Abstracts are considered to be much stronger than the average enlightened. Unlike an enlightened human who only has a power core to draw orren from, an abstract is able to form layers of highly condensed orren around there core to increase their power without ascending into the next rank.
Each layer correlates to the tier of the abstract with the maximum being five, and as Nacht looked at the monster in front of him, he determined that it had at least formed two.
As the humanoid abstract made its way toward him, he was doing everything in his power to not alert the abstract. Even breathing to loudly could very well be his end. Nacht was even considering throwing his saber as a distraction but he really didn't want to do that.
He had just got his hands on a relic—a low graded one, but a relic nonetheless. He was still unable to summon and dismiss the relic since he couldn't control his orren. If he threw away his sword then he would be without a weapon and that would be especially bad considering the circumstance he was in.
Even so, Nacht didn't believe he had a choice.
The abstract was almost upon him.
His heart was throbbing in his ears as he tightened his grip on the sword's hilt. Time seemed to move to a crawl as he finally made a decision. Just as he was about to throw his sword, the abstract suddenly stopped. It lingered for a moment and then looked down.
Nacht froze as well.
Below where the abstract was standing there was a faint tremor running through the ground. The abstract reacted instantly, it plunged one of its four arms into the dirt, causing the ground beneath it to cave.
Suddenly, the forest was no longer filled with darkness.
Bright light came from beneath the ground as two silhouettes darted out of the hole left by the attack. Nacht shielded his eyes from the bright light and when he opened them, the two silhouettes were gone with the abstract nowhere to be seen.
Even so, he could still hear the sounds of a distant battle beyond the trees.
Nacht blinked.
'What the hell?'
It didn't take him long to figure out what had just happened.
'No wonder I couldn't find the other sinners.'
He had been searching the forest for quite some time but found no clues on where they could be. He had assumed that they were simply good at staying hidden but now he knew why.
Nacht walked over to the hole in the ground which exuded light and looked down. Beneath the ground there seemed to be an underground system of interconnected tunnels, lit up with bright light.
He could tell that this underground tunnel system was made by the floor and not its participants since it was so well made. He would have preferred to continue exploring the underground tunnels, but he had something more important to do.
Turning on his heel, he began to make his way to where he had left Alister. He needed to inform him of what he had just witnessed.
Nacht retraced his steps with near perfect clarity. He passed by the toppled tree and weaved through the forest. He ran through bushes, jumped over rocks, and weaved through branches. His body accumulated a few minor scrapes but he barely felt it.
Nacht was moving faster than he was used to thanks to his body being reinforced with orren. Even so, he was still too weak to do anything without Alister's help. He was in penance after all.
He may be superior when it comes to the average mundane human, but he was still far too weak to go up against an enlightened. As he was moving through the forest, Nacht was still keenly aware of how much noise he was making.
He still needed to be careful of making too much sound and alerting the abstract even if it was preoccupied at the moment. Eventually, he made it all the way to the same spot he had left Alister.
'Where did he go?'
Alister was nowhere to be found but then again, he couldn't stand in plain sight when they could very well be ambushed at any given moment. After a few minutes of searching, Nacht looked up and found Alister sitting on top of a tree.
He had his eyes closed and was perfectly still. Picking up a rock, Nacht threw it at Alister hoping to get his attention and maybe… hopefully, hitting him on the head. But his hopes fell short, Alister caught the rock and smirked.
"I sincerely hope you weren't trying to give me a concussion, Nacht."
Nacht sighed in exasperation.
"I'm over here."
Alister blinked and looked down further
"What do you mean? I was already looking at you!"
Nacht gave him a deadpan look.
'Sure you were.'
Eventually, Alister came down from the tree and Nacht had trouble getting him to stay quiet. It was only after Nacht explained their situation and what he saw did Alister finally limit his speech and start whispering, if it could even be called whispering.
"So there is a powerful abstract that roams this floor that navigates by sound and there is a convenient tunnel system underground that the sinners of this floor use to hide from it."
Nacht nodded.
"Thats pretty much it, so what's the plan."
Alister's smile widened.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to kill the abstract as well as the other rats on this floor."
Nacht's eyes widened slightly.
"You think you can take that thing on and win? And kill one of the other sinners on top of that? You can't be serious."
Alister's smile stretched.
"Of course I'm serious!"
Nacht frowned faintly.
He knew that Alister was immensely powerful for a sinner. Even so, he didn't want to put him in needless danger.
They can't go to the next floor without killing this floor's participants and they can't activate the mechanism to go to the next floor without the abstract noticing, even if they did succeed in killing the other sinners.
Eventually, Nacht shook his head.
"I have a better idea."