The Guerrilla Volcano
The spatial movement at the galaxy level, managed by the highest Main Gods of the Spirit Realm, marked the current limit of the Dimensional Lord. Even that feat would have been considered miraculous among the highest Main Gods, yet with every authority now devoted to concealing his Karma, traversing even star-cluster distances strained him to the breaking point. To avoid the Main Divine Realm’s notice, he could not use the regular transit routes and had to slip through in secret, compounding the difficulty.
“Damn it—! Without the Cyber Realm’s spatial movement, this is going to kill me.”
By the time he finally reached the Spirit Realm, he was utterly spent and collapsed near the entrance. No matter how infinite the supply of divine power, it means nothing once the body’s endurance is exceeded. Even his spiritual body was overheating from the excessive drain.
Any direct search for the Spirit Realm’s war situation would inevitably reveal his “Dimension” authority, exposing his arrival. He had therefore moved with extreme caution. Yet even without searching, the chained explosions of divine power exceeding hundreds of billions of units reached him from beyond.
“Agh—! Just finish it already. What a mess.”
Almighty Hwi, a Creator Candidate, would never lose to the feeble Creator Gods of another main universe. Once the complicated political issues were settled, the fight would end swiftly. The Dimensional Lord had no intention of stepping into such a troublesome conflict. Even without generous rewards, getting dragged into the emotional squabbles of the high and mighty could end everything in one blow.
The Dimensional Lord, still panting, gathered his divine power and forced his body upright. “Haaah… haaah… So this is the Spirit Realm Waiting Area? Why does it look so dangerous?”
A modest entrance, smaller than the highest divine realms he knew, stood in the distance. Spatial movement was blocked from this point onward. Winding paths branched like country trails, giving the place the unmistakable feel of a remote frontier. Not a single soul was in sight.
“What the—? No gods overseeing control or surveillance?”
Shuuuooooong!
The Dimensional Lord moved his partially recovered body, slicing through space. The distant entrance meant he would not lose his way, yet the density of the outermost boundary region pressed down on him like marching in full plate armor. Right now my divine power is fully occupied with concealment; expanding it with magic is impossible. I’m barely at the Intermediate Main God level. Adding the concealment authority on top leaves me teetering on the edge of Main God status.
Under such conditions, the spatial pressure crushed his entire frame and hindered movement until breathing became a struggle. Even simple travel consumed alarming amounts of divine power and vitality.
“What… what is this bizarre pressure?”
Curious, he extended a thread of magic to investigate and was stunned. This space contains a vitality absorption function. It forcibly squeezes the body, compelling it to release vitality for absorption. The drain was gradual rather than instantaneous, and it did not yet touch his core divine power. Still, the constant burden felt like carrying an enormous weight even while standing still.
It primarily siphons the abundant vitality and divine power of combat gods. They cannot resist. This vitality-absorbing space was created by an authority belonging to a being above Creator God.
His magic analyzed the authority thoroughly and relayed the information as though reading from a bulletin board. The content was absurd.
“Authority name of the Spirit Realm Waiting Area: Guerrilla Volcano? What kind of ridiculous name is that? Suddenly a volcano appears, and what’s with the ‘guerrilla’ part? More importantly, what is this outrageously vicious authority? Continuous absorption of surplus vitality and divine power is one thing, but forced physical tempering? Forced limit situations and mandatory self-healing? Defeated combat gods who failed the authentication war bear double the burden? And the higher the divine rank, the greater the additional burden for accountability? If you can’t endure, just vanish and resurrect as a management god?”
The sheer scale of the restrictions left his mouth hanging open. So that’s why they say the Spirit Realm is overflowing with management-type goddesses while combat gods and male gods are almost nonexistent. This place gathers gods defeated in the authentication war and simultaneously demands accountability. Even so, management goddesses are so outstanding that some choose annihilation rather than wait for selection from another divine realm.
No wonder most combat-type male gods cannot endure and end up converting to management goddesses. The fact that combat goddesses had survived inside this place explained how they had become so fierce and powerful. Now I understand why there is no surveillance or boundary enforcement. Anyone trying to force their way through would be crushed by the absorption and physical burden, especially those of higher rank.
Lower gods could not fly across this vast region, while higher gods could not withstand the extra absorption and strain. Even with the output of a highest Main God, I lowered my rank to Main God just to barely endure this. Had I remained at highest Main God level, my vitality and divine power would have been drained at an incredible rate.
