John Wick - Chapter 53: Nate Lin vs. John Wick: Crushed by the Stat Difference! (Patreon)

“Alright, here I come!”

This time, Nate deliberately backed up two steps to give himself enough room to build momentum. Then he surged forward three quick steps and launched a vicious, fully powered step-in side kick at John’s waist.

Step-in Side Kick: the most powerful kicking technique in the Jeet Kune Do system. None even came close.

PS: A step-in side kick uses forward momentum, hip drive, and full body weight to generate explosive force, making it powerful enough to send an opponent flying backward.

Faced with such a vicious strike, John didn’t dodge at all. Instead, he raised both arms in front of himself and tried to take the kick head-on.

The result was that Nate sent him flying more than two meters.

“Another beautiful hit. Looks like Nate has quite a talent for fighting,” Winston said to Henry.

Henry nodded proudly.

“No way!!” Elena sat there looking utterly devastated. Then she turned to Winston. “Won’t they get hurt fighting like that?”

“You mean John? He’s tough as nails. A fall from the fifth floor couldn’t kill him, so why worry about this?” Winston replied.

John got back to his feet and rubbed the spot on his arm where the kick had landed. He looked up with a smile at Nate, who had already backed away to create some distance again.

“That one actually hurt. Again!”

There was a rare excitement in John’s voice.

Nate certainly wasn’t going to hold back just because he said that. He stepped in and fired a rapid series of left jabs at John’s face.

John retreated to avoid them, shifting his weight onto his back foot. Nate’s right leg was already coming in behind the punches with another side kick, this time aimed at his chest.

John had learned his lesson. He slapped the kick downward with his left hand and shifted half a step to the left, letting it pass by.

Then he stepped forward, caught Nate’s leg before he could retract it, blocked his rear foot, and shoved him forward.

Nate crashed to the mat.

He rolled and sprang back to his feet, bouncing lightly as he kept his right fist forward, feinting while staring at John as he steadily closed the distance.

In the movies, John’s striking had never really been his strongest point.

What he excelled at was grappling and throwing techniques.

Nate knew that very well, which was exactly why he had been keeping his distance and forcing the fight to stay on the feet.

The fighting spirit in John’s eyes grew stronger.

He was getting serious.

John adjusted his stance. With one hand forward and the other behind, he stopped planting himself in the rigid karate stance from before and began moving with Nate’s rhythm.

Nate stepped in and fired two consecutive jabs, forcing John to raise his guard. His right leg immediately followed with a low kick toward John’s thigh.

John quickly raised his knee to check it.

Shin struck shin with a dull thud.

Nate planted his foot but didn’t retreat. He rotated forward and swept his right elbow horizontally toward John’s temple.

John couldn’t dodge this one.

He raised his left arm and took the elbow on his guard. The force knocked him half a step to the right, but instead of retreating, he moved with the impact and grabbed Nate’s elbow with his right hand, yanking it downward.

Nate’s weight pitched forward.

He immediately knew he was in trouble and tried to pull his arm free.

Too late.

John’s left arm had already slipped under his armpit. He stepped forward with his right foot, blocked Nate’s lead leg, twisted his body, and executed a textbook hip throw.

Nate was ripped off the ground like a carrot being pulled from the soil and slammed onto the mat.

His back hit hard, forcing a grunt out of him.

“Whoa!!”

Elena shot out of her chair, scattering sunflower seeds everywhere.

“Did you see that?! Did you see that?!”

Henry and Winston merely smiled without saying anything.

Nate climbed back to his feet, rubbing his back.

His expression tightened.

John had clearly been noticeably faster just now.

Both of them had max-level [Intimidation], but neither had any killing intent toward the other, so its slowing effect on enemies wouldn’t activate.

John’s [Baba Yaga] Trait, however, had already begun to take effect.

While in combat, all of John’s stats would gradually increase by up to 80%. With the debuff cutting the effect in half, that was still 40%.

