Chapter 9: There’s nothing scarier than a devious pretty face
Nightmares.
It belonged to the Dreamwalker genus, along with Incubus and Succubus, which was why Demon Lord Natha said they were related. But whilst the latter two feasted on others' energy by stimulating their carnal desire, Nightmares attack their victim's mental energy by manipulating their fears. It was one of the curse-demon types like Banshee, but Nightmare's curse targeted one mind and soul instead.
That was why Nightmares are proficient in the matter of one's soul, just like how Vampires would be proficient with the map of people's blood vessels. Mind and soul were their prey, after all. Just like he said, Nightmare was also called Soul Tracker, for their ability to put a target mark on someone's soul, which also helped them put on a prolonged curse.
Funnily enough, it made them the archnemesis of the Lich—which I suspected to be one of the demon lords—since Nightmare could pinpoint their true soul no matter what and how many phylacteries a lich used.
That was all I knew from Valmeier's memory. I had no idea how much of it was accurate, since I had quite a doubt now.
Not about his ability, no, but...
"You're making a fun expression," Natha chuckled and gave me his casual, easy smile.
Yes, that. That smile and face and vibe, it was shattering all my thoughts about my perception on Demon Lord.
Where was the scary part? The cruel narrative? Why was he being so kind and gentle and informative? So far, he was miles better than the whole kingdom or Lenaar had treated Valmeier.
"I thought Nightmare would look scary..." I commented carefully, gauging his reaction.
This was why I had doubts. Was it made sense that a demon who targeted people's fear and drank on their mental energy looked this good and acted this gentle?