The party crept back before the horde could notice them. They retreated to the sewer entrance as fast as they could. Vincent turned at the entrance after the party exited and reentered. Going about twenty feet deep he began to use earth magic to collapse the tunnel as he backed out.
He finished and came out. "There're only three entrances to the sewer spread through the city. I've blocked this one because I don't want those troglodytes following our scent from the inner tunnels out this exit. The other two aren't particularly vulnerable to incursion. One exits less than a block from the Mage's Enforcement squad headquarters and the other exits by the taming fields. The monster aura from the fields should be more than enough to scare the troglodytes off from exiting there."
"So, what do we do next?" Xavier asked.
"Now we inform the enforcement squad and you," Vincent pointed at Xavier, "inform your father. We're going to need the help of the Mitchell familia."
Xavier immediately nodded and took out his cell to call his father. The others all began to call the people they needed to tell as well. Within an hour the party was at the taming fields in their main hall.
Other than Xavier's father there were several high-ranking city officials, several independent hunters, and other representatives of various other forces. A large table was in the center of the room. It had a diorama of the tunnels including the ones that Xavier and his party had mapped out. Xavier had been pulled off to the side by his father the moment he had gotten there.
"Watch and listen. Don't talk unless someone asks you a direct question. Understood?" Xavier nodded to his father in response. "Good. Then stand by the wall behind me."
Xavier took up his position as the meeting began. One of the more senior hunters began to summarize events. "We have an entire horde of demon creatures right under our feet. We should be able to handle them despite their numbers. We have enough mages and our defenses could very much limit their ability to come at us in massive numbers. The biggest issue we may have is that we have no idea of the limits of the upper combatants in the horde."
One of the city officials stepped forward. "If it were a few hundred creatures the worst that we'll have to anticipate is a commander level creature. With an entire horde we should at least expect an inferior level monarch. The question is how we should deal with the possibility."
Another of the hunters stepped forward. "Any monarch creature, inferior or not, can defeat a hundred advanced mages. We don't even have that many."
Xavier's father stepped forward. "I can go toe to toe with one inferior monarch but not more and certainly not a higher-level monarch. A horde this big," he shook his head. "The likelihood that more monarchs are present is high."
A city official shook his head in dismay. "Is there any possibility we can get some outside help? The state or feds?"
One of the hunters shook his head. "They'd have to travel through the wilds to get here. Even if they could make it there's a good chance the horde will attack before they get here."
The first hunter indicated the diorama of tunnels. "There's a good chance that we can use the tunnels to cull the horde. The only issue is the monarchs. So, is there any way to use the environment to deal with them as well?"
Xavier's father shook his head. "If it's a monarch living in the tunnels then it's proficient in the earth element. Those things will be more at home down there than we ever could be."
"Then we have no recourse but to evacuate." It was one of the city officials. He looked around the room, "Killing off the weaker members of the hoard will mean shit if we can't deal with the monarchs. The only thing we can do is evacuate."
The room went silent. The stark reality was hitting them all pretty hard. In the midst of all this a young aid walked in and whispered in the ear of Xavier's father. He nodded in reply and then turned to the room.
Xavier took a deep breath in relief. His father was smiling. It must mean there was some good news. "It seems that we can breathe a little bit. We have a squad of ascendant mages from Kansas City coming to offer us support. They'll be here in a couple hours."
There were sighs of relief around the room. The mayor spoke, "We can hold on the plans to assault the sewers until they've arrived."
Xavier frowned as an errant thought crossed his head. Remembering his father's words of warning he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he tugged lightly on Trenton's shirt corner.
Trenton leaned down so that Xavier could whisper his thought. Trenton nodded and then straightened. "We should assault now."
The room went quiet as everyone turned to look at Trenton. It was Xavier's father who asked the question. "Why? The monarchs will annihilate us without the ascendants there to knock them back. What's the motivation to attack now?"
Trenton faced him. "If we wait for the ascendants to arrive the monarchs will never voluntarily enter the battle. They'll flee, rebuild the horde, and then come back."
He pointed at the map. "We have a fundamental issue with the defense of the city. The river will constantly be a security risk. We also have a decent advantage. Time. If we can wipe out these monarchs we'll have at least twenty to thirty years when we won't have any monarchs threatening the river. We wait for the ascendents, we'll have them back in three months. We need to wipe them out now. If we start the battle the monarchs will stay because they believe they'll have a chance to win. The ascendants will come in the middle and the monarchs won't have the opportunity to flee then."
The room went quiet as everyone considered what had been said. After several moments most of the officials nodded in consent, the mayor and Xavier's father followed shortly after. For the next half hour the officials planned out as many of the details as they could. At the end, Xavier's father nodded his head, "This should be enough for now. We can't plan too far ahead in situations such as this."
The officials and hunters dispersed as Xavier's father came and collected him. "Xavier, I want you to go home now. You've done enough for now."
Xavier was surprised. "What do you mean? I'm gonna fight."
His father's expression became stern. "This isn't a discussion or a negotiation. You'll go home. Now."
His father's expression wasn't leaving any wiggle room. Xavier backed down knowing he didn't have a leg to stand on. "Can I watch from the other embankment at the beginning? At least until the monarchs begin to stir?"
His father glared at him for a long time. "Fine but you need to stay on the bluffs, not just the opposite embankment. That'll give you enough time to get away if it becomes necessary."
His father was about to go on when he paused. Unexpectedly he reached out and grabbed Xavier's arm. He grabbed Xavier's e.r.a and looked at it intensely. He shook his head, "You really are a lucky little bastard, aren't you?"
Xavier looked askance at his father. "What do you mean?"
"You didn't even notice that you collected two servant class soul essences and six remnants. Your e.r.a is now fully activated allowing you to use it to cultivate." His father gave a self-deprecating smile. He sighed, "Like I said, lucky bastard."
"Is there something you need to tell me, dad? Should I ask mom instead?" Xavier was teasing his father.
His father looked at him puzzled for a few seconds. Once he realized Xavier's intention he was infuriated. "Bastard!" Then he chopped Xavier on the head causing him to squat with his hands on top of his head in pain.