The Ukrainian Ironbelly was completely focused on Severus.
It clearly identified who was causing it trouble. The moment it shattered the Shield Charm, a dazzling pillar of fire gushed from its mouth!
The already burning forest and grassland were completely reduced to ashes in the inferno. Fortunately, Lupin had taken Harry and Draco away in advance, and Andrews and Lulu had also driven most of the trolls away from here.
Only a few trolls trying to escape back to their old valley home screamed in agony amidst the flames.
However, the Ukrainian Ironbelly, creator of this hellish scene, didn't relax at all. It simply didn't see its enemy struggling in pain within the sea of fire.
Just as it alertly raised its head, trying to look around for Severus's figure,
A spell incantation suddenly rang out right above its head!
"Sectumsempra."
The next moment, the Ukrainian Ironbelly felt a sharp pain in its left eye!
While its entire body was covered in highly magic-resistant dragonhide, its biggest weakness and the part most vulnerable to spell damage, was its eyes. And Severus had used Apparition to instantly appear above its head, seizing this opportunity!
The dragon's left eye was directly sliced in half. Scorching dragon blood gushed from the eye socket.
It let out a miserable roar, its mountain-like body crashing straight down toward the ground.
The ground was smashed into a large crater. It writhed in pain within the pit, but Severus had already vanished from its body.
The attacks from the sky weren't limited to just this one Ukrainian Ironbelly.
Over a dozen other dragons were flying chaotically in the sky. Due to the commotion caused by this Ukrainian Ironbelly, two of them were clearly flying westward!
After ensuring the Ukrainian Ironbelly couldn't cause further harm to Harry and the others, Severus initially didn't plan to deal with the other two dragons.
But when the two dragons flew over his head, seemingly attracted by the huge commotion of the fleeing trolls, and began to chase after them, so Severus knew he had to stop these two dragons as well.
These maddened dragons were indiscriminately trying to kill all living things in their sight. Once targeted, escape was nearly impossible!
"Bombarda Maxima!"
Just as a Norwegian Ridgeback and a Romanian Longhorn were about to dive down toward the group of trolls, Severus's Blasting Curse exploded on their wings.
The base of their wings, though covered in scales and hide, was still one of the weaker points.
Under the attack of such a Blasting Curse, the Romanian Longhorn roared in pain first, then pointlessly shifted its target to Severus.
The Romanian Longhorn aimed its priceless, golden, long horn at Severus and dove down!
The Norwegian Ridgeback hesitated for a second before also changing targets, spewing a stream of scorching dragon fire at Severus!
But with a single Apparition, Severus completely dodged their attacks, appearing behind the Norwegian Ridgeback and grabbing onto its jet-black ridge.
The Romanian Longhorn quickly realized its attack had missed and swiftly re-locked onto Severus on its companion's back.
It showed no hesitation about potentially harming its fellow dragon, immediately changing its attack angle and charging once more, this time aimed directly at the Norwegian Ridgeback's back!
From the Norwegian Ridgeback's perspective, after the enemy disappeared, the Romanian Longhorn had unhesitatingly chosen to attack it.
This enraged it immensely. Without ceasing its fiery breath, it simply redirected the stream toward the charging Longhorn.
The Romanian Longhorn, seemingly caught off guard by this sudden assault from its companion, and already driven mad, now held back nothing. It didn't even notice that Severus was no longer on the Norwegian Ridgeback's back, plunging its horn directly toward the Norwegian Ridgeback!
Fortunately, the Norwegian Ridgeback's body wasn't as massive and clumsy as the Ukrainian Ironbelly's. It managed to fire and dodge simultaneously, narrowly avoiding the Romanian Longhorn's attack.
But the feud between the two dragons was now sealed. They completely forgot about the creatures on the ground, engaging in a fierce aerial battle.
After successfully diverting their attention, Severus Apparated directly next to Andrews, assisting him in driving the remaining trolls eastward!
Some trolls ran wildly in panic, some attempted to fight the one-eyed Ironbelly, and others threw stones at the battling Romanian Longhorn and Norwegian Ridgeback in the sky.
They were indeed astonishingly stupid. But any that stopped moving or tried to turn back were met with attacks from Severus and Andrews, forcing them to continue fleeing east.
Of course, some, angered by the attacks, tried to retaliate against Andrews and Severus, but Lulu suppressed them all. Those it couldn't suppress were kicked into the stream by Lulu and left to their fate.
Even Lulu, a troll itself, had come to terms with the fact that some of its kin were hopelessly foolish. Letting them die was a mercy for everyone else.
Pushing forward like this, as the sky began to lighten with the approaching dawn, they finally managed to drive the troll herd past the eastern boundary the dragon tamer had initially indicated for the reserve's expansion.
However, given the state of the dragon herd, it was clear that simply crossing this line didn't guarantee safety. They continued driving the trolls further east until the dragon roars faded into the distance before finally slowing their pace and reuniting with Lupin and the others who had gone ahead.
"What exactly happened? Who provoked them? Made them go so crazy?" Harry asked, his heart still pounding.
The western half of the sky remained crimson. Countless magical and ordinary animals continued fleeing eastward from that direction around them.
Severus patted Harry on the back, signaling him not to stop and to keep moving east.
"It might be related to the reason the dragon tamers were forced to expand the reserve. We were just caught in the crossfire."
"We must demand an explanation from the Albanian Ministry of Magic!" Andrews said indignantly, "This nearly cost us our lives, all due to their management failure!"
Lupin was somewhat more philosophical.
"I sent up the signal earlier, but no one came. They're probably facing major trouble themselves and are overwhelmed right now. The important thing is that none of us were injured. That's the best outcome."