"Ahhh!!! Let go of me!!... Okay, okay, I'll answer your question, but after that, you have to let go of my foot... you damned human, you're all a bunch of cunning monsters!"
Batman's movement paused for a moment. He wasn't sure if being called a monster by a demon was an insult or a compliment. But then, the demon started speaking intermittently:
"You and your master must be both hayseeds, otherwise, upon seeing the sign on the door, you would have recognized that this is the grand seven Mountains Mine owned by His Majesty Beel. It's the second-largest mine within his subterranean territory..."
"How did I get here? I told you, I am a native, a Shadow Monster living in the mine. When His Majesty Beel's army arrived and claimed the mine, I had to work for him..."
"And what do I do here? What else can I do? Of course, I mine. The seven Mountains Mine has almost all of hell's mainstream minerals, and the weapons and armor of the guards are all forged from these ores..."
"What's your name?" Batman asked again.
"My name's, my name's Hexagon, let go of me quickly, my foot's about to break... Ah, it hurts..."
The voice on the other side was on the verge of tears. Batman found that the demons here were simpler than he thought, so he released one of the legs, allowing the tentacle to retract, but he kept the other foot in his grasp as he spoke:
"I know there are guards in the dormitory, so no matter what strange noises you hear from me from now on, it's better to keep quiet. If you attract the guards, I'll definitely kill you before they kill me."
The threat in Batman's words wasn't watered down in the slightest. After the last leg of Hexagon, the Shadow Monster, was retracted, he whimpered twice before saying: "You overconfident humans, always thinking of escaping. I don't care. Do whatever you want in your room."
Batman narrowed his eyes and asked, "Have humans been here before?"
Hexagon seemed to be nursing his injured foot as he said, "What nonsense are you talking about? There are plenty of humans here. I've had at least five or six humans as neighbors. They all wanted to run away..."
"Did they manage to escape?" Batman asked again.
"Most of them did get away, I must admit, your cunning race has some skills. But this is hell, even if you escape from this mine, where would you go? Eventually, you'll still end up working for other demons..."
"A weak individual like a human, upon arriving at Hell, only has two outcomes: either hide in the mine, barracks or slave quarters and work for the demons, or if you're unlucky, run into a powerful demon and get devoured..."
"Do you count as a powerful demon?" asked Batman.
"You humans sure love to talk nonsense." Hexagon scoffed: "If I was a powerful demon, would you have made me this pathetic?"
"Shadow Monsters are merely creatures born alongside Shadow Ore, most of them have no intellect and only instinctively attack demons trying to mine Shadow Ore. And precisely because of this, Shadow Monsters with intellect are captured. We can pacify our own kind during the mining process, stopping them from attacking the miners, that's my job..."
Batman silently noted down the information he spoke of, after a moment of silence, Hexagon took the initiative to speak: "Are you planning to run away too? You could try to dig a hole out from the crack in the back wall tonight, a previous neighbor of mine escaped that way. You better clear out quickly, I hate cunning humans."
Upon hearing these words, Batman looked at the crack in the wall behind him. Due to being in the shadow of the torchlight, he hadn't examined the corner to the right of the mat closely. And right now, he noticed that there seemed to be a small crack there.
When Batman placed his hand in the crack, he could clearly feel a gust of wind blowing out from it. This indicated that there was a considerable amount of space behind it.
"Aren't the guards here worried about people escaping?" Batman asked, he was genuinely puzzled, so he asked again: "The security here is unbelievably lax..."
"So what if they run." Hexagon said indifferently: "Those giant bugs bring in dozens or hundreds of people each day, even if everyone ran off, one could just catch more the next day. And besides, only you humans are crazy enough to want to escape. To demons, isn't working just working, no matter where you are?"
"Have you guys never thought about resisting or escaping?" Batman asked as he continued to examine the crack.
"Why would I resist or escape?" Hexagon's voice also carried some confusion. He said: "If I were to run away, I'd just get captured by another demon, and brought to another mine to do the same job."
"Moreover, His Majesty Beel is considered a decent Demon Lord. He's powerful, dignified and ancient. The other Demon Lords in this vicinity wouldn't dare provoke him. If he can safeguard his territory, he can protect us."
"If I were to end up with a weakling, we would be constantly under attack from other Demon Lords. I may even have to be dragged onto the battlefield. Shadow Monsters aren't known for their fighting capabilities, my leg would probably get chopped off."
Batman's hand stilled for a moment, then he asked: "Don't you wish to be a Demon Lord yourself? Don't you wish to be a leader?"
"A Demon Lord? You must be joking." Hexagon muttered under his breath: "I'm a Shadow Monster. Have you ever seen a Shadow Monster become a Demon Lord? We have absolutely no magic, nor do we have strong bodies. Although Shadow Monsters are abundant in mines, but that's useless..."
"We are just like humans, one of the weakest races in Hell. Let's not even talk about becoming Demon Lords, we don't even get a chance to be supervisors."
"Just because you're weak, you won't resist?" Batman muttered to himself.
"All Shadow Monsters are the same. We suddenly find ourselves in a mine, awakened with a new awareness, discovered by the supervisors and put to work..." Hexagon's tone was very cheerful as he said,
"My luck isn't half bad. Sometimes the lower Shadow Monsters go crazy and tear us apart, swallowing us. But I've been here for quite some time and have yet to encounter such misfortune."
"But yesterday, that damned Magma demon threw a fireball at my foot, trying to blast me into the magma. I knew he had it in for me. I have to see him again when I work tomorrow. Satan above, I'm so fed up with him..."
"Why didn't you fight back?" Batman asked again.
"Fight back? Are you saying I should fight him? Don't joke around! Magma demons are among the most powerful demons, even among the supervisors, he's one of the stronger ones. How could I possibly beat him?"
"Just because you can't beat him, doesn't mean you can't fight him..." Batman murmured, then added: "Your foot is injured, right? I know some medical techniques, I might be able to help you treat it, let me see your wound..."
"What?????"