A Sorcerer's Journey 510 Fright Energy

Deep in the mountains, inside a huge castle.
The bloody crescent in the Nightmare World formed an odd arc. An ominous light shone upon the inner parts of the castle through the windows, reflecting the hideous and illusive form of the red-haired monkeys. The monkeys all held various shapes and forms.
During the day, any Horrifying Creature in the Nightmare World was unable to sense each other as they seemed to be illuminated by the Awakening Ray. The whole Nightmare World was like a lonely world with only a single person during the day.
Yet when night arrived, it brought the start of a nightmare.
Thousands of Horrifying Creatures, big and small all sat crowded together.
Inside the castle, there were five tables with the length of a hundred meters. The tall red-haired monkeys were normally above ten meters tall while the smaller ones were only more than a meter. All five tables in the castle were filled by the monkeys.
On the highest seat of the hall sat a huge red-haired monkey about thirty meters tall. The blood-red third eye at the center of the monkey's forehead was blinking rapidly.
This monkey was the Dream Watcher King. The king was taller and bigger than any other red-haired monkey Grimm had seen ever since he had arrived in the Nightmare World.
"He he he he… welcome, to the Dream Watcher Castle."
Nightmare Phantoms, one after another, flew into the castle from the hall as the Dream Watcher King spoke.
These Nightmare Phantoms brought various plates of different sizes by either holding them up high or lifting them altogether at once.
Placed on the plates were neat and carefully selected women's hair, each strand filling each plate.
This reminded Grimm of the time when he had a Nightmare Phantom outbreak, which was that time when he was forcibly dragged into the Nightmare World by the strong Horrifying Creature or the possible Dreadlord. He was reminded of the continuous hair vomit projected at that time.
These were the hair that had naturally fallen off due to Nightmare Phantoms interrupting the sleep of humans in the Sorcerers World.
"Kekekekekeke..."
A hoarse yet excited laugh could be heard from the hideous two-meter-tall monkey sitting in front of Grimm.
The monkey pushed the long hair on its face away as it started making a pouting gesture with its lips. To Grimm's surprise, the monkey sucked in the hair like it was a delicious meal of noodles as it munched on it, leaving a delighted expression on its face.
"What's wrong? Is it not to your liking? Do you wanna try mine?"
At that moment, Grimm had already put away the Lamp of Awakening and dispelled his Principle Will of the Sorcerers World, returning to his state of being a Horrifying Creature in the Nightmare World.
Dreamo who was next to Grimm saw how Grimm was not enjoying the hair on the plate like the other Horrifying Creatures. Thinking that the black hair on Grimm's plate was not up to his taste buds, Dreamo pushed his own plate toward Grimm.

The hair on Dreamo's plate was a plate of curly red hair with beach waves.
After nodding at Dreamo, Grimm lowered his head and started feasting on the hair. Gobbling down every bite just like the other Horrifying Creatures!
Although his heart was filled with disdain, this was what he had to endure as a Dark Sorcerer in disguise.
Yet...
"Hmm? This feeling!"
The moment Grimm started feasting on the hair, an amazing wave of heat spread throughout Grimm's body, giving him an indescribable pleasure. It was as if some of the potential in an aspect of his life had been increased!
In other words, Grimm's sensory ability of Dimensional Gaps received some kind of stimulus.
This...
This was something Grimm had never imagined. Being a Horrifying Creature in the Nightmare World could help him gain this kind of ability?
After Dreamo who was next to Grimm had finished slurping on the black hair, it happily leaned back on its wooden chair. Staring at the ceiling of the hall, Dreamo murmured, "Limo, when do you think we'll be able to have powers like the Dream Watcher King? He changed this castle in the Nightmare World and became the third servant of the great Nightmare Mire Dreadlord!"
Limo was the name Grimm had told Dreamo to disguise his own. There was no meaning to it.
This Dream Watcher King could change this castle within the Nightmare World to form a different building structure from the original location in the Sorcerers World. This itself was a sign of surpassing beyond the normal levels of the Horrifying Creatures in the Nightmare World.
If the Horrifying Creatures in the Nightmare World were equivalent to the official sorcerers in the Sorcerers World, then the Dreadlord would be like the Celestial Sorcerer while these Dreadlord servants would be like the Stigmata Sorcerers.
Servants of the Dreadlord each held a strong ability to change a part of the environment in the Nightmare World.
"No clue, probably never."
Grimm answered, yet his heart was filled with a lingering question. How did the Horrifying Creatures in the Nightmare World grow stronger and stronger?
Obviously, according to the special traits of the Horrifying Creatures, it was definitely not through physical evolution, mental evolution nor energy evolution.
Also the signs that they had shown after going through evolution was an evolution that created a much stronger impact on nightmares!
"Hmph. I'd believe that if you were one of the others who had fallen, saying that reaching the Dream Watcher King's level is impossible. However, with your stealth nightmare power, you can nearly be hidden from all the sorcerers' protection laws. This would mean that you'd be able to spread the fallen ashes however you please and you'd have numerous Nightmare Phantoms at your beck and call to collect Fright Energy. Even if you were to become a new Dreadlord one day, I wouldn't be surprised."
Fright Energy?
Emotion collection!
The way these nightmare creatures evolved was the same as how Black Sorcerers did, the difference was that Despair Energy was replaced with Fright Energy?
To come to think of it, collecting Fright Energy must be the same as collecting Despair Energy. It could probably only amplify the effects of an attack from the inner part of a species.
Not only that, when the collection of Fright Energy had reached a certain point, the Horrifying Creatures of the Nightmare World would create a stronger image on the nightmares of the species from which the Fright Energy was collected. It might even affect the whole environment of the Nightmare World like the Dreadlords.
This type of emotion collecting was indeed worth studying!
Many of the hideous red-haired monkeys in the hall started to laugh amongst themselves after feasting on the hair meal offered by the Dream Watcher King. All of them were laughing as they waited upon the Dream Watcher King's orders.
"He he he he… later, after that fallen sorcerer has entered this world, I want you guys to try and kill him."
The Dream Watcher King said in a low voice.
"What?"
"How is that possible!"
"If this were the case… if we kill him, wouldn't that make our infiltration a failure? He would be jolted awake by the fear!"
One after another, the Horrifying Creatures were confused by the Dream Watcher King's request. Killing a human in his nightmares was not an impossible task, but the only effect it would have to the human in real life was that the human would only be jolted awake by the nightmare.
In addition to that, it was too difficult to kill someone who was dreaming while being protected by the principle laws of the world that was equivalent to the distortion of space and time.
The Dream Watcher King gripped his hands that were filled with red hair while the bloody eyeball of the third eye on its head continued to dart around.
"As for me, I will act as his slave and crush all of you one by one to release his desire for violence from the deepest part of his heart. Then, I'll drag him through the laws of natural awakening during daybreak so that he will still be venting his desire in the Nightmare World, in turn accomplishing my rebirth!"
Crushing...
The Horrifying Creatures of the Nightmare World were unable to be killed, just like the immortal body of Solumn.
"Hmm? Such a heavy sorcerer scent!"
"Creak!" Right at that moment, the huge doors of the castle hall were opened. An enormous red-haired monkey about the size of the Dream Watcher King walked into the hall as it looked around.

Chapter end