Supreme Thief: I Can Steal Anything!

Looking at its Health Points (HP), he gasped.

'This System is surely trying to kill me before my time. The HP of this beast is massive!'

'It's not like I'm using a dagger… but my hands? I'm sure the attack power I give off with my fists is lower than what I could do with a dagger. At least with a dagger, I'd have a higher chance of injuring it…'

Leon began to calculate his odds.

From what he could tell, this chicken outclassed him in every single stat. Every one.

He tried to see if there was even the tiniest margin of victory—a single opening, a misstep, anything he could exploit. Because with stats like that, it wouldn't take two minutes before these chickens tore him apart.

They had numbers.

He had none.

They had backup.

He had only himself.

His life was on the line here, and they… they looked like they were just playing.

After thinking hard and failing to see a solution, he turned to the only help he had.

'Please… any ideas?' Leon asked, trying to keep his voice from trembling.

He was freaking out.

This beast was massive. It was practically a wall of death. And now he was being asked to plummet it with his fists?

Why wouldn't he freak out?

After what felt like hours of agonizing silence, the Crystal finally responded—but its words cut through Leon's heart like a blade.

[You've got to figure that out yourself. I don't have to do anything.] Its voice was completely uncaring. Cold. Detached. As if it had no interest in his current predicament.

Meanwhile, the crystal itself was sighing inwardly.

'Is he really this tense? The answer is right in front of him. And yet he's asking me how to defeat them? Ridiculous.'

'Can't he notice the obvious mishap in the chicken's stats? Tsk. If he can't handle a single chicken… I wonder how he'll act when the gods start hunting him again.'

It sank into thought.

Leon needed to grow. Fast. And the Crystal needed him to face as many enemies as possible before the big players noticed him again.

I want to see their faces when he returns. But for that, he needs his memories. He's not Leon. Not really. Maybe, just maybe, with his memories… he'll become the man I remember. Who knows.

Hearing the Crystal's cold response, Leon clenched his jaw and snorted.

'As if I need your help anyway… I'll figure this out. Just wait!'

He was bluffing. Deep down, he was panicking.

Not only did the chickens have brute force, but they also had numbers. Three against one.

He ransacked his mind, searching for any weakness he could use. But nothing came to him. Nothing. Not even a sliver of hope.

Then…

He remembered something.

Something crucial.

During his first fight, all of the chicken's stats had been higher than his—except one.

Intelligence.

He had exploited that gap to the fullest. That chicken had been too dumb to predict his attack pattern, and it cost it dearly.

Now, he looked again at these three boss chickens, scanning their stats a second time.

He sighed in relief.

Their Intelligence stat… it was still low.

Lower than it should be for a beast at this level.

'So… Intelligence is their weakness, huh?'

'But even if they're not that smart, they're still strong as hell. I only managed to kill the first berserk chicken because of its low MP, low Level, and my fast reaction at the time… almost everything was in my favor.'

'Now? Nothing's in my favor. So what the hell do I do…?'

He knew one thing for sure—if he managed to kill these three, he'd likely shoot straight to Level 5 or even Level 6 due to the EXP jump.

But that was easier said than done.

Still, he couldn't back down now.

He had already killed their minions. These beasts wouldn't just let him go. That much was obvious from the mocking fire burning in their eyes.

He was already an enemy in their eyes.

Running wouldn't help, it'll tire him out and they would easily catch up with their speed.

So he accepted it.

This is how the world works. In this world, being weak is a crime. Weak people had no rights. The laws only applied to them. Not to the strong. Never to the strong.

Since he was born a no-talent, then fine.

He'd just get stronger this way.

He rushed forward, using every bit of his speed stat to propel himself with explosive force. He launched at them and delivered four rapid punches with everything he had.

Shockingly, they didn't resist.

It was as if they were letting him do whatever he wanted. Maybe to mock him. Or maybe… to show him just how vast the difference between them truly was.

He punched once, then twice, then thrice—

Still nothing.

Only after the fourth punch did something shift.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

HP: 2819 (-1) / 2820

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

Leon froze.

'What the fuck?! Even after leveling up, it takes four punches to remove just one HP?!'

'At this rate… it'll take me a century to kill this thing!'

But before he could spiral into despair—

The HP bar reset.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

HP: 2820 / 2820

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

It regenerated.

It fully healed itself.

Leon's heart sank.

Now he was certain—there was nothing he could do.

Meanwhile, the Crystal was watching in silence.

Amused.

Leon hadn't even considered that the beast could end his life in a single hit.

He finally noticed that small edge…

But now?

He was standing too close. Dangerously close. The kind of angle where even his instincts wouldn't be able to save him from the speed of the beast's attack.

And what was he doing?

Just standing there. Punching like a lunatic. Staring at the HP bar. Calculating.

Too damn calculative for his own good.

His only saving grace?

The three chickens didn't even consider him a threat.

He wasn't worth their effort.

But they were still angry. He had killed their minions. That blood had not been forgotten.

And now…

Now they were losing their patience.

They watched him, this weak thing, punch their leader like a fool.

He hadn't even realized the gap between their strength.

So maybe…

Maybe it was time they taught him a lesson.

KPU—KPUOOO!!!