Up on the surface, the situation was rapidly deteriorating into a nightmare too.
Selphira's soon to be depleted squad had been fighting a losing battle against the mechanical artifact wedged into the vault ceiling for far too long. The indestructible chunk of corrupted metal was anchored into the wall of Ren's containment dome.
It was obvious within the first few minutes of the struggle that they could not simply destroy Ren's wall; even the most concentrated spiritual fire the Vanguard could muster failed to leave a single scorch mark on the alloy.
Destroying the barricade, however, was not the objective.
Extraction was the only goal.
If they could physically rip the plug out of the crater, they would successfully rob the corrupted titan of another indestructible appendage while simultaneously clearing the tunnel to drop down and support Ren in the basement.
