While Elias blocked another attack, his mind went through a series of mental gymnastics, trying to find ways to get them out of their current predicament.
'Think Elias. Don't bother cursing the devs for now. Instead, we need to think of ways to defeat the Human Puppet before we slowly grinned into a pulp.' It seemed the Human Puppet realized it couldn't defeat him in an instant, and so played the long game, trying to outlast him.
He needed ideas now, as he doubted his Energy could last any longer.
'Wait, what?' Just as he was worried of his dwindling Energy reserve, Elias could feel his body somehow regaining Energy faster than before. That alone did not surprise him, as the fact it seemed to be pulling Energy from outside.
'I thought Energy is like Stamina, unless I was wrong about that. If that's the case, then, is it possible for me to fill my Energy reserve while fighting?' it seemed unlikely, as it would be a very broken ability in-game.
However, with him being slowly pummeled to death, he didn't have anything else to try. So, Elias continued stepping back from the pursuing Human Puppet as he tried to mimic what he felt before, the feeling of pulling something from outside his body into his body.
Luckily, it didn't take long for him to replicate the feeling, and subsequently, the effect was almost instantaneous.
'My Energy, I could feel it slowly being filled up,' it didn't fill his Energy reserve back to full capacity, but the fact he could actively regain his Energy back even while fighting was great. Especially with the endgame boss disguised as tutorial boss in front of him.
'Good, this give me a better chance,' he thought before a familiar screen decided to pop back up in front of him.
[ENERGY
Energy can be recovered through active absorption. + 10 Knowledge Point]
[Congratulations Player Alisnair for being the first person to recover Energy by absorbing outside Energy.
+ 50 Achievement Point]
'Learning this also gives me Knowledge and Achievement Points!' He thought with some excitement, before a mace almost hitting his face reminding him of his current situation.
'Let's see how well I can absorb Energy while fighting. Can I do it while being pressed or do I need a moment of concentration.' Once again, Elias took a few steps back, laughing several Energy Slash to stop the Human Puppet for a brief moment while he recovered his Energy.
During the brief but fruitful experimentation, he discovered that while concentration on absorbing outside Energy was required, only a little bit of it was enough to recover his Energy, though the rate of absorption depended on his concentration.
'So while fighting I can recover my Energy but it won't be as effective as recovering it with my full focus on recovering,' despite him being hunted for sport by the Human Puppet, Elias couldn't help but smile. Who knew accidentally fighting this super Insane Boss would yield him such a great return.
'And now, to win.' His gaze was filled with determination as Elias prepared to fight and win against the Human Puppet. The first time he truly believed he could win when he 'challenged' this God-level difficulty.
As he absorbed the Energy from his surroundings to empower his Earth Body Enhancement as he called it, Elias had a sudden thought. What if he did the same thing with Water Aura, and then fused both his Earth and Water Aura Enhancement.
'To do that, I need full concentration,' Elias did not hesitate as he created an Earth Wall underneath the Human Puppet. It was taken by surprise, sending it almost flying before it performed a flip so it would land on its feet.
The little time that action managed to gain him was enough for Elias to create a few layers of Earth Walls covering him from three sides. With he himself being a good distance away from the closest Earth Walls.
'This should hopefully give me enough time,' Elias took a deep breath and focused on recovering his Energy first. Once his reserve returned to a better state, he turned it into Water Aura, before pouring it into his body.
Of course, while he poured Water Aura into his body, he controlled the Earth Aura so it would not dissipate and forced him to repeat that step. At the same time, he needed to get the right equilibrium between Water and Earth Aura, or his attempt would backfire.
Slowly, the balance between Water and Earth Aura reached what could be described as a balanced state, both working together and not trying to usurp the others. At the moment, Elias felt like his strength had received a greater boost in every attribute, from strength and speed, to power and resilience.
'And not a moment too soon,' Elias spotted the Human Puppet having already bypassed the Earth Walls and was currently running towards him. If before, Elias would have been worried but at the moment, Elias believed he could fight the Human Puppet and actually won, even with its many arms and weapon-hands.
So, Elias charged at the Human Puppet, covering his sword with Earth and Water Aura, the two different attributes not canceling one another and instead enhancing each other.
His sword met the Human Puppet's weapon-hands, steel clashing with steel, Aura against Aura. Except, the clash lasted in an instant, the Human Puppet's hand shattering the moment his sword hit it.
The destruction of its first weapon-hand pushed the Human Puppet back, which Elias planned on taking full advantage of. His sword sliced the rest of the weapon-hands and arms, sending them flying as he weaved through the Human Puppet's desperate onslaught.
Whenever the Human Puppet tried to hit him, Elias would return the favor and hit the Human Puppet back, usually at the oncoming weapon-hands, resulting in other useless limbs for the Human Puppet.
With each lost limb, the Human Puppet was slowly being pushed back. Even if the Human Puppet instantly recovered its arms, it did not recover its weapon-hands, essentially turning it useless as even though the Human Puppet coated it with Aura, it couldn't compare to his own, resulting in the limbs being lost once more.