Caesar curled a claw, and the gnolls approached again with ill intent.
At the sight of this, Brian instinctively curled himself into a ball and cried out in panic, "I don't know! I don't know!"
Caesar ignored his pleas and watched as the gnolls used short daggers to peel back Brian's flesh. His miserable screams rang out once more.
Ordinarily, once an interrogated prisoner's mental defenses collapsed, they were not easily rebuilt. Yet Brian held out for an unexpectedly long time, weeping, shrieking, and repeating, "I don't know," without revealing any other information.
Just as Caesar began to wonder whether this fellow truly knew nothing of Roy's plans, Brian slipped into a dazed state and finally cracked.
"I'll talk! I'll talk!" His face was pale, sweat pouring off him like water. He had been tortured beyond recognition.
"Then talk. What is Roy preparing?"
"Roy, Roy..."
Brian was somewhat incoherent. The immense pain had reduced his mind to chaos, and it took him great effort to piece his words together. "Roy let the gnolls and kobolds go to the Duru Basin because he wanted to drag the black dragon..."
"Ah!"
The moment those words left his mouth, his body began melting like a candle. Brian abruptly fell silent, let out a low cry, and looked toward the black dragon in agony, his shriveled lips opening and closing.
Yet it was as if something blocked his voice. No more words came out.
"What's going on?"
Caesar's pupils narrowed into slits. He shot to his feet with a bang and looked around in anger.
The human's mouth was clearly forming the words "save me." What could make him seek help from a black dragon?
The human dissolved quickly. Caesar had only managed to sweep his gaze around once before Brian's body turned into