The Martyr's Rest, though unimpressive to the drones, was the largest human-made fortification they had seen so far. As one of the castles bearing the brunt of the undead forces, it was manned from top to bottom with heavily armored mages and warriors.

While the castle had suffered some minor attacks from the undead already, it was nothing on the scale which the humans considered to be a threat. Weeks had gone by, and the undead assaults would be easily repelled by the various holy warriors garrisoned at The Martyr's Rest. At this rate, the drones would remain inactive, doomed to become expensive and high-tech decorations.

“What? You’re leaving?” Agrianos asked Exarchi.

The drone shook his head and replied, “We will simply be taking on a… offensive role. It is better to seek out the undead at this point.”

“Ah, I see. You’re not the only one who seeks to bring justice upon the enemy of Humanos beyond the safety of a stone wall. Go ahead, but stay close. Once King Zigisma’s scouts return, we will need you to regroup with the main Rhankish army.”

“Understood. Just send a messenger to my camp once the time comes,” Exarchi said.

Exarchi left the keep as he examined the humans moving around the castle. There were people from all over the human realms so the presence of the drones didn’t intrigued the castle’s defenders.

‘Thane Alpha-Alpha-One! Cease interacting with the humans and follow me!’ Exarchi ordered when he saw his thane was in a staring competition with an unusually large person.

‘The human was studying this unit...’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One noted.

‘No, he was provoked.’

‘Provoked? I do not have a weapon on my hands.’

‘Your stare caused anger.’

‘This unit does not know how ‘anger’ works.’

‘Never mind that. Follow me!’ Exarchi commanded.

About five hundred drones marched out of The Martyr's Rest, and went straight into enemy territory. The scarred lands bore hints of past battles, but there were no dead bodies in sight. Only ashes littered the blackened fields of war.

‘According to the humans, there’s a hostile castle a few days away. I am not sure how human measurements work, though,’ Exarchi said in hivespeak.

‘What is commanding unit’s plan?’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One asked.

‘We will take that castle and start our base of operations from there. My calculations estimate that it will take a month before the human Zigisma find the nearest human stronghold that needs assistance.’

‘Affirmative. Intel indicates that the castles in this region are still firmly held by non-hostile entities,’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One added.

‘During that time, we will gather as much resources and send raids against the undead. For that, we need a base. So, let’s pick up the pace!’

The drones stopped marching and started sprinting. Unencumbered by the lack of stamina, the drones shortened their travel time so much that they reached the undead castle in less than three days. It was night by the time they arrived, and there were torches lit across the castle.

‘We had already assumed that the undead can see in the dark, why do they have torches?’ Exarchi muttered to himself.

Aerial drones tried to gather intel, but they were hampered by the fact that there was a murder of undead crows flying above the castle. Still, they managed to get close enough to get a good glimpse at the castle’s defences.

‘This unit reports that the undead entities are glowing red,’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One reported.

‘Red?’

‘Hex color #790604.’

‘I’m not blind, you dunce!’ Exarchi grumbled and looked over the analysis. The zombies on the ramparts had dark red stripes across their faces and bodies which glowed with an ominous red light. What was more notable was the defenders were mostly-intact zombies geared with clean-looking equipment. If Exarchi didn’t know any better, they would have just seen those undead as a new type of human that glowed in the dark!

‘Querying command unit for plan…’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One spoke up.

‘There’s about three hundred of them, but there’s five hundred of us, not counting the spider drones. Based on our previous encounters with the undead, I surmise that we will be able to assault the castle with overwhelming power.’

‘Affirmative. Beginning construction of siege weapons.’

A warrior drone looked through its optic scope and pushed it up afterwards. Running a set of calculations in its head, it turned to its fellow drones and said, “Coordinates confirmed. Launch one.”

“Launch one,” the drones repeated and fired their catapult. The boulder arced into the sky before smashing directly onto a group of zombies. It was not the end, though, as the boulder started shaking. Even though some of the zombies got completely crushed, the lucky ones who weren’t turned into mush pushed the boulder away and got back up.

“Confirming good hit. Repeat rounds,” the commanding drone ordered.

“Roger roger.”

The drone assault was full underway as catapults pelted the castle, and spider drones swarmed towards the walls. Unfortunately for Exarchi, he had to start his assault earlier than expected because it was hard to hide a mob of five hundred in a relatively barren land.

The crows tried to fly towards the catapults but they were stopped by their bigger and bulkier counterparts, the aerial drones. As the undead birds tried to peck down the flying scouts, the machines opted to ram them down by the dozens.