Even now the absorption continued, leaving his body feeling as though a boulder rested on his back. Under this authority the body grows stronger, yet any improvement in divine power or authority is impossible. It is literally a forced mandate to supply vitality and divine power for eternity.
The punishment he had once inflicted upon the machine star cluster that attacked him now seemed laughably mild by comparison.
“Surely this authority isn’t applied to the entire Spirit Realm? What? The interior of the management facility is even harsher, so I should cleanly organize the newborns?”
There was no need to confirm further; the details were already displayed the moment he examined the authority. This is only the boundary region, so the effect is weaker? The closer he drew to the center, the more severe the drain on divine power and vitality would become. The thought of formally notifying the Spirit Realm and entering under official welcome suddenly felt very appealing.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed that a cylindrical zone extending straight from the gate—marked by an invisible wall—was excluded from the authority’s range. Yet an enormous concentration of divine power lay dormant inside it, radiating the menace of an absurdly massive cannon barrel.
“Don’t tell me… a divine-power cannon barrel?”
A chill ran down the Dimensional Lord’s spine. The vitality and divine power of every god and spirit in the Spirit Realm are accumulated by the Creator after being used for the expansion and development of the universe. That colossal cannon connected to the Spirit Realm must be a countermeasure against such accumulation. If the massive cannon that gathers all the power of the Spirit Realm were fired, its destructive force would be beyond measurement.
Should every spirit god and spirit across all main universes combine their divine power and vitality into a single shot, even a Creator would have to prepare for fatal injury. “Its power would be something even Eternal Beings could not ignore. But it would be useless against him. He is not an existence that can be defeated by simple differences in divine power. Before his incomprehensible Eight-Tone Rhythm, only a being stronger than he can overthrow him. Indiscriminate quantity attacks like this would never work. That is why it remains unused. So that is why it is called a volcano. One of the decisive weapons created to defeat him—the Guerrilla Volcano. A strategic weapon of the Creators that consumes the vitality of an entire dimension and all its beings to destroy the universe? A divine prison that gathers defeated gods, turns them into spirit gods, keeps them anxious that they might one day become fuel for the divine-power cannon, and endlessly extracts their vitality and divine power.”
The Spirit Realm, now appearing before him as a colossal cannon, filled him with a cold dread. The victor receives boundless glory and comfort, while the defeated are subjected only to endless exploitation and sacrifice. This is the true face of the beautiful reality I have come to understand so painfully.
Those Main Gods who passed the authentication war were granted positions of honor that even Creator Gods treated with special regard, yet the defeated faced a fate of having their vitality continuously stolen until they eventually became fuel for the divine-power cannon. No wonder the combat goddesses were willing to endure such sacrifice and begged me to rescue the gods of their former divine realms. That is why they hid their divine power so thoroughly and strove never to lose by any means.
Seeing this place with his own eyes made their actions understandable. If I had been told I must return here, I too would have used any means necessary. This was no longer merely about Karma; it concerned the very existence of gods. The fate of defeated spirit gods is truly horrific. Do I feel anger at this cruelty? What a foolish question. Every main universe is the same.
The external universes the Dimensional Lord had witnessed were even worse, offering no chance for advancement at all. Other main universes only looked plausible from the outside. To rise in status, one had to become a direct subordinate rather than rely on strength or merit. Countless conditions were attached to make advancement impossible, leaving one forever in the lower ranks. Those who stood out too strongly were usually expelled from the divine realm or killed.
While other main universes lacked any opportunity for advancement, their interiors were hideously corrupt. A true powerhouse would naturally choose our main universe, where one can rise as far as their own strength allows. That is why Main Gods invited to other main universes return and willingly endure the harsh life of mercenary gods. Even if they fight with all their might and are defeated, ending up in this position is understandable. Above all, it is fair.
In his universe, growing stronger did not bring oppression but greater freedom and better treatment. No matter their origin, defeated gods have their divine power reduced by one rank and are sent to the Main Divine Realm for utilization, then given another chance. It is a privilege of re-challenge granted only to those at Main God rank and above.
That was one reason Main God-rank gods received special treatment. All those below were condemned to this brutal forced-labor prison called the Spirit Realm. No wonder the gods of the divine realms grit their teeth and even ally with the demon race just to pass the authentication war.
Once a god ascended to Creator rank, they would never fall below Creator Candidate again. As long as they committed no grave crimes and remained “absolute good,” they would always be resurrected. The Dimensional Lord’s jaw tightened unconsciously as words rose from his heart.
“Ghh—! I must become stronger by any means and reach Creator God or higher. Only then can I escape this precarious fate of being mere expendable material.”