Calming his mind, Max waited for the perfect moment. He waited one breath, two, then there it was. With a quick pull of his finger, Max blasted a hole in the head of the big read demon.

Before the others even realized what was happening, Max pulled the trigger again. And then again. A few times in rapid succession. Before the leader had even hit the ground, Max had managed to kill another one of the demons and injure two more.

The last one had reacted quickly though and managed to vanish before Max’s eyes. Trusting his instincts, Max immediately jumped forward into a dive role. He felt the touch of wind kissing his back, and as he turned around he saw the demon standing a few feet behing him, holding a dagger where his back was just a second ago.

Max didn’t hesitate and unloaded a dozen rounds of laser bullets into his opponent. Unluckily for the poor fellow, Max didn’t need to work in precise shots anymore and could just let loose. The demon fell to the ground looking like a blood catheter that had gotten involved with a porcupine.

Max made a mistake though, and turned his back too long towards the still wounded demons behind him. Max had specifically targeted their legs, and because of their wounds, he hadn’t judged them to be much of a threat anymore.

Unfortunately, not all attacks were physical. A small fireball hit him in his back, sending him stumbling. A burning smell felt Max’s nostrils and he quickly started rolling on the ground to kill the flames.

As he got back up and knelt next to the cover of a tree, he saw that one more demon had collapsed, probably succumbing to its wounds. There wasn’t a trace of the other on to be seen though. It probably fled.

Max wanted to go looking for it, but his back groaned in protest. Waves of pain made Max nauseous and his back started feeling cold all of a sudden. He knew that wasn’t a good sign.

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Since he wasn’t in fighting shape anymore, he just let the last demon be, and made his way slowly back to the camp. His vision was flimmering and he held his rifle at the ready at all times though, ready for any danger that could emerge. But there was not a single threat still there.

The walk that had taken him only a few minutes before, now felt like an eternity. Max was close to losing consciousness from time to time, only the stark pain in his back keeping him alive. The constant smell of burned flesh made him sick and his legs feel weak, but he kept going forward, half delirious as he was.

He stumbled upon the clearing of their camp, unable to recognize the face of his friend who caught him. Max could hear people crying out, concerned voices, but he couldn’t make out who it was, nor could he hear the individual words. All he heard was urgency in their tones.

Strong arms supported him, lifted him, and carried him towards the camp. It was then that Max finally allowed himself to pass out and escape from the pain.

When Max awoke in their infirmary tent, the first thing he was greeted with, was a more than welcome message.

*Congratulations, you’ve completed your Quest.*

*Bonus rewards have been given based on performance and type of defeated foe.*

Max looked at the message, a little confused. He hadn’t known there was such a thing as bonus rewards, but he gladly took them if the Manaverse gave them. With a mental command he willed the message away, and a new one took it’s place.

*Congratulations, you’ve been granted 100 Mana Shards.*

*Congratulations, as a bonus reward, you’ve been granted a special object in your Node Menu. The object has been unlocked from a tier above your current means, please check your Menu for more information.*

Max was surprised by the generous rewards. Usually he had gotten only a handful of Mana Shards for a level up, so getting 100 for completing this quest made him almost jump up in the air.

Of course he was even more eager to see what kind of object he had unlocked.