Still, Exarchi had trouble taking the castle. Unlike the humans and even the previous undead he had fought, these zombies were tougher and better equipped. Not only that, the undead stood their ground, refusing to break at all cost.

‘Do we deploy now?’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One asked as it was flanked by its personal huskarl bodyguards.

‘Negative. The opportunity has not revealed itself yet. Stay your hand,’ Exarchi responded as he scratched his chin, imitating the human behavior he had seen.

On the other side of the field, someone was watching the battle unfold from the highest tower of the castle. He chuckled to himself, coughing between laughs. “So these are the… people… Brother Farold had told us about. No wonder he had to return to the main force… to… get a bigger army.”

Two women draped in white bowed before the person and asked, “Lord Tanne, we can wipe them out with the grand spell. The bodies of these fools will serve the Church.”

“Oh, can you?” Tanne asked with a mischievous smile barely visible from the thin cloth that hid his dried-out grey face.

“Yes, Lord Tanne.”

“No, you can’t. It’s clear… that you two… “ Tanne coughed violently, beating his chest, before continuing, “do not know who- what these things are. We can only whittle them down as they whittle us down. It is only… misfortune… that we had to face these… foes.”

The two women looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Tanne. “We do not understand, Lord Tanne.”

“Oh, in due time… you will… my dears.” Tanne laughed again, his hands glowing redder by the minute.

At the ramparts, combat spiders placed ladders against the walls which allowed warrior drones to swarm up against the defenses. Bodies trickled down the rampart as the sun slowly went down. But night time was no different from day time; both sides relentlessly fought even in the dark.

“Send twenty Freeholder drones to the west side,” Exarchi ordered.

“Affirmative. Executing orders,” a thane replied.

“I need five drones to watch over the construction units. I need more boulders sent to Squad Siege Phi and Siege Alpha.”

“Affirmative. Executing orders,” another thane answered.

Exarchi stopped to look over the battle map that was imaged in his mind. He flickered through the various cameras of his drones, trying to assess his situation.

“This unit believes our forces have reached its maximum threshold of casualties for now,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One said.

“Annoying. At least the humans are polite enough to surrender when we massacre a good number of them,” Exarchi sighed. “The undead found in Mount Varangia is too different from these undead!”

“This unit wasn’t present when the main force fought the undead in Mount Varangia.”

“That’s because you weren’t made then!” Exarchi retorted. “Pull the units back, recover all the drones. We will try again once repairs are done.”

The drones stopped their attacks across the fronts, then pulled back as one, garnering the attention of the undead commander, Lord Tanne. He raised his chin, trying to assess the situation. After coughing a few times, he raised his hands towards the skies, and orbs of red light appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The entire battlefield was covered in red light, but abruptly stopped a minute later as if nothing had happened.

“Lord Tanne?” one of the white-draped women behind Tanne asked.

Tanne held his wrist and hummed to himself. “It hurts.”

“What does, my lord?”

“My hand. Strange. These creatures… they…” Tanne looked down upon the battlefield, watching the drones recover their fallen. As expected, none of the dead automatons rose up as the undead. “They certainly… are something else…Something familiar, that is.”

The women stayed silent as Tanne sighed to himself.

“This revelation will send the Church… into an uproar,” Tanne concluded. “We cannot… hope to hold this position for long. We must inform Brother Farold and the rest… of the Church of this new-… or so to say, old threat.”

“What about the nobles, my lord?” a woman asked.

“Obviously, I will tell… my fellows about this. The nobles will react… without thinking, I fear.”

“As usual, Lord Tanne,” the two women agreed.

“Come now, we must give up… this castle. Send some crows to inform the nearby encampments and forts of... our fall. They must be prepared… to fight or to run.” Tanne ordered as his white cape fluttered against the wind.

A few hours after the drone assault had stopped, Exarchi noticed that the gates of the castle were opening. His army was in formation at all times, so the drones were ready to spring into action at any time, however Exarchi decided against acting carelessly. After all, moving without proper intel wasn’t his trade.

The undead flooded out of the gates and went straight for the weakest point in the Varangian lines.

‘Report,’ Exarchi called out.

‘Castle is unoccupied,’ a drone reported.

‘Hostile forces headed towards Point Zeta-Beta-Lambda,’ another reported.

‘All forces, converge on my location. Forget about the undead. We’re here for the castle, not the undead,’ Exarchi ordered.

As the drones opened the defensive lines up for the undead, the battle ended rather peacefully. Exarchi watched the backs of the zombies grow smaller and smaller, but he could still sense something eyeing him as the undead horde retreated. It was as if no matter which angle he looked from, there was something looking directly at him.

“Must be a glitch in my system…” Exarchi murmured.