Leo saw another three knights that tried to make their way to towards their group. Because the space Leo created by the earth walls the group had a small amount of time to regroup. Elly was all over the place and the rest of the party just ignored her and tried to do what they could to survive.
After a short time three knights rushed over towards the group. They were pretty sure that the group was still disoriented after the sneak attack. They were sure in their victory until earth bullets and earth spikes started to hit them from all over the place. Those attacks were not something they could escape. After a short time, they got trapped by a few earth spikes stuck in their legs. It was not a spike that make a little wound, but something that entered from one part of the leg and exited in the other side. The Shmidt brothers did not let those guys to make any other action and killed them quickly. It was not hard to hit and kill a stationary target.
After that a silence descended on the part of the dungeon the group was located in. The other party was clearly not sure on what to do. In an open space this party will die for sure, but with those earth walls it was very hard to sneak attack the group that was clearly ready for a fight.
When Leo understood this point, he came over to Elly that was crying and vomiting and started to slap her hard on the face with all of his power without using any earth magic to get her somehow exit her messed up state of mind. The brothers saw that, but after a short internal struggle they did not interrupt Leo's doing.
After some beating Elly snapped out of her panic attack. She was bleading from her nose and mouth, but Leo did not show any compassion right now. He looked at her with dissapointment and said: "Get your shit together and help."
After that he just came over to the brother duo that were vigilantly standing on guard. After a short time, the Schmidts understood that the attackers decided to retreat. Their win was no longer set in stone and they just retreated.
Leo led the group slowly out of the dungeon. Elly kept sniffing and sobbing and at some moment Leo turned to her and yelled: "Can you shut up!? They still can be here and you just showing our location to every living being in the vicinity with all the noises you are doing. You are not helping. That is ok, but don't try to kill all of us!!!"
After that Elly lowered her head and shut her mouth. The brothers were vigilant, but sad inside. They understood that Leo was right, and Elly did all of the mistakes a rookie could do. They knew that would not take such a person to be a part of their team.
The group did get successfully to the city where Leo did relax. They did report to the adventurer's guild that they were ambushed by some killers. The location of the fight was reported, and high-level adventurers were dispatched to see what happened at the scene and they saw exactly what the team reported. It did cause a big uproar in the city. An investigation was started and the noble families that sent the assassins were not in a good shape. Only the noble family that was the hegemon of the city were calm. None of their people died.
As for Leo and the Shmidt siblings. They got back to their noble residence where Leo called for a family meeting right away.
The family members were sitting and looking at Leo with different expressions. The brothers were generally sad, Elly had a blank look on her face like all of her life force was sucked out of her and Elen was fuming about all that happened.
Leo started the conversation: "What is the maximum age when you can enrol in the capital academies?"
Elen did not get why Leo was talking about that, but he still answered: "Officially it is 18 years old, but if you ask me, it is not a good age to enter an academy. I would say 16 is the latest age when you should enrol."
Leo nodded and said, while pointing at Elly: "She is not ready to go to the capital. She is a spoiled brat, and I would not entrust her to cover my back for sure. Every person that will go with her will only increase his chances to kill himself. What happened in the dungeon was horrible, but we were 4 people in the end of the day, and she did not function at all. In any way shape or form. If she wants to be a princess and marry to some family, she can continue to do what she is doing. If she wants to change, she should start sparring with different people. Try to use her magic offensively. She should learn and dissect animals and other creatures. She should smell piss, guts that came out of a corpse and some shit that came out and not cry and throw up. That what she should do in the next two years. In any other scenario she will kill herself and the people that will trust her. I reject such a team member. I am ready to help, but she needs to do what she can!"
Elen wanted to somehow to pacify the situation, but when he saw the overprotective brothers just lower their heads, he just sighed and said: "I agree, but the final decision can only be made by her. I will support any decision you will make dear."
Elly looked at the floor with shame. She still was shocked with all the killing that happened. She understood that if their team of three did not carry her during the fight they would all die.
She sighed and said: "I agree. So be it!"