Chapter 246: The Wild Birds Training

Seren stepped forward, her bow slung across her back, her hands raised to get the archers’ attention.

The group had spread out beneath the trees, their eyes fixed on the birds above, their bodies tense with anticipation.

The birds moved in the branches, their wings catching the filtered light, their movements as fluid as usual.

They were watching the humans below, assessing the threat.

"Listen," Seren said, her voice carrying across the clearing.

"This is not like the courtyard. This is not like the rooftops. These birds move through gaps in the canopy and between branches, and the shot window is short. You have to lead the target, don’t chase it. Breathe before release, not during. One arrow per bird, no second chances. If you miss, you watch where it went and adjust."

She paused, letting the words sink in. The archers nodded, their faces serious. They had trained for weeks, had practiced their shots countless times. But this was different, this was another challenge. Different from the usual.

"One arrow per bird?" one of the archers asked, his voice low. "What if we miss?"

"Then you miss," Seren said. "You watch where the bird went and you adjust for the next one. You don’t normally get a second chance on the same target. That’s not how it works in a real fight. You get one shot, and then you move on."

The archers exchanged glances. Some of them looked nervous. Others looked determined. They knew what was at stake.

They had come here to train, to push themselves beyond their limits. And now they were being tested.

"Spread out," Seren commanded. "Find your positions. Watch the birds. Wait for the right moment."

The archers moved, their steps careful.

They positioned themselves beneath the trees, their eyes fixed on the birds above.

The Horned Yuimons stood at the perimeter, still and watchful, their green eyes scanning outward for any threats.

The Slitherer was somewhere in the undergrowth, doing whatever the Slitherer did when it wasn’t actively needed.

It was doing heavy protection.

The Archers were very much safe with this undeads around.

Darion watched from the edge of the clearing, his arms crossed, his expression neutral.

He had seen the archers train before, had watched them practice in the courtyard and on the rooftops. But this was a unusual and different challenge.

The birds were moving, dodging, testing them. And the archers were responding.

The first arrow went up. Miss. The bird changed direction in the gap between release and arrival. It was a small shift, barely noticeable, but it was enough.

The arrow passed through empty air and embedded itself in the trunk of a tree.

Darion noticed the archer’s reaction. A brief flicker of frustration, quickly suppressed.

He was learning. He was adjusting. His hand went to his quiver, his fingers brushing against the feathers of his remaining arrows. He was already thinking about the next shot.

But the bird did not retaliate. It didn’t dive, didn’t attack, didn’t even seem to acknowledge the threat.

It just continued its movement, weaving through the branches, its attention elsewhere. Darion realized that the birds weren’t threatened. They were curious, maybe, or cautious. But they didn’t really see the archers as predators?

Well, they won’t with the massive creatures down here. The Yuimons were enough to make anything think twice before attacking. The birds knew they were outmatched, and they were staying in the trees where they felt safe.

Darion thought something real quick. How were the birds even like that?

Different trees, but not far from each other. Different species of seemingly wild and dangerous birds just... like that... in an area, not fighting.

It didn’t make sense in a way. In the wild, predators competed for territory, for food, for dominance. They didn’t share space peacefully.

He thought about it deeply. Maybe they got into fights once in a while.

A clash of claws and beaks, a brief struggle for dominance. But maybe they had learned to live in relative peace because the real danger were the wild animals on foot.

The creatures that prowled the forest floor, that could climb the trees, that could threaten their nests and their young.

The birds had realized that fighting each other was pointless when there were larger threats to face.

Now the second archer. Miss, but closer. The arrow went through the space the bird had been. It was almost a hit, close enough that the bird flinched, adjusting its path.

The archer watched, his face set, his hands already reaching for another arrow. He was learning, adapting, becoming more precise.

Third. Hit. Clean. The bird dropped.

The archer had found the neck. It was the spiky bird, its body covered in sharp protrusions. Hitting the body wouldn’t have killed it, the spikes would have deflected the arrow. But the neck was vulnerable, exposed. The archer had aimed well.

Seren said in a low voice, "Good job." She didn’t say anything more. She was already watching the next archer, her eyes scanning the trees, her mind already calculating the next shot.

Pannett didn’t wait for her turn in the rotation. She tracked a bird for a few seconds, leading it, her bow raised, her eyes fixed on the target. She released when it crossed into a gap she had already identified. Hit.

Thoom! The bird dropped from the sky, its body hitting the ground with a soft thud.

Pannett was already reaching for another arrow. She brought down three birds, all very, very fast shots.

She moved with a fluid grace that was almost hypnotic to watch. She tracked, led, released, and hit. Tracked, led, released, and hit. Tracked, led, released, and hit.

Darion couldn’t be more surprised on how brilliant she was.

Wonderful Archer!

The training was working. The archers were learning, adapting, becoming what Seren had wanted them to become.

They were shooting under pressure, trusting their instincts, hitting their targets.

Or was it?

Darion watched the birds, saw the way they were moving, the way they were adjusting.

They were adapting to the threat, becoming more cautious, more evasive.

The archers were hitting targets, but the targets were changing. The birds were becoming harder to hit, their movements more erratic, their paths more unpredictable.

They had noticed fully that this humans were a full threat to them.