Beta looked back and saw Tristan, who took a short break at the back, being attacked. The wall behind him had crumbled down quickly and a shadow put its hands on him, pulling him back. Everyone was shocked for a moment as no one had expected them to come from the side where their house was connected to another one, but soon, they had no choice but to look away again because they themselves were already in danger. Even though they felt horrible for their friend's situation, they couldn't possibly break formation and risk everyone to fall in the same plight. They only endured and gritted their teeth as they heard Tristan's screams echoing through the house. That was when Beta suddenly gave his command.

"Retreat! Go to the escape route in a defensive formation! We don't know if these things are endless so we can't just wait here forever! Don't worry about Tristan, I'll get him out of there!"

Just as Beta declared, he jumped towards Tristan while shooting void arrows to kill the shadows surrounding him, which gave him more space. Tristan was barely defending himself by covering his surroundings in a ring of fire which prevented the shadows to get closer to him, but some still managed to slash him heavily and gave him ghastly wounds on his body. He was in agony and thought that he couldn't keep his soulpower up anymore but then he felt relieved as he finally got out of the encirclement with Beta's help.

When Tristan noticed Beta coming closer, he opened up a small path and ran towards him as fast as he could. Beta kept the opening safe, ridding it of shadows who attempted to block the way and catch the wounded Tristan. It wasn't until Tristan made it close to him that they both ran back to the squad while avoiding the shadows so that they could go back into formation as soon as possible.

On their way, Beta took a good look at Tristan. Blood was gushing out from his arm and chest without end, staining the ground beneath them. He also noticed that Tristan was barely able to keep consciousness which made him realize just how badly he was injured. Beta clenched his fists at the thought that they were in the ruins at night because of him. He really underestimated the danger due to his overconfidence in his strength, but he knew that every leader had to learn from mistakes. Next time, he certainly wouldn't do it without getting more information. He needs to be more thorough to ensure that the same situation won't happen to them again. Just as this went through his mind, his ears perked up and he looked to his left.

"Swoosh!"

An arrow was approaching Tristan at a break-neck speed. Tristan only noticed it when it was almost in front of him.

"Ding!"

Beta blocked the arrow with his staff and quickly followed its trajectory to its origin. Sadly, he wasn't able to make out who shot it as the archer had already left the scene. The darkness of the night and the commotion also hindered his line of sight. They also didn't have the time to go there and check who shot it either, so they could only let it go at the moment and joined the squad as they swiftly started to move to their escape route.

Now everyone knew exactly why Beta had told them to clear this path. If they were attacked by beasts now as well, it would mean certain death for them. Thanks to their prior knowledge of this area, fewer shadows got to them. But that didn't mean that they were completely free of them. Their group still got constantly attacked by them, exhausting them endlessly.

As time passed on, the injuries got heavier for the other members and no matter how many times they changed their formation, it didn't solve anything for there were still countless of shadows endlessly attacking them with no breaks. Beta, on the other hand, was not only fighting the shadows but also still looking out for eventual arrows coming in from the sides. Yet up to now, he saw no one tailing them nor received the same kind of sneak attack. He couldn't help but worry since a surprise attack by others could easily devastate them at the moment.

"Ahh!"

Beta turned around and saw that another one of his teammates was wounded by a group of shadows to which he instantly rescued by firing more of his void arrows. The shadows were obliterated as it got swallowed by the void to turn into nothingness and Beta passed the wounded guy to one of the healers to apply first aid. The pressure got harder and harder, their escape route being the only path to salvation that they could see.

Slowly, the sky was getting brighter, going from black to a dark blue and finally showing a small sunrise on the horizon. Right before the sun was completely seen, the shadows stood still and faded away seconds later. Looking at this, Beta couldn't help but shake his head. The shadows that had tortured them for a whole night just vanished as if they were nothing more than air. The whole squad, especially the wounded ones, felt sour looking at that scene. In the end, there were four people who were heavily injured and needed immediate treatment.

"Brian, Domian, Sophie, Harald, bring the four wounded safely back to the camp and make sure they recover properly. Johann and I are in the best condition out of all of us, so we will stay and search for the party that tried to sneak attack us earlier.", Beta commanded in a hard voice.

It was clear in his voice that it was something urgent, more than their task of looking for the key for the rune prison. His teammates only thought that Beta was planning to investigate the scum who tried to sneak attack them while they were fighting for their lives and took advantage of their situation. So, it was only normal for them to think that Beta, as the leader, will want to scout the area for any kind of dangers left that might hinder them on their quest. But they all have no idea that Beta have something more in mind.

The party that attacked them earlier did not only see that Beta was a Void Elementalist as he had been shooting void arrows every now and then when it got too hard to defend from the endless wave of shadow soldiers, they also had almost killed one of his squad members. If they were left alone, they might even hunt down his squad on their way to the camp.

Every one of them was clearly exhausted, so it shouldn't be too hard even for a slightly weaker team to kill them. But Beta knew that the enemy had at least a skilled archer. It really made him almost lost his calm knowing that somebody tried to hurt his people in front of him. A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes but also quickly vanished, replaced by his usual calm fa?ade.

"I should come with you instead!", Brian said instantly.

"I should go as well! Help is definitely needed in a situation like this!", Domian added in.

"We can't do that. If they already went ahead and prepared something, the wounded have to be protected by all costs. You two have to bring our friends to safety this time. If there's anyone who stops you... just kill them as fast as possible and continue on your way. You don't have time to play.", Beta said, emphasizing on how important it was to protect their wounded teammates.

When Brian and Domian looked at the four people that fell unconscious after the fight finally ended, they couldn't help but grit their teeth. They knew that this time, they wouldn't be able to stand at Beta's side. They also can't refute his command, for after all, he is still their leader. So, they could only nod at him, took the wounded, and hurriedly left towards the camp.

Protection wasn't the only reason why Beta had sent them back. Others may not have noticed, but he knew just how much these two had overexerted themselves to keep everyone safe. They had quite a few gushing wounds themselves and were only standing because of their extraordinary willpower. Beta looked at their lonely and exhausted backs, then he gripped his staff tightly as he turned back.

"Let's go, Johann.", Beta said calmly.

"Alright. I'll heal you a bit on our way.", Johann commented flatly.

Even though he majored in sharpshooting and crowd control, as a Wood Elementalist, he still knew one or two healing spells. Even if they weren't as effective as most other elements, they at least could replenish some blood and stamina. This was something Beta needed, since this whole time, Beta didn't leave the battle even once.

He couldn't feel some of his body parts anymore due to overfatigue, but his body's natural recovery slowly got him to feel better again. Coupled with a potion they had bought the day before and Johann's healing, Beta was ready to fight once again. Once the both of them recovered their soulpower after completely healing, they finally left to backtrack and investigate the area where Beta last saw the archer.

It wasn't long until they reached the location and both of them went back to the place where Tristan had been shot at and followed its trajectory again. Minutes later, Beta found some clues right behind an elevated position with a good view over the ruined house that Beta's squad had stayed in. It looked as if someone had tried to cover their tracks but still was careless enough as to leave a hint. If not for a small piece of cloth that was hanging on a nail, he might not have noticed it, but this way, Beta was sure that he could follow the group.

"Bastards.. I will find you and I will kill you.", Beta mumbled as he inspected the way the group had left to.