A calm day blankets the vast expanse of Ashenveil Lake, the largest lake in the Karak kingdom. The sun slowly rises and slowly shines on the land. Fishermen grab their equipment, board on boat, and ready to do their daily routine. Suddenly, an unnatural brilliance erupts in the sky above the lake and breaks the silence.
Suppose it was still at sunrise, but now it has just like suddenly become noon, with a smaller sun but closer to them.
The nuclear detonation, though small in yield by Soviet standards, is unprecedented in Karak. A blinding white light appears in the sky, followed by a deafening roar that reverberates across the land. The fishermen drop anything they have in their hands, shielding their eyes as the light burns their vision.
High above the lake, the explosion releases a fiery sphere that quickly blossoms into an ominous mushroom cloud. The lake's surface ripples violently, the shockwave pushing water outward in towering waves that crash onto the shores, flooding nearby villages and overturning fishing boats.
Yet, the true devastation lies not only in the physical damage, it is the sheer terror and incomprehension of what has transpired. The shockwave energy has quickly been felt by all the ones with magic around the country.
Those who live a little further from the lakes see how it happens, they see the power of the nukes. In a very short time, what happened here was known by everyone.
Rumours came up almost instantly at the same time.
"The gods are angered by our arrogance. The mushroom cloud is their sign of disapproval, and the lake's waters boil in their rage."
"The Soviets have a strange force that destroys magic. The explosion was their attempt to destroy all of us in the country."
"The Soviets have enslaved a fire elemental of incomprehensible power, forcing it to unleash destruction upon us."
Due to the block message by the Karak official, many farmers and workers only know there is a mysterious land appearing north of the sea, and it is called the USSR, only a minor of them in the country know about the nuke.
Of course, the one benefit the most is those commissar in the kingdom.
"It is the anger of the god of Orthodoxy, anger about the unfair treatment of our farmer and workers' brother, anger about those who work hard but died because of hunger while those who don't are fat as a pig."
"You have spent your whole life in the Karak, but what did the god do when you had the problem I mentioned? Nothing! But the USSR and orthodoxy only came here for not even a year, our god immediately did something when they saw what you had encountered and faced."
"Join us, you do not need to kneel or pray every day just to show your loyalty to god, as long as you have the mindset of being united with the other, then you are part of us. Those food and wealth which used to belong to someone will now belong to ours!"
The impassioned speeches and the panic of most people about what happened immediately helped to boost the ideology, many joined the Orthodoxy, even many from the army.
---
"Comrade Admiral, everything goes well."
Gorshkov have a look at the paper and pass it back.
"Should we enter the port for resupply in batches now?" His adjutant asked.
Gorshkov nodded his head, and then the commander of Kirov-class immediately passed the order to the other. Soon, a few ships and auxiliary ships sail to the port. The Soviet Navy has rarely experienced such a distance sailing on such a large scale, in another view, it can also be seen as a real naval exercise for the navy.
Gorshkov looked at all this and fell into deep thought, about the Soviet navy lack of experience and ability to conduct a large-scale ambitious landing and also long-distance sailing. For a long time, even before they came to this world, the Soviet navy has always been built under the theory of green water navy, which they can't conduct a battle globally like a blue water navy.
This was decided by the geographical location of the Soviet Union. But now, it has changed, they need a strong blue water navy. It will be difficult to do it in only a few years, perhaps they will need another way to solve the issue. An idea has come to his mind.
"Does the Karak claim that the water is their territory?" He asked his adjutant.
Adjutant nodded for a second but reacted quickly.
"No, Comrade Admiral."
"Great, informed them and Moscow, from now on, twenty kilometres from their coastline is Soviet territory."
His words shocked everyone besides him.
"Comrade Admiral, is this good? What we have done just now may already be alerted and anger the Karak. I worry telling them this news now may cause unpredictable consequences. They might start the war with us." The commander of the Kirov class asked.
Gorshkov laughed disdainfully after hearing this.
"Then let them start the war. Many in our country want the war to go on, what can the Karak do to us if they start? Even if they have some secret massive destruction weapons like the undead, how much casualties and damage can they cause? Just like now, our missile can fly over their whole country without facing any resistance, we will destroy them before they can do it to us."
In fact, Gorshkov was one of those who hoped the war to continue, it would be even better if the next war happened in Karak. Since the war began, both the ground forces and air forces gained great honour from battle, only his navy, except for the first wave contribution in Leningrad and participated part of the counteroffensive, in other times, it can't say it's completely useless but can only say it's basically useless.
What they do most of the time is escort cargo ships, and explore the unexplored area.
"Believe me, these Karak are pussies, they don't dare to start a war. Someone once said 'Truth only exists within the gun range' and now the Karak are within ours, but we are not within theirs."
"We are the ones doing the right things, not the Karak. We did what a good ally should do, we provide them aid, we helped them to defeat their feud undead, and what have they done to us? They try to control our people and officers, what we were doing now are just some punishment for them. They have no rights to complain about it."