The deafening dragon roar formed a substantial sound wave, causing even those who were already the undead to feel dizzy.
The houses behind Lothar and Ogrim were crushed into complete ruins by Onyxia's roar; she was extremely angry now, as these Death Knights had just subjected her to utter humiliation.
"This is going to be tough!"
This was the first thought that popped into Lothar's mind. Although they had made multiple preparations and set up an ambush, it was still quite unrealistic to subdue a giant dragon so easily.
"Pathetic insects, I will burn your bones to ash!"
Onyxia's words were filled with rage. All she wanted now was to crush these annoying ants in front of her and then turn all of Caer Darrow into a sea of fire.
The giant dragon hovered in mid-air, flapping her wings. She had completely reverted to her original form, with obsidian-like black scales covering her massive body. Each breath Onyxia took caused the surrounding temperature to gradually rise.
Her upper and lower jaws opened and closed slightly, and hot, sulfurous breath spewed from her nostrils. Lothar's heart tightened, realizing that things were going badly.
Onyxia took a deep breath, and crimson, high-temperature flames surged from her mouth, almost engulfing the entire area below.
Facing such a wide-range attack, there was no time to dodge. Lothar and the others could only choose to endure it head-on.
Ogrim frowned, his heavy warhammer as precise as a small knife in his hand. With one swing, he scooped up a decorative kite shield that had fallen from the room earlier and tossed it to Lothar.
Without looking back, Lothar reached out and caught the kite shield. He then raised his hand and used Death Grip to pull Thassarian, who was stiff from the broken binding magic, behind him.
"Death Knight, use your anti-magic techniques!"
Lothar gave the order decisively. He held the shield in front of him, and chilling ice adhered to his body and the shield, forming a low-temperature defense. He also used rune abilities to further enhance his magic resistance.
Ogrim knew the shield couldn't cover his entire body. He casually picked up a relatively intact stone wall from the ground and propped it against his shoulder, attempting to mitigate the damage from the flames.
When Onyxia's fiery breath landed on the ground, the surrounding vegetation instantly ignited at high temperatures, and even the ground quickly turned into a scorching pool of lava.
The crimson firelight almost lit up half the sky, yet Caer Darrow County, not far from the manor, showed no reaction whatsoever.
Onyxia's yellowish-brown vertical pupils revealed a look of confusion and bewilderment. She suddenly felt that there was something else in the area she was in, besides the anti-magic barrier.
"Ogrim, have you been roasted alive?!"
After the breath attack ended, although the fierce flames were still burning, they were no longer fatal to Lothar and the others. The Highlord threw the half-melted, charred shield to the ground, and the saronite gauntlet on his hand was now covered in cracks.
Lothar removed his gauntlet and tossed it aside. Hot mist emanated from the skin of his pale arm. If he hadn't used the dual shield of frost and anti-magic just now, he would probably have been a fire elemental by now.
Although such an injury was not fatal for an undead, being directly hit by Onyxia's magical breath meant he would essentially lose his combat ability.
Ogrim smashed the largely melted stone wall with a punch, and chilling cold emanated from around him. It seemed he had also used frost power to protect himself. The orc bared his teeth, "I've never fallen before you."
Lothar curled his lip into a smile and looked at Thassarian behind him.
Thassarian was behind Lothar and had also activated his anti-magic shield, making him the one in the best condition among the three.
Lothar flexed his lightly burned right hand, and death energy surged forth, healing his injuries. "Tsk, it's really hard to kill a dead man."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ogrim gripped his warhammer and stared grimly at Onyxia in the sky. "But I have to admit, this is a very troublesome opponent."
Ogrim admitted that when he was alive, he couldn't have directly countered such a scorching breath. At most, he could have tried to dodge beforehand, but the effect would definitely not have been good, as the dragon's breath had too wide a range.
The manor by Caer Darrow Lake was almost entirely engulfed in flames, with only the center and surrounding areas showing different degrees of damage.
