I Only Wanted A Class In The Apocalypse

Chapter 1936: Sending Scouts, Drawing Maps!

”I can send scouts, though,” he mused. He looked at the vast, dark horizon. ”I need to draw a map of this world—of the dangerous zones, the natural anomalies, and the distribution of the Hescos population of towns and cities.”

If he couldnʼt move his entire legion, he would instead flood the atmosphere with his smaller, more agile eyes. He knew that even if the lethal daytime returned, these ships wouldnʼt be in grave danger as long as they didnʼt fly directly into the maw of a specialised predator or another localised black sphere pressure zone. He was willing to sacrifice a great deal of them to get the intelligence he needed.

He didnʼt hold back. He unleashed hundreds of thousands of small ships, a move so massive it emptied nearly twenty percent of his grand fleetʼs reserves of small-class vessels. He gave them one single, absolute order: Scan and draw maps, do not engage in combat, and escape at the first sign of danger.

To ensure he captured a true picture of the planetʼs lethality, he opened his holographic interface and had his warriors install specialised tracking beacons.

They would map the terrain, and he would map the danger zones based on the signals that blinked out. A dead ship would be a red marker on his map—a clear indicator of a high-threat zone.

Things progressed smoothly at first. The data from his warriors flooded his bridge in a constant stream. To ensure no detail was missed, he organised the scouting legion into three-ship order: one for the ground-level scan, one for mid-tier terrain like hills and mountains, and a third to patrol the upper atmosphere to watch for celestial risks or high-altitude monsters.

The maps produced this way were incredibly detailed. Coupled with the high speed of his small ships, they managed to cover a staggering distance in a single night. However, when the harsh daylight finally broke over the horizon, the casualty list began to spike.

”Tsk! The number of deadly zones in this region is even higher than I suspected,” he noted, shaking his head. Dozens of red spots began to bloom across his map in areas that would take at least half a day to reach. It was an environment of pure, concentrated hostility, but it only made his smile widen in anticipation.

”Time to clear the map then,” he declared.

He didnʼt want to just fly past these threats; he wanted to confront and farm them. He picked the closest red spots, intending to expand his influence outward in a growing circle of dominance. He was eager to see what new monsters awaited him and how many high-grade bones he would harvest from their remains.

However, when he reached the first deadly spot on his map, he was greeted by an eerie silence.

”There is nothing here!” He checked his sensors three times. No airborne swarms, no celestial anomalies, and no Wyvern nests. ”Letʼs search for the wreckage of the scout ship first... It must be on the ground somewhere. Wait... I didnʼt check the ground yet!”

Habit was a dangerous thing. Because he had spent his time in this world dealing with sky-borne predators and orbital pressures, he had completely ignored the possibility that the threat to his scouts had come from below.

The moment he lowered his shipʼs altitude, he was astonished. The barren ground was actually teeming with life. Hundreds of thousands of large ground monsters, their bodies low and armoured like prehistoric tanks, crawled through the dust. They had long, arched tails like scorpions, ending in specialised organic launchers.

”That explains it then!”

As his scout ships hovered within range, the reaction from the surface was instantaneous. The monsters let out a synchronised screech that vibrated through the air. Tens of thousands of tails snapped forward simultaneously, launching a barrage of bone-shattering darts and pressurised streams of corrosive green liquid.

The scouts didnʼt stand a chance; the acid ate through their shields and hulls in seconds, while the darts hammered into the engines like unstoppable penetrators.

Hye watched the feed of his scouts melting and exploding, but he wasnʼt angry. He was looking at the sheer volume of these monsters—and the potential for bones they represented.

The scout ships that were struck by the darts saw their defensive shields collapse instantly; their reinforced hulls were shattered as if they had been struck by a heavy battleshipʼs main railgun. As for the acidic liquid, it proved to be a terrifying solvent, eroding the hulls in seconds and even claiming the lives of several of his seasoned warriors.

The core issue was the sheer density of these monsters and the impossible range of their artillery.

From his vantage point, the ground looked as if it had been painted with a thick, pulsating mixture of green and dark brown—a carpet of death that left no room for his ships to manoeuvre. The distance these attacks covered was at least several hundred meters, and the projectiles flew at a velocity that defied logic.

The monsters were cunning; they didnʼt waste energy on warning shots. They waited until the ships were deep within their kill zone before unleashing their barrage. Seeing this made Hye realise exactly how his previous scout ships had been destroyed, and he knew the most efficient way to rectify the situation.

”Open fire!”

He didnʼt bother with subtle tactics. He simply arranged his grand fleet to surround the scorpion-like horde. Compared to the massive silhouette of his fleet, the monster-infested territory looked like a small, doomed island in the middle of a raging sea.

Hye made sure to maintain a strictly calculated distance to secure his ships from any unexpected hidden abilities or lucky shots. The moment his batteries opened fire, it felt as if a volcano had erupted at this specific coordinate of the world.

The ground shook with seismic intensity, while thick pillars of fire and plasma erupted everywhere. Hye knew how the creatures of this world were acclimated to the scorching heat, so he expected they might endure the first few volleys.

”Fire at will!”