Not only Sam wanted to complain: even Acheron and Black Swan felt as if their brains were being forcefully overloaded. They'd faced all kinds of bizarre sights across the universe, but this… this was truly something new.
Only Silver Wolf, who had been watching from her console, reacted differently. Seeing the absurd "fusion" scene unfold, she took both hands off the keyboard.
"Sam! Hope you wake up feeling better."
She already knew Sam had lost.
Forget the fact that she was remotely controlling it: even if the pilot herself took over, there was no surviving against that abomination of a combo.
She knew Pei Guang too well.
This was the same player who had once caught Phantylia, the Undying Destruction, and used her as a power generator.
A single Sam? If all the Stellaron Hunters showed up together, Pei Guang would still find a way to package them up and take them home.
"Wait a sec—actually, aside from Elio, hasn't he already caught everyone else? Great. He's turning them all into his image now."
Silver Wolf muttered as she opened some snacks and drinks, ready to sit back and enjoy the show. She was honestly curious to see just how much chaos Pei Guang could bring to Penacony.
In fact, she even thought: if Pei Guang somehow ended up becoming the actual leader of Penacony, it wouldn't surprise her in the slightest.
While Silver Wolf had already given up, Sam on the battlefield was still furiously running calculations as it faced the sight of the three-person fusion armor.
It was riddled with openings, and yet no matter how much Sam computed, it couldn't find a single path to victory. Then again, it thought, isn't it normal for armor to lose to its own pilot?
And besides, if its pilot could do this with a fake armor, imagine what would happen if she piloted the real Sam and then performed a fusion!
Sam couldn't even calculate how powerful it would become then.
But that was for later. For now, it would show its half-conscious pilot its true power.
As Sam burst forth with energy, Firefly charged forward to meet it.
They collided, and in that instant, Pei Guang raised his shield on the right arm to block all of Sam's physical strikes, then unleashed the Savory Truefire, completely engulfing Sam.
Against that fire, mechanical flames stood no chance.
As Pei Guang always said, the Savory Truefire might not be as mighty as the original Threefold True Fire, but by system rules, it did suppress ordinary fire: as long as the user had enough energy.
Pei Guang couldn't sustain it for long… but he had consumables!
The Savory Truefire neutralized Sam's flames, while his small shield immediately triggered a counter the moment it made contact with Sam's body. In the face of a counter, all beings were equal.
But as a full armor unit, Sam's durability bar was incredibly long: a single counter wasn't enough to stagger it.
That didn't matter, though. Pei Guang, who had years of experience perfecting the art of counterattacks, simply started bashing at Sam's armor with his shield.
If getting hit could trigger a counter, then hitting someone else could too. Counter was counter—no difference.
After several repeated parries, Sam, who had tried to fight back, completely lost control of its system.
While Pei Guang became the strongest shield, blocking every attack and disrupting Sam's systems, Stelle became the strongest spear. She leapt in close, her flame spear stabbing deep into Sam's chest, while her blue-glowing bat slammed down hard on its head.
The flames covering Sam flickered out, its armor entering a critical state, on the verge of being expelled from the dreamscape. Even then, it was scanning Pei Guang and Stelle's data, unable to comprehend how these two could even qualify as "armor components."
But since they could fuse with Firefly, Sam began running calculations for their combined potential.
Pei Guang and Stelle had completed their defense and attack sequences.
Firefly gently touched Sam's frame and whispered, "Mission complete…"
At her soft murmur, the silent Sam instantly vanished. Its disappearance didn't affect Firefly: she could summon it back at any time if she wished.
As she was about to sigh in relief, something caught her attention. On the spot where Sam had stood, there were now a few scattered credit chips and… several puddings?
Sam had dropped loot?
Firefly stared at the items on the ground, completely baffled.
She knew Sam inside and out: even if it were blown to pieces, there was no way it would contain pudding. Yet right there were several unopened ones and a pile of credits.
"Huh?"
She had seen Pei Guang's ability to make enemies drop gold before, but seeing Sam do it too made her feel… strangely conflicted.
Just as she was processing that, Acheron, who had been watching the whole time, walked over holding a peach.
She looked silently at the unopened puddings for a moment, then carefully picked up a white peach–flavored one and casually asked, "So… anything we defeat will drop things like this?"
Pei Guang nodded. "Yep! Any enemy you beat can drop loot. Why? You like that one?"
Acheron didn't reply. She just turned her gaze toward Black Swan.
Feeling Acheron's eyes on her, Black Swan quickly clarified her position.
"Hmm~ what's this? Are you… unhappy with your companion?"
She emphasized the word "companion," because from Acheron's emotions, she was sensing something very peculiar: something like… being treated as an ATM.
Looking at Acheron, Pei Guang didn't know exactly what she was thinking, but recalling all their past experiences, he had a hunch.
He smiled and said, "Don't worry. There'll be plenty of enemies ahead. I'll keep track of the ones that drop your favorite fruits and desserts. When this is all over, I'll help you farm enough to last you ten, maybe twenty years. How about that?"
Acheron's eyes brightened slightly. "Really?"
"Of course it's real. Just be ready with the quest reward when the time comes."
"No problem…"
For a moment, Acheron actually felt relieved, maybe even lucky, that she'd kept the body of Duke Inferno back then.
And if that wasn't enough for the reward… well, the universe was a big place.
Surely, she could chop up a few more people to make up the difference!