Nishi managed to smash every single Spiny to death with her boulders. Regrettably, because these creatures were mechanically classified as the Lakitu's active summons, eliminating them yielded absolutely zero card drops.
Finally, those annoying little things are dealt with...
Nishi wiped a layer of sweat from her forehead, looking up just in time to see the Lakitu—still spinning like a top from the force of the impact—crash violently into the dirt.
"Curse you!"
The moment the Lakitu hit the terrain, a visible segment of his health bar vanished. Having taken Cyan's reinforced punch directly to the jaw, he hadn't sustained any immediate structural damage to his skull. Instead, the tactical goggles strapped to his face distorted, transitioning from pristine condition to a fractured, worn state. Clearly, the facial armor had absorbed the kinetic load of Cyan's strike.
You miserable bounty hunters! Just you wait!
The Lakitu scrambled out of the dirt. Glancing at the flattened carcasses of his beloved Spinies, he bit his lip, pivoted, and fled into the brush. In his line of work, nothing superseded individual survival; as long as he drew breath, there would always be an opportunity for a counter-offensive. If he expired here, everything ended.
"Where exactly do you think you're escaping to, little turtle~?"
A colossal shadow completely enveloped the fleeing Lakitu. Remembering how incredibly arrogant he had acted just moments ago, Nishi let out a radiant, predatory grin. Reaching down, she gripped both sides of his heavy carapace and hoisted him clean into the air.
Staring into Nishi's massive smile—which looked to him like the terrifying, ear-to-ear grin of a high-tier demon—the Lakitu's resolve collapsed instantly. He screamed out a desperate plea, "Spare me! I'll never do it again! Please, just let me go!"
"Let you go? Too late for that!"
Nishi hurled the Lakitu straight toward the pile of Spiny carcasses, immediately lifting another massive boulder and launching it right after him.
The Lakitu managed to tuck his limbs into his shell to absorb the initial impact against the corpses, suffering nominal health deterioration, but the follow-up boulder strike connected squarely, obliterating a massive portion of his remaining life bar.
Cyan, navigating the Lakitu's Cloud, leisurely descended to Nishi's side. She pointed her finger at the wheezing turtle and commanded calmly, "Finish him."
"Right away, Master~!"
Nishi smiled brilliantly as she advanced on the pinned target, hoisting the crushing stone and slamming it down onto the shell over and over again.
Crimson fluid began to seep from the edges of the armor plating. The dying Lakitu forced his head back out of the shell, hacking up mouthfuls of blood as he screamed with the absolute last of his strength, "Her Majesty will avenge me! You wretched bounty hunters... wash your necks and wait for execution!"
"Wahhh! Oh no, I am so unbelievably terrified!"
Nishi placed both hands against her cheeks, mocking his threats with a thoroughly exaggerated, theatrical display of fear.
Once the Lakitu finally stopped breathing, Nishi let out a soft huff. Noticing that the goggles on his face looked like a high-grade piece of equipment, she yanked them free before conducting a quick search through his remaining personal effects.
[Lakitu's Goggles]
[Type: Head / Face]
[Attributes: Defense +10, Intelligence +1, Spirit +1.]
[Special Effect 1: Enhances visual range by 1.5x.]
[Special Effect 2: While equipped, absorbs incoming damage targeted at the wearer's head. Once accumulated damage reaches 300 points, this effect is deactivated. Can be repaired by spending Survival Points upon returning to the Survival Space.]
[Equipment Requirements: Intelligence 10, Spirit 10.]
[Note: Lakitus absolute love the view from up high.]
"Returning this to you."
Cyan guided the sentient cloud down to Nishi's eye level, handing back the silk hair ribbon.
Taking the ribbon back, Nishi finally processed the reality of the situation. Realizing that Cyan was comfortably operating the exact same cloud the Lakitu had been flying on, her eyes widened into massive circles. She stammered out, "M-M-Master! Is that cloud a piece of lootable equipment?"
"It is a mount. It cannot be taken out of this world," Cyan stated transparently. She stepped off the canopy onto the grass, looking up at the 3.2 m towering physique of her giant companion. It was still an incredibly jarring perspective shift.
"Master, can I try riding it?" Nishi walked a full lap around the buoyant cloud with immense fascination, her eyes practically radiating an eager, pleading warmth.
"Go ahead."
"Awesome~! Master, you're the absolute best~!"
Nishi leapt into the air with pure excitement, landing her massive frame squarely onto the center of the cloud. The sheer momentum caused the sentient entity to oscillate violently under her expanded weight.
[Notification: Contractor 11766, your servant 'Nishi' has gained +5 Loyalty. Current Loyalty: 95.]
Cyan glanced at her partner. No wonder her loyalty metric is constantly fluctuating; even a minor concession like this triggers an increase.
