As soon as the bird plummeted to the ground, Jack dashed over and aimed his bow at the robin's head.
He nocked in an arrow before glimpsing movement from the corner of his eye. He quickly jumped back and shot the arrow.
The bird flashed its beak towards the arrow before catching it. It raised itself off the floor before plucking out the two arrows lodged in its body.
It stood upright before unfurling its wings. Its feathers were coloured similar to that of charcoal. The robin's wing span was about 1.6 times bigger than its body. Jack scrutinised the side of its head to see a subtle dent.
The bird ducked down and flapped its wings. It swiftly propelled itself towards Jack with its beak pointing at him.
Jack unhooked his hatchet dangling from his belt and flashed it before him with the flat side of the hatchet facing the bird.
DING!
The bird struck the hatchet. The force behind the strike caused Jack to fly back several meters.
Jack bounced several times before ending in a roll. Planting his hands on the ground, he shakily pushed himself up onto his feet. His hair caused a shade to veil over his eyes, but it couldn't hide his apparent grin.
His hands tightly gripped his two weapons.
He raised his head towards the bird to see it tilting its head at him. He could almost feel that it was mocking him in some way.
'T-this...'
His eyes twinkled with glee. He hooked his hatchet to his belt again and raised his bow.
'This was what archery was for!'
He nocked another arrow into the string before pulling it back.
"To hunt prey like you!"
His grin widened to a mocking one.
"Now come!"
The bird sensed the human mocking it for some odd reason and huffed. It ducked down again and pawed at the ground like a bull.
"Is this how you felt, Everette!?"
Jack yelled out with an exhilarated tone. Far behind the robin, Everette was making a face.
***
Everette got scared when Jack was launched away, but when he saw the face Jack was making, he only had one thought that resounded in his mind:
'Does anyone I become friends with become crazy or something?'
***
The robin bolted towards the human with a fierce glint in its black eyes.
Jack saw it initiate its charge and released his arrow. He saw the arrow alongside the arrow meters away before connecting.
The world then seemed to slow down in this moment.
'What will you do now? You've gained way too much momentum to change course now!'
He studied the approaching bird with intense curiosity.
The bird began flapping its wings in a strange pattern before bringing them in. This pattern caused it to spin terrifyingly fast.
It turned into a menacing black tornado that impacted the incoming arrow. The rotation from the spin gave it enough force to blitz through the arrow and continue towards Jack.
'Shoot!'
Seeing his arrow was not only overpowered but also did nothing against the robin, he dived out of the way.
The bird passed him, leaving behind a strong breeze.
He returned to his feet and looked towards where the bird went.
His eyes darted around but couldn't find any traces of the bird until a large shadow loomed over him. Looking up, he saw the bird hovering high up in the air.
Jack could make out that the bird was probably putting on an arrogant expression.
Under its feather were bright orange lines. Each flap of its wings seems to leave traces of embers. Its body then erupted into flames - it seemed to have had enough of playing around with its food.
"H-hehe... an oversized bird that can coat itself in flames?"
Jack's heart began to race with both excitement and fear. He recalled how Ada had told them how she had repelled the bird.
"She was able to repel this with a single strike?"
His eyes glistened in admiration, "Every potential party must have a capable archer..."
He raised his bow sky-high once again.
"And I'll be an archer that not only my friends can be proud of..."
He loaded another arrow into the bow before pulling back the string. His arm tensed in anticipation.
"But also my parents."