Exclusive Traits were ridiculous.

Could this be why John always seemed to struggle at the beginning of a fight in the movies, only to gradually gain the upper hand the longer it went on?

This was going to be tough.

The two reset their positions.

Nate was much more cautious this time. Instead of rushing in, he kept probing with his lead hand.

Jabs and backfists repeatedly flicked toward John’s face while Nate circled around him.

Jeet Kune Do placed great emphasis on controlling distance. Nate was a little shorter than John and had no advantage in reach, but he was faster on his feet.

John calmly turned with him, never rushing. Both hands remained within his karate defensive frame.

Several of Nate’s jabs were slapped aside in succession, leaving him unable to break through. The one backfist that slipped past John’s guard was avoided with a slight turn of the head.

Nate changed tactics.

He feinted a left jab, then swept his right leg low toward John’s lead leg.

John raised his knee to check it.

Nate immediately retracted his leg without putting it down, twisted his body, and converted the motion into a mid-level roundhouse kick.

The kick landed solidly against John’s ribs.

John grunted.

But the instant Nate’s instep touched his ribs, John’s right hand shot out like lightning and seized Nate’s lower leg.

Nate’s heart sank.

John lifted Nate’s leg while pressing forward at the same time. His left foot hooked Nate’s supporting leg out from under him.

Nate was flipped backward and slammed flat onto the mat.

“Whoa!”

Elena was already on her feet, both fists clenched in front of her chest.

“Mr. Wick! You’ve got this!”

Damn, hardcore fans really were something else.

Wait.

Wasn’t he one too?

Then never mind.

Nate hadn’t even noticed that his own attitude had quietly changed.

In his mind, John was no longer simply an idol he admired. Somewhere along the way, he had become a comrade Nate could fight alongside.

Henry narrowed his eyes slightly.

He had noticed it.

John was getting faster and faster.

Nate climbed back to his feet for the third time, his breathing beginning to grow uneven.

He stared into John’s eyes.

The curiosity that had been there earlier was gone.

John looked as though something inside him had switched on. His posture, his breathing, everything about him was completely different from a few minutes ago.

Now, he was a warrior.

Nate gritted his teeth and closed the distance again.

He threw another side kick.

John simply caught his ankle, twisted, and dumped him onto the mat.

Nate quickly scrambled back to his feet.

Damn it, how was he supposed to fight this?!

He couldn’t kick anymore. The moment he lifted one leg, half his body was exposed, and if that stat monster across from him got his hands on him, he was going straight to the floor.

So Nate switched entirely to punches.

Straights, hooks, backfists, combinations. He kept probing nonstop and actually landed several shots on John.

They barely fazed him.

The stat monster in front of him simply ate two punches, grabbed Nate’s attacking arm, and threw him over his shoulder.

Nate traced an arc through the air before crashing heavily onto the mat.

That one hurt.

It felt like all his internal organs had been shaken at once.

He lay spread-eagle on the floor.

Bro... I can barely breathe.

“Jonathan,” Winston called softly.

John glanced back at him and nodded, indicating that he knew exactly how far he could go.

Elena, meanwhile, was practically dancing with excitement beside them.

Nate forced himself back up, breathing hard.

Now he was frustrated.

He refused to accept it.

So he charged in again.

And, unsurprisingly, he was thrown straight back onto the mat.

There really was no good answer against a stat monster like this. Nate was already at a disadvantage in both height and weight compared to John.

Now he finally understood the despair those two Indonesian brothers must have felt in the third movie.

No, no.

He couldn’t keep fighting like this.

Nate got back to his feet, desperately searching his mind for some way to break the deadlock.

When it came down to it, his hand-to-hand skills were still only at the level of an amateur hobbyist.

His punches weren’t doing much.

He couldn’t use his kicks.

So what did he have left?

A snap kick to the groin?

A finger jab to the throat?

This was only a sparring match.

Nope. Couldn’t use those.

What the hell was he supposed to do?!