I needed to think fast because the underground fight wasn't slowing. Through Sense I counted fifteen Corruptors trapped in the collapsed tunnel, packed tight with no footing, while the serpents struck them from below and the larger one stayed above, attacking the remaining five.
The corridor would run through here and I couldn't let all of the Corruptors die, because of the portals, and because the serpents might grow stronger by killing them. Walking away wasn't an option.
An idea formed, not a good one, but the only one I had time for.
I grabbed the cube and forced the barrier outward, larger than before, big enough to contain the fifteen Corruptors, then deactivated it and moved.
I ran toward the hole where the Corruptors had fallen.
The edge crumbled under my boots as I reached it, loose soil giving way where the ground had collapsed. I stopped just long enough to glance down into the pit, dark and shifting with movement.
I threw the cube.
