An Elden Ring player stunned himself into a state of absolute shock after defeating Malenia with nothing but kicks. Challenge runs are somewhat of a tradition with Elden Ring and the FromSoftware titles that precede it which have only increased in popularity since the open-world role-playing game's meteoric rise.
Malenia is considered not only one of Elden Ring's most challenging foes, but in the entire Soulsborne catalog, competing with the formidable reputations of Sword Saint Isshin, Slave Knight Gael, and Lady Maria. It is no surprise that successful challenge runs against the Blade of Miquella are lauded achievements, as players have to contend with her infamous Waterfowl Dance - a single move that can conclude promising attempts within seconds. Some streamers take the masochistic endeavor far beyond what any would reasonably consider natural, dedicating an insane amount of time to defeating her with consumables, arrows, or critical hits only.
Three hours and 43 minutes is how long it took for Ainrun to kick Malenia to death. The stunning confrontation was enough to bring a tear to his eye and joins an already impressive list of accomplishments including Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Elden Ring No-Hit runs. For context, kicking an enemy in Elden Ring inflicts incredibly low damage and is meant to break an enemy's stance rather than bring them closer to death. With the Kick Ash of War equipped on his Battle Axe, each one would deal approximately 70-80 damage, requiring at least 400 kicks.
This, of course, does not factor into account that Malenia heals whenever she hits the player, making minutes of progress completely redundant and bringing them ever closer to running out of healing. Wearing the Briar Greaves meant that rolling into Malenia would deal a single point of damage, a value that actually becomes significant when accumulated over nearly four hours. A complete Briar Set would increase the damage inflicted by rolling, but it would reduce the damage buff received from the Blue Dancer Charm.
Even more impressively is that this was Ainrun's first attempt against Malenia, one of the few bosses he had left to defeat in his Kick-Only Elden Ring run. Part of Team Hitless, Ainrun has spent hours vanquishing enemies such as Mohg, Maliketh, and Elden Beast, still determined to kick the Godskin Duo to their demise. If his performance against Malenia is anything to go by, the skin-wearing couple are no doubt soon to meet their match, in the form of a foot.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.