.
The other kingdoms could only provide some mineral resources.
And because they mined by hand, the combined output of all those kingdoms, including the Dwarven kingdom, still couldn't match the mechanized mining of the Gnomes and Goblins.
With their massive mining machines running at full power, they could dig an entire mountain into a gaping pit!
As long as there was a buyer willing to snap up the stock, nothing was impossible.
However, limited by the rather underdeveloped shipping industry, not everything produced by the two engineering races could reach Quel'Thalas despite their enormous production capacity.
Otherwise, Zul'Aman might well have been bombed into a crater.
Even as the High Elf army marched south from Silvermoon City, Chronormu still failed to realize the gravity of the situation.
To her, this was just another case of the High Elves being bored out of their minds and going off to beat up some Trolls for no particular reason.
The Dragon Aspects held no prejudice against the Trolls.
But they wouldn't favor such a savage, backward race either.
So there was absolutely nothing wrong with a routine of eating, sleeping, and beating up Trolls!
What was wrong with the High Elves beating up a few Trolls?
Would it affect the overall course of the timeline?
Besides, even if the High Elves razed Zul'Aman, they wouldn't completely wipe out the vast Forest Troll population.
Forest Troll factions were scattered throughout Lordaeron.
Zul'Aman was merely the most powerful of them.
The carefree Chronormu simply watched as the High Elf army marched on Zul'Aman.
After assembling behind the Magic Defense Barrier and completing their preparations, the mages of Sunfury and the Eclipse Burning Legion cast together, launching a surprise attack with an enormous Flamestrike.
The Troll defenders were stationed on a slope, giving them a certain terrain advantage.
But the attackers were two powerful mage corps.
Flamestrike sent great sheets of fire surging out of the ground to scorch the enemy.
A single Flamestrike could cover roughly a hundred square meters.
A jointly cast Flamestrike pooled the mana of every mage involved, naturally giving it an astonishing reach.
The enormous slope, roughly two kilometers long and over fifty meters wide, had now become an inferno!
Even the air warped and twisted in the flames, as though countless Troll souls were ascending into the sky.
Until the moment they died, they had never imagined that the High Elves would gather so many powerful mages for a surprise attack.
Watching the sea of fire spread evenly across the slope, Herad couldn't help marveling at the power of archmages.
However, when fighting outside their homeland, the mages could generally cast it only two or three times.
Next, they would have to deal with the Animal Loa of Zul'Aman. The other troops would be the main force fighting the Forest Trolls.
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