Chapter 617 - 'LASSO OF TRUTH'

"GOOD.  It seemed that you know this king.  It will make things much easier," Dusk said to the red dragon who still looked like he couldn't believe what was happening right now.  "Now, tell me who was the one who betrayed this king?  If you do, maybe I can restrain myself from ending you."

            Before the red dragon could answer or even get over his initial reaction, the remaining dragons started to make a fuss.  Causing unrest to spread.

"Ha, what is this?  An enemy using dragon breath?" 

"Only dragons could do that."

"Are you saying that guy is a dragon?  That's crazy!"

"Then, how can you explain what happened just now?"

"But if he is, then how come I don't recognize him?"

"I think most of us here haven't seen him."

"Except for Rowan, that is.  They obviously know each other."

Luo Yan heard all these talks.  The 'Rowan' that one of the dragons mentioned was most likely the red dragon.  Because seeing the reactions of most of the dragons here, it seemed like this Rowan was the only one who recognized Dusk.

The only explanation he could think of was that most of the dragons here were born after Dusk disappeared.  That's why they didn't recognized him.  Just like in the village of the kitsunes.  Most of the kitsunes there didn't know Dusk because they were either too young when that tragedy in their clan happened or they were born much later.  The same could probably be applied here.

If this Rowan guy recognized Dusk, that meant that he was there during the war between the dragons and the dark mages.  And seeing that he seemed to be leading this group of dragons, it's not difficult to see that he had some kind of authority within the clan.  Which also meant that he most likely had access to information they needed.

Maybe they didn't need to stay here after all.

He touched the earring on his right ear.  "Connect me to YUN," he whispered.  Once the connection was established, he immediately said, "Brother Ji Yun, can you kidnap that Rowan and teleport him out of here immediately?  Take him to that island of yours.  Don't worry about us, we'll immediately follow."

Shen Ji Yun, who was quite a distance away, heard what Luo Yan said.  He turned to the other and nodded.  After that, he moved towards the direction where the red dragon was.  The moment he did, Luo Yan held Eclipse's hand and ran rushed towards Dusk.

With the dragons having their own argument about Dusk and the red dragon still confused by the turn of events, Shen Ji Yun easily arrived in front of Rowan without much obstacles.  The red dragon who finally noticed his movements could only say 'you—' before being teleported out of there.

At the same time that the two vanished, Luo Yan with Eclipse on one hand and Dusk on the other also disappeared.  So, unbeknownst to the arguing dragons, their foes had already left together with their leader.

When Luo Yan and the other two appeared at Shen Ji Yun's island, Dusk quickly took back his hand as if wanting to shake off dirt. 

"Why did you suddenly pull this king away from there?  This king was this close from burning those bastards!"

Luo Yan ignored Dusk and looked for Shen Ji Yun instead.  But that didn't mean that Eclipse would.

"Hey, Uncle black lizard, don't shout at Mashter!  Mashter only did that because he had a plan.  Don't you trust Mashter at all?"

Dusk only scoffed but no longer complained. 

Luo Yan finally found Shen Ji Yun.  He was standing not far from the big tree, the red dragon was sitting tied up with something like a golden thread.  Not only that, the other also seemed to be in a daze of some sort. 

He walked over and asked Shen Ji Yun, "What happened to him?"

"It's because of the rope around him.  It's an item I got recently called the 'Lasso of Hestia'.  When it's tied on an NPC, it could force the NPC to tell the truth regardless of what the player asked them.  But it would only work with NPCs that are involved in a task and the effect would only last for about five minutes," Shen Ji Yun explained.

He actually bought it on the recent auction held monthly at Alryne City.  The item was a reward at some dungeon.  The player who got it, sold it to the auction house.  When he read the item's description, he didn't hesitate to buy it.  Because he felt that it would be helpful with their current hidden task.

"That's like Wonder Woman's lasso of truth," Luo Yan commented when he heard what Shen Ji Yun said about the rope.  He turned to the other and almost laughed when he saw the confusion on his face.  This guy probably had no idea what he was talking about.  So, he just gave him a thumbs-up.  "Good job, Brother Ji Yun, getting such a useful item."

And it was indeed a very useful item.  Especially with the kind of task they were doing right now.  It's important to get authentic information from these NPCs.  Shen Ji Yun was really thinking ahead.

Shen Ji Yun cleared his throat, feeling a bit shy by the compliment.  "We should probably start asking him question before the effect of the lasso disappeared."

Luo Yan nodded.  "Then, let me start," he said and turned to the red dragon – Rowan.  "Are you there during the war between the dragons and the dark mages?" he asked as a test question.

"Yes," the red dragon answered dazedly.

"Do you know the one who betrayed the king who led your clan during that war?"

By the time he asked that question, Dusk and Eclipse had already walked to where they were.

"Yes," Rowan answered in the same manner again.

Luo Yan almost pumped his fist when he heard that confirmation.  But before he could ask the next question, Dusk beat him to it.

"Who did it?  Who was the one that betrayed this king?"

Dazedly, the red dragon answered, "Everyone."