Besides wanting to defeat the Translucent Thunder Rat, Apollo also wanted to learn from his opponent, specifically the use of Lightning.
Although he had already learned something from Sir Guo about the Attribute of Lightning, Apollo felt like what he learned was just 'substantial' knowledge, even though he had already mastered the attribute to the point where he could do whatever he wanted with it. Sir Guo said he would teach him more once they found a place where Lightning Attributes were abundant, and that place was very far from this region.
The beggar didn't know how long their journey would take, as he had no idea where that place was. So with a lightning monster in front of him serving as his 'research material,' Apollo wanted to see if he could improve his understanding of the Lightning Attribute further.
With this in mind, Apollo decided not to use all his abilities, merely relying on a few of them.
