Climate Catastrophe
Aliard and those with him wanted to charge toward Leonel, but they were hesitant to do so. Though they had previously looked down on Leonel, this didn't mean that they thought they could defeat Leonel in a few exchanges. They knew that they would have to at least put forward a small effort.
The root cause of their confidence was their larger number of quality experts. Whether it was Peirce, Margrave or Aliard, they could all battle King Arthur and had better than 50% odds in defeating him. This was without even counting any other trump cards they may or may not have.
However, if they charged for Leonel now, they would become embroiled in battle. By then, the beast tide would definitely be upon them. They weren't naïve enough to believe that Leonel would summon these beasts without the ability to control them and they could see that it was most likely related to the golden rod in his hands.