Having witnessed Arthas's methods, a mix of hard and soft tactics, they didn't seem particularly remarkable. Nefarian couldn't figure out what he was thinking.
He had been entrenched in Upper Blackrock Spire for some time. Recently, the Black Tooth Grin Clan had arrived, rallying the defeated Blackrock Clan and winning over the local Burning Thorn Trolls to form a joint force to support the Horde.
Rend and Maim were biased against Orgrim; how could they not be, given he was their father's killer? However, they were still loyal to the Horde. At the very least, they had completed the tasks issued by Orgrim without fail.
"Nefarian, hand over the Dragon Eggs you have. We have found a way to cleanse the corruption from them," Onyxia said, getting straight to the point.
Seated on the stone throne, her queenly aura grew ever stronger.
"Yes, my Queen." Nefarian had his lieutenant bring the Dragon Eggs from the secret chamber.
There weren't many, only ten, but that was already a considerable number. However, many of these eggs were laid by ordinary Black Dragons; even if they hatched, their strength wouldn't be too great.
"My dear husband, these Dragon Eggs are for you." Onyxia handed the eggs to Arthas and winked at him.
"Want to come down with me and have a look? The Dark Iron Dwarves have quite a few treasures!"
Arthas shook his head. "No, it's too hot down there. I'll pass. It will take time to deal with these eggs!"
Onyxia pressed her pristine, pale finger to Arthas's lips. "Shh, I know. You can deal with them whenever you have time. You're tired, go get some rest."
Watching the two of them publicly display their affection, Nefarian rolled his eyes in exasperation. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why his sister would fall for such a weak human.
Even if he could continuously grow stronger, his lifespan was a limiting factor, so what was the use? But his sister was now the Queen, and Arthas was like a shroud of mist; he had even suffered a setback at his hands, so he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.
As long as he didn't speak, he couldn't say the wrong thing. Yes, what a clever little genius!
"I'm going to deal with those Orcs and Trolls. Nefarian, do you have food and water here?" Arthas asked.
The best way to stabilize his new subordinates was to provide food and shelter. Weren't Orcs supposed to never be slaves? Give them food and shelter, and they'd be more obedient than dogs!
"Yes, but not much. To the west is Elwynn Forest; there's food and water there." Nefarian didn't even really want to answer. The barrenness of this place couldn't support so many troops.
"That's as good as saying nothing. Onyxia, your brother here still isn't convinced. I'm leaving first, no need to see me out." Arthas left with the two Windrunner sisters, mounting a drake and flying downwards.
It was a gift from Onyxia; she had chosen a Wyvern Mount for him from the eggs hatched earlier. In certain situations, flying was much faster than running on land.
"You brat, don't try to sow discord!" Smack! The moment Nefarian finished speaking, Sinestra, who was beside him, slapped him to the ground.
Watching her son clutch his cheek and look at her with a bewildered expression, Sinestra wished she could just strangle him.
"After all this time, have you still not learned what restraint is? A single Dragon with a few drakes challenged tens of thousands of Orcs and Trolls, and you were even forced to the ground. Do you find that shameful?"
"Put away your arrogance! Nefarian, Onyxia's marriage was personally arranged by your father. She is not only your sister but also the new Black Dragon Queen.
Onyxia is Arthas's consort, and you had better show him some respect. The Queen is the Queen. As a subordinate, you should understand what a queen is and what a subordinate is. If you don't, I will personally teach you!"
"I'm sorry, Mother. I'm sorry, Your Majesty, my Queen." Nefarian didn't dare to clash with his mother, and Onyxia's power had already far surpassed his. She had gone from the Heroic Tier to the Demigod level; crushing him would be all too easy.
"How many resources are left here?" Onyxia's expression was calm.
She knew what her husband's words meant: her brother was too arrogant.
Arrogance wasn't the problem; the problem was that he had been defeated by a creature weaker than himself. If they hadn't been there, he likely wouldn't have escaped with his life.
Having seen so much of the world, she knew that judging based on strength alone was far too shallow!
"Five tons of grain, three tons of various ores, and a thousand catties of medicinal herbs and other resources." Nefarian didn't dare to be presumptuous anymore, formally reigning in his attitude.
The times had changed. The previous era belonged to Deathwing; this era belonged to Onyxia. As for her being his sister? She was his sister in name mostly, and he no longer had, nor could he ever again, put on the airs of an older brother.
"Send it all to Arthas. After you've done that, come with me to meet the Dark Iron Dwarves below." One of the problems Onyxia needed to solve was the rampaging Fire Elementals. The Fire Elemental Lord Ragnaros had been summoned to Azeroth by the Dark Iron Dwarves and was currently lying in wait.
The Elemental Lords were all minions of the Old Gods. Her mission was to eliminate Ragnaros and quell the elemental unrest. This was one of her tasks after the Dragon Council, and it could also be considered a test.
Ragnaros wasn't difficult to deal with. The difficult part was his location, which was filled with scorching Magma at the bottom of a volcano, making combat there extremely difficult.
Many Dragons couldn't withstand such high temperatures for long. Only the Black Dragonflight could barely manage it, so the task had fallen to her.
Arriving at the formation below, Arthas was also thinking about how to find food for these newly recruited troops. To stabilize morale, the first issue was food, followed by treating the wounded and disabled to increase their loyalty.
Several strong Dragonkin pushed out a few carts laden with food like wheat and dried meat. "Your Highness, my master asked me to give this to you. It's all the food we have stored."
Nefarian also descended from the sky, kicking up a cloud of dust as he transformed into his humanoid form.
"Arthas, food is scarce here, as you can see. To supply an army, you must find food from other places. All this food of mine was brought from Elwynn Forest. If you need, I can have someone open a Portal to send your men there to hunt and then Teleport them back."