The other cloaked man looked at his assigned teammate in horror, he immediately started to retreat as fast as he could.
"R-R-Retreat! Anyone who isn't dead or injured retreats at full speed, anyone who is unable to escape but is alive. You know what our protocol is, lurker activate plan b."
As all the cloaked people stopped fighting and started to turn around, another black-cloaked person stepped in from outside the dark sphere.
"Sir, retreat! The city guard will be here at any moment, we ha-"
He stopped mid-sentence as he saw everyone was already close to the perimeter of the sphere. The surviving cloaked person of the two who came in late and was addressed as 'Sir', used magic to open a small tunnel in the sphere and had already passed through.
Erik shouted at the guards who had stopped everything and looked as if what they were seeing was a dream, that didn't involve them.
"What are you doing, try to capture any stragglers!"
Erik himself started to charge forward with the guards and in his peripheral vision he saw that all the guards had charged with him with no one behind that wasn't dead or unconscious.
Leon himself, the entire time didn't even attempt to fight anyone and did what he was told to do which was protect Aman.
Although Leon was more powerful than what his tier indicated, he still did not want to intervene in the fights. With his inexperience and the power of the cloaked men, who were at least around high D-Tier or maybe even the apex of D-Tier. There wasn't anything he could do.
Fighting one on one, wouldn't be impossible although winning was out of the question with only perhaps stalling out the fight being able to be done. However fighting that fight, while protecting Aman who did not seem like he could fight that well himself being a merchant was not possible.
He also ruled out the possibility of helping the guards, since the guards although were mostly weaker than himself were veterans and molded the team. They had each other backs and knew their formations and strategies really well and even though Leon could force himself into the fight and maybe be able to defeat a cloaked man with the help of the guards.
The fact that Leon was not on the same level of teamwork the guards had with each other would mean he would mess up their whole system, which was the guard's only real advantage over the cloaked men and the only thing keeping the fight close.
This meant Leon's actions would cost more deaths along with the guards, which didn't sit well with Leon and would be more of a negative the longer the fight went on.
So with this in mind, Leon had just stood in front of Aman closely surveilling the surroundings. Aman did not complain either and merely stood behind Leon being quiet the whole time, besides when both of them exclaimed at Erik's fight with the cloaked man.
Once again Leon had underestimated Erik and this was the first time Erik had actually shown a glimpse of his true fighting style in front of Leon.
Aman himself was quite astonished, he knew what Tier Erik was and his stories as an adventurer when he was younger, however, this was the first time he saw someone as powerful as that cloaked man be handled like a child.
Erik himself didn't even come close to reaching half his power either and maybe not even a fourth of it.
Aman talked for the first time in a while as he walked forward and stood side by side with Leon.
"What a true eye-opener, I must thank you and Erik for being here. Otherwise, we most likely would have been done for."
Leon replied with a smile.
"No problem Aman, Erik, and I view you and your father as friends. I hope you view us as frie-"
Before Leon finished talking a guard who looked like he had died and was lying on the floor near them suddenly jolted up, he charged forward and had a dagger in his hands.
The guard himself thought that Leon wouldn't be very strong, since he didn't participate in the battle himself and the fact that he was incredibly young.
Leon was already ready to intercept the swing that would inevitably come for Aman, he did not question why a guard would do that since he didn't know how loyal the guards were like Aman knew.
The guard didn't give a roar or battle cry but merely swung in silence. The dagger sliced through the air, however, what surprised Leon was the fact that the dagger suddenly changed direction from Aman to aiming at Leon.
What made the sudden change even stranger was the fact that it was not aiming for a vital spot, but his shoulder blade.
Leon surprised the guard with his speed and used the advantage to easily stab the guard with Ensis in the middle of his chest.
The guard had stopped short of Leon about a foot in front of him but had already stopped moving entirely.
Blood was pouring profusely from the stab wound and he dropped to the ground.
Aman ran up to the guard and had a look of shock and concern.
"But why?....."
The guard already was turning pale and had blood pouring out of his mouth, with a mouthful of blood being spat every time he talked he barely muttered out words.
"I...I'm sorry…. Young Master….they threatened…..my family...they ar-"
Life had left his eyes before he could finish whatever he wanted to say.
With those few words, Aman knelt for the fallen guard.
"Don't worry, I will be sure to help out your family in your steed."
Leon looked conflicted, although he understood no matter the reason he acted appropriately with the situation and knowledge he had. Aman and the others surely would not remotely hold a sliver of hate for him, considering he had limited info and acted in self-defense.
However the death of the guard subconsciously weighed on his mind, Leon had seen many living beings die before, with even his friends dying in front of him.
However this was the first time, Leon had taken a human life of someone who wasn't evil. He had killed before, but they were all criminals like kidnappers or perhaps even murderers.
Although he didn't know the man was being forced to attack him and Aman, the fact that he had killed a man acting for his family weighed on his mind.
Leon was still an innocent and inexperienced person at this sort of thing at heart, with a lot of events happening to him since that horrific incident in the dungeon. It still was the first time Leon had killed a person who wasn't a criminal or acting out of evil.
Kneeling with Aman, Leon knew within his heart he shouldn't feel too guilty.
"I-.... I'm sorry. Whatever and whoever made you do this…. I'll find them and bring them to kneel and beg for forgiveness in front of you! I swear on my conscience!"