John Wick - Chapter 58: A Stat Monster Gets Crushed by an Even Bigger Stat Monster (Patreon)

The fight was completely one-sided.

John had been driven into a corner and couldn’t fight back at all.

John stood around six-foot-one, but the hulking man in front of him was nearly six-foot-seven. He was so broad that John practically disappeared behind him.

As for Nate, he was only about five-foot-ten.

A stat monster getting beaten down by an even bigger stat monster.

“Seriously, how is he supposed to fight with that kind of weight difference? Isn’t this just bullying?!” Nate protested.

“Exactly!” Elena agreed, taking another bite of her steamed bun.

Henry walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

“Winston arranged it.”

Henry picked up a fried dough stick and tore it into pieces as he spoke.

Nate handed him a plastic bowl.

“What’s the point?”

He looked back toward the sparring area.

The giant man’s fists, each seemingly the size of a sandbag, were raining down on John.

A relentless series of thuds came from the corner.

Nate looked at Henry with concern.

“He’s not actually going to beat John half to death, is he?”

Henry poured some soy milk into his bowl and was about to answer when Winston’s voice came from the doorway.

“No. John’s tougher than that.”

Winston and Marcus walked in together and pulled up chairs.

Winston casually poured soy milk into a bowl, tore a fried dough stick into smaller pieces, dropped them in to soak, and started eating.

The sight was bizarre.

There sat an impeccably dressed elderly British gentleman in a suit and tie, eating breakfast like an old man relaxing at a neighborhood café, chatting with Henry while occasionally popping another piece into his mouth.

The longer Nate looked, the stranger it seemed.

“Henry, when was the last time we ate like this?” Winston asked, lifting his bowl for a sip.

“That was ages ago. Your hair was still black back then.”

“Isn’t it still black now?” Winston replied.

“Dyed hair doesn’t count.”

“You should dye yours too. Black would make you look younger.”

Meanwhile, John was still getting hammered in the background.

“Uh...”

Nate finally interrupted them.

“So... is nobody going to do anything about John?”

“I swear, he looks like he’s about to get knocked out.”

The moment Nate finished speaking, the huge man broke through John’s raised guard.

John was wide open.

A left straight.

Right hook.

Left uppercut.

Right hook.

A brutal combination exploded against John’s headgear, each punch heavier than the last. The impact of glove against protective gear echoed throughout the gym.

Nate could actually see the sweat flying from John’s hair in a fine mist under the sheer speed of the punches.

Holy shit, he’s hitting him hard enough to create special effects...

John swayed unsteadily.

Then his legs gave out and he collapsed.

Three clean shots to the chin.

Anyone would need a minute after that.

“Shit!”

Nate tossed his steamed bun aside and rushed over.

Elena followed immediately.

Marcus had worn a serious expression ever since entering the room, and he started to rise as well, but Winston stopped him.

Winston shook his head.

“Let the younger ones handle it. We don’t need to interfere.”

“What do you mean?” Marcus asked.

“Keep watching. You’ll understand.”

Winston took another sip of soy milk, rummaged through the bag, picked out a steamed bun, and handed it to Marcus.

“Eat first.”

...

John lay collapsed in the corner.

The massive man stood directly in front of him, blocking him from Nate’s view.

As Nate approached, he finally got a good look at the man’s back.

It was covered in scars.

Dozens of them.

Gunshot wounds, knife wounds, and plenty Nate couldn’t identify.

“Move.”

Nate shoved him.

The man didn’t budge.

Nate, on the other hand, stumbled backward two steps.

The giant slowly turned around and stared down at him without expression.

Up close, his nearly two-meter height was even more intimidating.

Nate actually had to tilt his head back just to meet his eyes.

The man slowly stepped aside and began walking away.

Elena immediately rushed to John, removed his headgear, laid him flat, and helped steady his breathing.

“How is he?” Nate asked.

“He was knocked out. Probably a mild concussion too, but he should be fine once he gets a little time to recover.”

“What a weak Baba Yaga...”

The giant muttered the words quietly as he walked away.

Unfortunately for him, both Nate and Elena heard.

Elena didn’t even try to hide her anger.

Her eyes practically burned as she glared at his back.

“This was just sparring! Did you really need to hit him that hard?!”

The man stopped.

“That was hard?”

His speech was slow, and his voice was deep enough to fill the room.

“I wasn’t even using my full strength.”

The contempt in his voice was impossible to miss.

After a pause, he added, “He’s simply weak.”

John’s hand-to-hand combat ability wasn’t exceptional to begin with.

Without a gun, there wasn’t much he could do against someone who was faster and significantly stronger than he was.

The weight difference only made things worse.

Nate had watched John try several times to grab the man’s arm and execute a throw.

The guy hadn’t even moved.

John had simply eaten several more punches and been forced back into the corner.

“You...!”

Elena was furious.

She glanced toward Winston, and whatever insult she had been about to unleash died in her throat.

Nate stood there thinking.

Something still didn’t add up.

Even with John weakened by roughly thirty percent, once the fight dragged on and [Baba Yaga] began increasing his stats, he shouldn’t have looked this helpless.

Unless...

This guy’s stats were still higher than John’s even after John reached his full combat boost.

Did height and weight really make that much difference in a fight?

System, display Traits.

Joe:

[Unarmed Master (Max Level): While unarmed, Strength increases by 100% and Speed increases by 100%. Allows rapid mastery of all forms of hand-to-hand combat.]

[Weapon Strike (Lv5): While wielding a melee weapon, its effectiveness increases by 50%.]

[Scatter (Debuff): Accuracy with ranged weapons is reduced by 95%.]

[Sluggishness (Debuff): Speed reduced by 20%.]

Simple.

Brutal.

This guy was built entirely for close combat.

No wonder John had lost.

Doubling both Strength and Speed at the same time was far more devastating than simply adding the two bonuses together.

“You’re Nate Lin?”

The giant stopped and turned toward him.

“Yeah.”

“I’ve heard about you,” Joe said. “They say you’re good with throwing knives.”

“I’m all right.”

Nate glanced toward John.

“But you shouldn’t talk about him like that. If the two of you had guns, you wouldn’t last a minute.”

Joe nodded.

“That’s true.”

Then his voice hardened.

“But this is hand-to-hand combat.”

“I think you owe him an apology,” Elena said.

“For what?” Joe asked.

“For his fighting skills being softer than a woman’s?”

Nate’s expression changed.

Now that pissed him off.

A stat monster acting arrogant just because his numbers were higher?

Fine.

Then Nate would show him what ridiculous stats really looked like.

“Want to fight?” Nate asked.

“Sure.”

Joe nodded.

“Any way you want.”

“Then let’s use guns.”

The answer came out of Nate’s mouth instantly.

Joe froze.

He stood there in awkward silence for several seconds before finally saying, “Anything you want... except guns.”

Elena rolled her eyes.

At that moment, John suddenly regained consciousness.

He shot upright so quickly that Elena nearly jumped.

“Oh, you’re awake?” Nate said, looking at him with obvious amusement.

John looked embarrassed under his gaze and awkwardly turned his head away.

“Don’t worry, John. Your partner will get your dignity back for you.”

Nate turned toward Joe.

“You know how to use weapons?”

He already knew the answer.

“Of course,” Joe replied.

“Then we’ll use weapons.”

“Wooden ones?” Joe asked.

“Steel.”

“Are you insane?!” Elena shouted.

Even John immediately looked over.

“What rules?” Joe asked.

Nate gave him a faint smile.

“Whatever rules you want.”