Mingyue moved before the fragments reached the allied position.
Purple ice spread through the air in front of the soldiers. The largest pieces struck it and stopped long enough for Vesa to move the group clear.
Alex threw a rune barrier above the upper route, keeping the smaller fragments away from the soldiers moving through it.
The space around Thepes filled with dust.
He burst out of it with blood running down his face.
"You think throwing rocks will stop me?"
Blood formed the hammer in Alex's hand again. He met Thepes's next strike on its head. The impact drove him backward toward the upper passage.
Thepes had spent more power breaking through the ruin, and he was still following them away from the pit. Alex hadn't needed the throw to stop him.
Alex kept moving.
Behind them, the red-eyed army came through the falling dust. Its first ranks climbed over the broken stone while the bodies farther back forced their way through the spaces left by the collapse.
