...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.

Z took a step back away from the bear and smashed the shield into the dagger, like a hammer to a nail, knocking it deeper into the head of the bear. After repeating this a few times, he moved backwards and used the repelling force of the shield to slam the bear. The bear's body started to spasm as the dagger went deep into its brain.

Z aimed the shield on the ground one more time, launching him into the air. He held on to the shield by the sides, using the edge at the bottom of the shield as a battering ram to slam down on the thick neck of the bear breaking it's spinal cord, finally taking away it's last breath away.

Z tumbled on the floor as the shield fell. He slowly stood up and walked towards the shield as he stepped on in letting it bounce comfortably into his hands. He walked to Scarlett who breathed a sigh of relief as she let go of her manifest that was binding the bear.

"Can you stand?" Z asked Scarlett as she slowly pushed off the ground in a feeble attempt.

Z supported her letting her stand up fully.

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have doubted you... When I had my first mission as a corporal, I was supposed to lead my team through the dark forest as well. I was betrayed by some irresponsible soldiers, they were unmanifested... I..."

Scarlett looked down on the ground. The man she had thought was incapable fully destroyed a bear beast and a one eyed bat, without even using a manifest. This made Scarlett change her perspective on him.

Z looked at the mess behind him with Odrunn, David and Wallas still on the ground, he calmly walked over and hoisted David and Wallas gently over to Odrunn making sure their wounds don't get worse, letting them rest together.

"Can you contact them?" Z turned to Scarlett and asked.

Scarlett cocked her head and gave him a blur look.

"You can use your commswatch now, the illusion has been lifted and there is no more interference, you can contact them now."

Z answered as he checked up on Odrunn. Odrunn took a brunt of the force, but it seemed that his manifest was keeping him alive.

"Where did you go! The raspy voice at the other end of the commswatch sounded out. You're just supposed to walk in a straight line! How did you end up getting lost! We've already caught up with the scout team! Where the hell are you! "

Lieutenant Raff started shouting partially worried for his underling and partially upset that he had entirely lost contact with his team. He was a firm boss yet he was fair and he had always shown kindness to his underlings. After losing her team Sergeant Scarlett had always been following Lieutenant Raff and under his leadership she became a better person than she was before.

Hearing his voice through the commswatch immediately made her tear up.

"Sir, we.. are at 134. 153 we came under attack, there are some injuries."

She answered slowly inunciating every word clearly.

"Okay stay where you are! We are on our way!"

Lieutenant Raff shouted as his connection got cut off. It wasn't too long before the scout team arrived, the first thing that caught their vision was the huge corpse of the dead black bear. Next to them the group of injured people on the ground, with Z and Scarlett sitting next to them.

They immediately dashed forward to check on the conditions of their allies. Not 10 minutes later, the main body finally arrived. Again the sight of the black bear astounded them.

"Tch, it would have been better if the bear killed him." Kyzil spoke, with malice in his voice.

Vero could only shake his head listening to the things that would come out of his friend's mouth.

Lieutenant Raff immediately pulled private Tristan forward asking him to take care of the wounded.

He then turned his attention towards Scarlett and Z that were in front of him.

"Scarlett! What the hell happened? Why would you chase the black bear into the forest with no back up. It's beyond irresponsible!"

Lieutenant Raff's thick eyebrows scrunched together as he berated his second in command.

"I... We.. Didn't chase after the bear." Sergeant Scarlett spoke, unable to make sense of the situation, she had been in the forests plenty of times it was the first time she had encountered an invisible bear and was confused by the turn of events.

"Allow me to explain sir, we were being hit by an invisible enemy, and we were doing our best to defend against it. But after a few blasts the rest of them were flung away leaving me and Sergeant Scarlett in the middle of the field.

I raised my shield up and got smashed by something so hard that the shield was crumpled. Luckily it took most of the blow, while I was flying I knocked into something and the scene changed entirely. It was this thing. "

Z picked up the one eyed bat from the floor and threw it in front of Lieutenant Raff.

"After it landed in front of Sergeant Scarlett she stabbed it to death with her dagger. Once she did a huge bear appeared in front of her. After using her shield to knock it back she managed to stab the bear in it's eye and kill it."

Z explained the entire situation to Lieutenant Raff calmly, his heart did not even skip a beat.

"But I... I didn't..." Scarlett started to mumble trying to complete her sentence,

Lieutenant Raff just raised his eyebrows, cutting her off.

"Oh... you did a good job Scarlett. This sucker right here is an illusion bat, they generally stay within caves or dark places and they never come out during the day. Though they are weak physically they are very crafty and are really very hard to find once they put you under an illusion. Most of all, it doesn't work well with other beasts, so the fact that it was out here working with the black bear was an oddity in itself.

Nevertheless, through some luck, you managed to escape the illusion and kill both the bear as well as the bat. That's how a soldier should be. However, you were really lucky, you almost missed the vertebrae on the neck. Next time you better aim properly."

Lieutenant Raff winked towards Scarlett and Z as he made his way to check up on the casualties.