"Oh, right! Master, this gear belongs to you!" Nishi handed the Lakitu's Goggles over to Cyan, pointing her finger at the silver card hovering directly above the corpse. "Master, you should open this one! I honestly don't think my luck is that reliable."
(Note: Because this specific piece of equipment was gathered via a manual post-mortem search of the target's physical inventory rather than the active 'Steal' skill, Cyan is fully permitted to utilize it.)
You call this bad luck?
Cyan evaluated the profile of the goggles. In her estimation, Nishi was being entirely too modest; if this haul qualified as mediocre, then her own default baseline was an absolute disaster—even with her +1 Luck amulet equipped.
However, there was a minor flaw with the asset: Special Effect 2 was currently grayed out and inactive. Evidently, this was the exact protective threshold that had neutralized the kinetic energy of her initial punch. The residual impact from the Lakitu crashing into the terrain must have pushed the accumulated absorption total over the maximum 300 point ceiling, breaking the perk.
[Silver Card used. Obtained: 1,000 Survival Points, Cream Cake.]
[Cream Cake]
[Type: Recovery Item]
[Function: Restores 40 Health Points and 20 Mental Energy.]
[Note: A rich, sugary confection smothered in heavy cream~!]
This was a Silver Card... not a Bronze... not even a Black Iron...
Cyan blinked blankly at the tiny pastry sitting in her inventory slot, her internal emotional state verging on a localized collapse.
"Master, let's get moving!"
Nishi guided the cloud to a low hover beside Cyan, extending her massive arms with a playful, teasing smile. "Would you like to sit in my lap?"
"..."
Cyan lapsed into a prolonged silence. Looking at the sheer scale of the expanded Nishi, who currently monopolized nearly eighty percent of the cloud's surface area, her options were heavily restricted. Short of physically booting her partner off the mount, she either had to cling to her back or settle into her lap.
Ultimately, Cyan elected to sit in Nishi's lap. At the very least, her back would be resting against something exceptionally soft.
It was worth noting that when the Super Mushroom forced her physiology to scale upward, Nishi's natural proportions had undergone a parallel, staggering enhancement. Her volume had expanded to an almost absurd degree.
Ahhh! Master looks so small and precious right now!
Holding Cyan securely within her perimeter, Nishi's internal composure fractured completely. Her heart rate accelerated rapidly, the thumping rhythm echoing through her expanded ribcage.
"Mm? Your core temperature is spiking significantly, and your pulse is accelerating..." Cyan noted, instantly picking up on the physical deviations of the person behind her.
"I-I'm perfectly fine! It's probably just... because it's my first time flying on a cloud! Pure excitement... right! My body is just reacting to the aerial transit!" Nishi scrambled frantically to construct a plausible alibi.
"Are you falling ill?" Cyan looked up at Nishi's flushed face, deducing that a localized infection might be compromising her system.
"No, no, definitely not! It's just a bit of adrenaline! My constitution is incredibly robust; I don't catch illnesses easily!" Nishi explained rapidly, flexing her massive, muscular arm to demonstrate her peak physical condition.
Human physiology is remarkably fragile... Cyan mused.
"Should we halt for a recess?"
"Master, I am genuinely not sick!" Nishi stated helplessly.
"And yet, your heart rate... and your thermal output..." Cyan remained thoroughly unconvinced, operating under the assumption that her servant was simply being stubborn to avoid delaying the mission.
"This... this is a completely normal physiological response! Being this close to Master makes me feel a bit... a bit flustered..." Nishi muttered in a barely audible whisper.
"I see. I will establish some distance then," Cyan replied, shifting her weight forward to create a gap.
"Don't! It's perfectly fine like this!"
Realizing her explanation had triggered an unintended counter-reaction, Nishi made a remarkably bold move, pulling Cyan firmly back into her embrace.
"It is too confined..."
Cyan leveled a flat, completely dark expression at Nishi. If they weren't currently suspended thirty meters in the air on a floating cloud, she would have unceremoniously thrown the giant bandit over the side.
"I am so incredibly sorry! I completely carried myself away!"
Nishi instantly retracted her arms in a panic. Cyan's recent leniency had been so consistent that she had temporarily forgotten just how devastatingly lethal the entity sitting in her lap truly was.
"It is fine. It is soft and quite comfortable..."
Cyan leaned her back into the plush support of Nishi's chest, her silver-white eyes narrowing slightly as she relaxed into the transit.
"Ah..."
Hearing that concise validation, Nishi finally processed just how profoundly intimate their current configuration was. Her cheeks flushed an intense crimson. Shaking her head violently, she forced her focus outward, dedicating her entire concentration to piloting the cloud through the sky.