Ch.111111. What If?

# After Becoming a Higher God

As I was swiftly handling countless tasks as usual, a sudden thought crossed my mind.

Now that I’ve become a Higher God, now that I’ve obtained the power of a Higher God, just how much power could I actually wield?

This was merely a momentary and impulsive hypothesis, but unfortunately, my reasoning circuits wouldn’t leave the idea alone.

They immediately simulated what would happen if I descended to the material world in my true divine form, playing out the scenario before my eyes.

The moment I reveal myself to the world, the sky instantly turns crimson.

With existing time, climate, and other natural laws rendered meaningless, my form—a red skull in the center of a cross—replaces the sun. All celestial products are dyed red, and an eternal red day begins.

Under the influence of the sky, the earth too becomes covered in crimson, while all the gods of heaven temporarily lose their ability to intervene in the world.

On earth, an indescribable pandemonium unfolds.

The red light covering the earth, illuminating the entire material world equally, burrows into the minds of exposed humans, stimulating and amplifying their memories.

Even the slightest grudge, no matter how trivial, would be endlessly amplified and provoke rage, causing thought processes to drive all logical conclusions toward violence.

Yet most humans wouldn’t even have the chance to rampage in vengeful madness.

The sacred power of the evil god, taking the form of red light shining from the sky, would gradually seep into the bodies of humans facing that crimson radiance.

Those thoroughly trained in handling magical power could sufficiently block it, but ordinary people or novice warriors would have their bodies distorted by that energy.

Swelling flesh, bones protruding deformedly, and additional body parts growing would be the least of their concerns.

Tentacles and horn-like growths sprouting from their bodies would be almost inevitable, and some would completely lose their human form, transforming into monsters as if crawled out from hell.

Abominations—monsters mutated by an excess of divine blessing.

Meanwhile, such changes aren’t limited to animals.

Plants twist or discolor under the red light’s influence. At minimum, they spurt blood when cut, and in severe cases, they mutate into monsters.

Rivers turn red, slowly flowing with contaminated blackish-red blood instead of drinking water, and the seas also turn crimson, bizarrely transforming the aquatic life within.

With the exception of transcendent powerhouses approaching divinity—those extremely rare individuals called top-tier or Grade 0—no one could be exempt from these grotesque phenomena.

Thus, by descending in my true divine form, I could exert influence that overlays the material world’s environment with my power, simply by existing, but…

The energy required for such massive and complex changes would, naturally, come from me.

The very act of my true divine form directly descending into the real world is already a burden, and my body—an enormous, high-density mass of energy—would begin to collapse from the moment of its appearance.

In other words, the phenomena described above are merely reality changing due to my collapsing form; in truth, it would amount to nothing more than an elaborate suicide show—that was my conclusion.

“Ugh, that’s a bit…”

As I waved off such a terrible end, I suddenly realized that if I truly wanted to, I could descend to the material world without any preparation whatsoever…

Only then did I begin to grasp that there were now fewer things I couldn’t do than things I could—in other words, I started to comprehend what I was capable of as a Higher God.

In truth, I hadn’t really felt it until now, having been so busy.

Perhaps it was because my status window made everything feel like a cutting-edge full-dive VR game, or because there hadn’t been any situations requiring me to directly use such overwhelming power.

No matter how much I told myself I was powerful, I hadn’t had many experiences that made it feel real.

But had something changed since becoming a Higher God?

I was now clearly aware of what would happen if I used my power in earnest.

So I was momentarily lost in thought, blankly reminiscing about the past, but only briefly.

“Sigh, I should get back to work. There’s plenty to do.”

Since this was just a waste of time, I tried to shake my head… only to realize I didn’t have a head.

So after calming my mind, I returned to work mode, wanting to check on the recent developments of the Orc nation—my reserve force—to which I had sent the Minotaur war god Ugo-Duk, the self-proclaimed Soviet Holy Republic.

※ ※ ※

The Soviet Holy Republic.

As the name suggests, it’s a republic that has adopted the religion worshipping another aspect of me, the Blood Wolf, as its state religion. Currently, its capital is the mobile city Super Moscowolf No. 1.

Its territory consists of the northern tundra region, particularly the White Wasteland area, which is said to have nothing but snow and ice.

Hearing this, one might wonder how they obtain food, but surprisingly, this region has more abundant food than the great plains where orcs live.

While agriculture is impossible in the tundra, it’s perfect for nomadic herding of horses and sheep. Thanks to numerous druids, underground farms operate beneath the surface and in the mobile city.

Even in the White Wasteland region, nomadic herding of reindeer and winter oxen is entirely possible, which accounts for a significant portion of the city’s sustenance.

Additionally, there exists a supreme leader of the administrative body governing this republic’s territory, a position impulsively named “Secretary.”

His name is Stalin, meaning “Man of Steel.”

Blessed with knowledge from somewhere, he became quite erudite with broad insights and continuously developed the city to realize the ideology of “the greatest happiness for the greatest number.”

As a result, the Soviet Holy Republic gained considerable influence in the region, along with a population of thousands.

More than half are orcs who escaped from the Orc Empire with its insane levels of exploitation. Of the remaining half, about half are native Wolf Beastmen.

The rest include various races rescued from slavery under the Orc Empire.

Naturally, many of these residents know better than anyone about the dangers and belligerence of the Orc Empire located to their south.

Therefore, many of them, driven by the desire to avoid death and to save their suffering kin and compatriots, formed the Mobile Army—one of the Soviet Holy Republic’s military forces.

The Soviet Holy Republic’s military can be broadly classified into two categories.

First is the Garrison Army.

This force defends Moscow, the capital and only city of the Soviet Holy Republic, primarily consisting of large races like ogres, snow trolls, or minotaurs.

Of course, orcs and wolf beastmen also belong to the garrison, but their role is less about combat and more about operating the magical turrets installed on Moscowolf No. 1.

In other words, they operate primitive magical fortress cannons and mortars.

The second is the newly established Mobile Army.

They offer tributes to the god of wrath they serve, the “Blood Wolf God,” and in return, ride sacred beasts—Blood Wolves—bestowed by their deity.

The wolves’ skeletal structure and hide durability have been altered to accommodate riders, making them easy to ride even for beginners without saddles or stirrups.

They never tire no matter how far or long they run, possess enough combat power to overwhelm several mediocre soldiers in close combat, have a temperament so fierce they’re jokingly compared to rabid chihuahuas, and demonstrate absolute loyalty to their summoners even in the face of death.

According to the nomadic orcs and wolf beastmen, these are the finest mounts possible. Five hundred soldiers riding these exceptional beasts form the Mobile Army’s main force—the Wolf Riders.

Despite possessing such impressive military strength, the Soviet Holy Republic was still quite lacking.

Until now, they had actively utilized these Wolf Riders to infiltrate the Orc Empire, attacking separated tribes (who live nomadically) to “recruit” personnel.

However, such population growth methods have fundamental limitations—namely, if the other side’s vigilance increases, there would be no way to continue.

Ultimately, at this point, they were limited to faithfully fulfilling multiple roles in emergencies…

And in reality, I had been guiding this situation myself.