Onyxia, who had been distracted by the anomaly for a moment, also snapped back to attention. She stared at the three still active figures below, a little surprised: How did these undead survive? That kind of breath, even a stone elemental giant, would have been burned into lava.
And this made Onyxia even more uneasy. These few individuals clearly came prepared; not only the anti-magic barrier, but the barrier currently covering the entire manor, separating it from the main urban area of Caer Darrow, further highlighted the issue.
This barrier was precisely laid by Gandling, who had not yet appeared, leading the Necromancers of the academy. He called this spell "Dark Sky Curtain." It could almost completely seal off an area, preventing any magical communication from escaping.
Moreover, this massive barrier could also increase the concentration of death energy and dark energy inside, creating a more suitable environment for the undead to operate. This was also why Lothar healed the injury on his hand in a single breath.
Thanks to this magical barrier, which completely obscured Onyxia's presence, none of the residents in Caer Darrow noticed the anomaly in the lakeside manor district, and even Queen Tiffin was unaware that a major battle was taking place here.
However, the Black Dragon Princess's breath attack just now had, to some extent, affected the Dark Sky Curtain barrier. Gandling immediately sent a soul message to Lothar and the others, "Sir Lothar, you had best finish this quickly. If this Black Dragon uses that kind of breath a few more times, the barrier won't hold."
"I understand." Lothar pulled his longsword from the ground, wiped it on his arm, and the dust on the blade dispersed, revealing faintly glowing death runes.
"I'll attack, you cover."
Ogrim didn't even ask for Lothar's agreement before striding towards the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon Princess originally thought that by flying in mid-air, the Death Knights below couldn't threaten her, and she only needed to find a way to break the barrier first.
But as a Black Dragon, her sensitivity to the earth made her feel something in an instant. Just as the Black Dragon Princess was about to dodge, a sharp stone pillar shot up from the ground, pointing directly at her softer underbelly.
Onyxia exerted all her strength to tilt sideways in the air, but the stone pillar rose too quickly. Before she could fully dodge, it still grazed her body.
The violent impact shattered the stone pillar, but Onyxia's body involuntarily began to tilt. Lothar seized the opportunity, condensed dark magic, and fiercely pulled Onyxia in the direction of her loss of balance.
Lothar's added pressure made it difficult for Onyxia to control her balance. As she struggled to keep herself from falling to the ground, Ogrim bent his legs and leaped, swinging the chain wrapped around his left hand. Under his control, it wrapped around one of Onyxia's front claws.
While the Black Dragon swayed, trying to maintain balance, Ogrim took advantage of the swaying motion and easily climbed onto the giant dragon's broad back.
A bloodthirsty smile appeared on the old orc's face. By the time Onyxia realized someone was on her back, it was too late.
The runic warhammer landed on Onyxia's wing membrane with thunderous force. That strange magic, which made blood and bodily fluids boil, once again invaded the Black Dragon's body. This time, Ogrim unleashed it with full, unreserved power. One of Onyxia's wings completely lost sensation under the pain.
Although a dragon's ability to float is somewhat related to their magical capabilities, without their wings, their heavy bodies still cannot fly. With one wing losing sensation and ceasing to flap, Onyxia finally fell diagonally.
Ogrim held onto the spines on Onyxia's back, preventing himself from falling off the dragon. The moment Onyxia slammed into the ground, causing a violent impact, the orc agilely followed the chain he had used to tether Onyxia and found the Black Dragon's front claw.
A crisp sound of bones breaking rang out. Even Onyxia couldn't withstand Ogrim's heavy hammer, and one of the bones in her front claw fractured as a result.
The intense pain made Onyxia wildly flail her claws. Ogrim was also knocked flying, but he had blocked in advance and used a bone shield to deflect the heavy blow, only sliding a short distance through the air before landing steadily on the ground.
"Anub'rekhan, what are you waiting for?!"
Lothar's shout snapped Onyxia out of her pain. The Black Dragon Princess immediately realized that the sudden, massive stone pillar that had risen—they had an accomplice!