Struck with the sudden news of the presence of the Dark mage, the entire town became worried and by the night time, everything had become dead quiet.
The streets were empty, the lights all around the cheerful town were dim, there were no children playing around the town, and there were not even any people on the streets tonight.
There were lights of the streets illuminating the now empty streets, some bars were still open but there was no noise around.
The presence of a single dark mage was so great that an entire town had fallen quite even before the arrival of their forces.
People were worried, there was a certain pressure in the air around the town, and even the players who were not interested in fighting were all hiding in their houses and inns.
"We will depart shortly. Get ready, all of you."
The town's mage tower had sent their best mages, while the knights of the town had also gathered to take down the evil mage.
A lot of people had gathered in the central plaza now, and various teams were preparing for their missions under the commands of the group captains.
[{ "Since this is only a beginner town, I think the Dark mage will be higher than (Level-60) but not more than (Level-100)." }]
[{ "But isn't that too much already?" }]
The Moongold town was bigger than many of the beginner towns, but the overall combat power of the town was still not that great.
There were only around fifty mages from the mage's tower that could fight in a battle like this one, there were only six proper knights that could use the power of (Aura) among the elites, and the guard captain was the only person here that was (Level-75), the highest level among the natives of the town.
Even the knights were only around level sixty and though the Mayor was a capable person, he was also only around (Level-60).
The guard captain was mainly in charge of keeping the city free of the thugs and bastards and dealing with the excess monsters, and since he was in charge of the other guards, he was also a good leader.
"Hey… the community forums…"
"I saw that. And it makes a lot of sense, you know?"
"The people in charge of these people have to do a good job. Elder Fin was worried about the town and his family."
"This town has given us a lot already. We better protect them well."
[{ "We should be able to deal with someone lower than (Level-100) with this much force. Besides, there might be many high level minions and dark creatures with that mage. We don't know pretty much anything about their forces." }]
[{ "I guess that's why this Recon team is so important." }]
In the entire town, aside from the head of the mages' tower and the Librarian, only the guard captain was the one known to possess the highest level.
Not even the knights that train their bodies to the limits or the experienced mages who can cast many (tier-3) magic spells effortlessly had a level as high as him.
It was actually unusual since the upper level limits of the natives of a small place like this one was in the lower sixties.
Meeting someone with such a higher level was a rare thing, and that uniqueness was one of the reasons she had counted the guard captain as one of the candidates for the important people.
But that was not the only reason she had speculated him to be one of the important people candidates.
"Who are they though…? I know the people in charge of the other five but, who are those two? How did they get so close to the guard captain?"
"Shhhhh. Don't you know her? She's the one who beat up the Pus party."
"They say the one with her is her boyfriend or something and they met the guard captain just yesterday for the first time– actually, I've heard that the boy with her was only a newbie (Level-13) just until yesterday."
There were various leading groups or players that were now guarding the six people she had speculated to be the one mentioned in the quest. And most of these people were higher than (Level-35).
Some were even members of big guilds and were higher than (Level-40).
[{ "Recon is important. Information is a very important factor of this kind of quests." }]
The average level of the player in this town or in any town was around (Level-30).
People left for the cities when they reached around (Level-40) to get a class or to learn more about the things that they were interested in.
The high level players who had not chosen the town as their starter town or had already registered some other place as their residential affiliation weren't permitted in the beginner town so even if the (Achievement hoarders) wanted to get here, they were all restricted by the system.
This was the quest for the beginner players of this town and the residents, so there was no need for outside interference.
[{ "Let's do our best on this Recon mission then~." }]
[{ "Haha, of course." }]
The oldest player that was here since the beginning of this game was the owner of the most famous salon of this town. A respected elder who spent most of her days doing what she liked.
She surely was the only player in the town to be over (Level-100) but she did not fight. And she never wanted to either.
Alex had her reasons to believe how her death might also affect the quest in some manner– but just like Elio, the other players did not understand it.
She was a player at the end, and she would revive even if she died. There was no reason for a dark mage to aim for someone like her– but the viral community post that Alex had made explained her reasons in such a believable manner that even though there was no solid proof of her claims, the players had no other choice but to pay attention to it.
"The Recon team will depart now! All members! Gather at the west gate!"
There were various people now assigned to these people, and most of them were from influential parties or guilds or groups that the other players did not want to mess with.
This was a quest and this was a chance for them to earn an achievement, extra rewards, favor of the Mayor, and even affection of the town folks.
They could not miss this chance… and even though many had their doubts, they did not mess with the girl and boy who were in the Recon team with the guard captain and a few other higher level players.
All the players could tell the ones closest to the guard captain right now were the two of them, and they were also working closely with the natives.
Many players did not like it, many from their group also were the same, but they couldn't do anything about that anymore.
The operation was starting now that the Recon team had departed… and the mages could sense already, the evil was closing in.
They had to get started now.