"Ba-dump, Ba-dump, Ba-dump" the sound of a beating heart sounded louder and louder in Z's ears. Z opened his eyes and was shocked in the scene in front of him. In front of him stood Sergeant Scarlett raising her shield in a defensive posture, while shouting at him.

He couldn't hear what she was shouting about, but he knew he had to act quick. Immediately Z pushed Sergeant Scarlett's waist and sent her falling on the ground next to her. A huge paw barely missed and hit the ground in front of him creating a loud explosion.

Scarlett who was on the ground looked at Z and was dazed, The unmanifested kid in front of her actually predicted the attack of the invisible enemy.

"Who are you? Do you have a detection manifest? How did you manage to find the invisible enemy?" The questions were running through her mind as she didn't even find the time to ask them when suddenly Z grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward.

"Watch out!" Z shouted as he pulled her into his body and used his shield to reflect the paw that was slamming into them. Z and Scarlett were sent flying as his shield suffered critical damage and couldn't be used anymore.

Z tossed aside the smashed shield in his hands after he stood up. Looking at Scarlett on the ground, he immediately went to her side to check if she was okay. The huge bear beast that was previously hidden in the illusion started to charge towards Z and Scarlett.

Z immediately reached for Scarlett's artefact only to be faced with resistance.

"I won't let you take my shield. You'll take it and leave me behind, you weaklings are all the same! you only care for yourself."

Scarlett held on to the shield tighter not wanting Z to let take it.

"I don't have the time to mess around with you."

Instantly Z hit her bicep forcing her arm to loosen the shield that she had gripped on so tightly.

Immediately Z turned around and used the deflective force of the artefact to send the bear beast flying back.

"Quickly, do you have any knife or weapons of the sorts?"

Z asked Scarlett who was on the ground, her hand subtly pressing onto her waist. With a quick grabbing motion, Z pulled her hand away as he grabbed the dagger that she hid in her pants. In an instant, he started moving getting closer towards the black bear.

Scarlett who was on the ground started tearing up. She was resigned to fate, she had lost her teammates once before to beasts because the unmanifested who were supposed to hold the shields up fled, leaving them open for an attack from the back. She always had her guard up against unmanifested weaklings, what happened that day caused trauma to be borne in her heart. Seeing Z taking her things and running away from her caused her emotions to run wild.

Z slid on the ground, dodging the huge bear paws that were coming towards him. Immediately after he dodged the attack from the bear, he turned the shield and placed it facing down as he activated the repelling effect and launched himself into the air.

As he soared up to the air, he came face to face with his target. A large one-eyed bat that was flying in the air inconspicuously. That was his target all along, the bat was creating an illusion that led them to where they were, hiding their enemies and letting them face a really disadvantaged situation. Z swung the knife he got from Scarlett as he impaled the one-eyed bat deep into its eye, causing screeches to sound out from it.

The bat although strong in mental disruptions, had a weak physical defence and it did not manage to block the blow at all, leading Z to kill it in a single hit. The illusion was lifted and the location they were at started changing.

Scarlett rubbed her eyes as she realised that she was not where the team was supposed to be, instead they ended up in a large forest clearing. There were bones on the sides, aged and old, no one knew how long they had been there. But one thing' for sure, if they were to have delayed any longer, it would have been them instead. The view of the Black bear came into her vision, she opened her mouth in shock looking at the behemoth of the bear and Z who was falling from the sky with the knife stuck in a bat.

Z turned the shield around once again and aimed it towards the direction of the black bear. Since he was already falling, he might as well use gravity to slam the bear into the ground. He activated the artefact when he got close to the bear causing a repelling force to slam onto the bear, smashing it to the ground. Using the force of the blow, Z landed safely on the side, flicking the bat that was stuck on the knife away from him.

"Bind it now!"

Z shouted towards the dazed Scarlett who was still lying on the floor. She jolted into action causing the roots in the ground to pop up grabbing hold of the bear rendering it motionless. It growled in anger as it started to thrash around trying to break free of its binding.

Z dashed forward to the bear jabbing it in the eye with the dagger in his hand that was still dripping with the blood from the bat. The bear howled in anger, blood flowed from the eye of the bear as it started snapping with its teeth.

"I can't bind it for much longer! The wound is too shallow! it's not deep enough you won't be able to kill it that way!"

Scarlett screamed, her concentration was at its utmost limit holding the behemoth of a bear. With the bear thrashing about, it did not help her current situation.