Alfonso already harvested 22 hearts from monsters and devoured their corpses, realizing that devouring monster corpses whose hearts were missing was significantly less effective. It became clear to him that the heart was the most valuable thing about the monsters from the abyss.
He looked around the area which had been transformed into a bloody mass grave. The corpses from the fallen Slayers were stacked until they formed a little mountain that was then set on fire.
'A different time, a different enemy but it's the same in the end.' Thought Alfonso when he saw many of the surviving Rookie Slayers showing traces of trauma.
"The battlefield isn't a place for everybody, no one will be the same after experiencing it...I didn't understand the meaning of that sentence that you often told me...until now..."
Alfonso heard a familiar voice from behind him, turning around to see Niklas standing behind him. Nik's clothes were partly torn apart with grey blood from the monsters on them.
Alfonso noticed that Niklas wasn't the same as he was this morning, the way he was deeply looking at him told him many things. Nik's gaze held gratitude and confusion.
Nik's has always been tall but it was only now that he looked like a man.
"You did well staying alive, you have grown up Nik..." Said Alfonso softly while placing his hand on Nik's shoulder.
Nik looked around making sure that no one was around, "I have questions about Fonsi..."
Alfonso stayed silent for a moment, "I know...You are my little brother, that's why I taught you everything you need Nik. Be contend with it and grow stronger...This is only the beginning."
Nik was dissatisfied with that answer that basically wasn't one. He never thought deeply about the things Alfonso taught him and where he knew them from. Nik always thought that his brother was a genius and it was a normal and smart thing to listen to him because Alfonso was never wrong.
It was only when he joined the A.S.U, becoming a Salyer and coming into contact with strong individuals that he started to notice that something was amiss. There was nothing wrong with the things he learned from Alfonso but the fact that Alfonso as a child knew all those things was too abnormal even if he was a genius.
Nik didn't panic when the Monster Wave arrived, he did the things he was taught and killed some monsters while making sure that he held his advantages. He was shocked that almost every Rookie Slayer didn't know the basics of how to stay alive and to deal with groups of enemies. The contrast between them was that severe that it made him enter into deep thoughts after the massacre finished.
His genius brother turned into a mysterious figure in his heart that he couldn't fathom...
It became clear to him that he wouldn't get a straight answer from his brother...'I won't gain anything from thinking too much about it...Fonsi is my brother!'
He nodded, joining Alfonso to harvest hearts from the monster corpses.
Alfonso observed Nik for a while, noticing that his little brother seemed to have moved on from his doubts. He was fascinated by the way Berserkers devoured corpses. Nik simply lifted the corpses up, opening his mouth and devouring them like he had a black hole inside his mouth. The corpses magically vanished into his mouth, messing with the laws of physik.
The convoy continued after they finished with everything, reaching Düsseldorf about two hours later without any problems.
Alfonso observed the area they drove through, coming to the conclusion that Düsseldorf was basically the same as Dortmund. The city was separated into three Districts too with the poor living on the edge of the city...
They went to the center of Düsseldorf, taking a break at the A.S.U Branch there while the Senior Slayers went on to complete the mission.
Alfonso stayed alone, lying down on the roof of their jeep.
'There were hardly any Slayer from District 2 that died in today's fight. Nik said that they were just as bad in fighting as the others from our District but they were much stronger and had more stamina...Looks like I underestimated the impact that better Exo-Seeds has on Slayers potential...' Thought Alfonso while feeling that his body was burning from the inside.
He didn't know how many monsters he devoured but the heat circulating inside his body was intense. He could feel that his body was doing its best to digest all that energy in him and strengthened him.
He always used his Seismic Sense as an indicator of his power and it reached 66 meters, still slowly improving. Alfonso sensed that the improving rate was quickly diminishing, which he thought made sense. 'Wouldn't Slayers become invincible if they could become overpowered by simply endlessly devouring minions?'
He had already exchanged the hearts he harvested for money at the A.S.U Branch in Düsseldorf. It was there that he learned that they were called Exo-Seeds. The amount of money he made from selling 47 Inferior Exo-Seeds was mind blowing to him. He earned no more than 5€ in the week when he did his junk jobs but he sold 47 Minion Exo-Seeds for 470€ and earned some merit points from it for his Slayer Rank. Someone with 470€ would be considered rich in District 3 and buying a small apartment in District 2 cost around 3000€.
It was no wonder that all the Slayers were rich if it was this easy to make money...well as long one stayed alive, the Slayer job had by far the highest death rate.
They stayed for the night in Düsseldorf, departing from Düsseldorf the next morning.
The way the Senior Slayers treated them was much better now, it seemed that surviving that Monster Wave earned them some respect. Alfonso saw that it helped the Rookie Slayers to get over some of their trauma but he was sceptical. Uhrmann basically admitted that they would have to fight hours before the Monster Wave attacked. The calm and routine way the Senior Slayers handled the situation was also a bit suspect to Alfonso but he could let that go and explain that they have been Slayers for years.
The most suspicious thing was the complete lack of some Elite Rank or above ranked Monsters. It was common sense among the Slayers that every Monster Wave had at least some Elite Rank Monsters inside them. But this Monster Wave didn't have any, he made sure of that fact by asking around. Alfonso would bet his money that the Monster Wave artificially created or at least somehow controlled by the Abyss Slayer Union.
He didn't know how they did it bit he was pretty sure of it...
'If that's true...That would mean that the Monster Wave doesn't represent reality as it has been suppressed by the A.S.U to fit us. We departed with over 500 Rookie Slayers and 174 died...'
Alfonso leaned back on his seat, planning how to use his time...