"Fairness? Justice?" The Chief Supervisor's voice came from beneath the mound of soil, filled with mockery and derision. "Humans! Cunning humans! You must have used your so-called magic to create these ores; you're cheating!"
"These ores were mined through everyone's combined efforts, not just mine." Batman said, "They recognize every piece of ore here, they can call them by their names, it is the result of their labor."
"You dare talk back to the great Jacob!" A supervisor behind the Chief Supervisor stepped forward, pointing at Batman. "Jacob can toss you into the magma!"
"So that's all you got." Batman coldly said: "Tell anyone that you'll throw them into the magma, including those miniature demons."
But this seemed to step on the Chief Supervisor Jacob's tail. He screamed in anger, "Catch him! Catch him! I'll whip him to death with my whip!! I'll tear him apart!!!"
Batman snorted, dodged the incoming whip, leading the supervisors in circles around the mine.
Batman's hard work over the past days hasn't been for naught. He memorized every protruding rock on the wall, planned countless routes in his mind. Running, his cape fluttering, his physique nimble, he darted like a real bat, soaring above the demons' heads, but no one could really touch him.
Humans are far less robust than demons, but they have a benefit, that is, great flexibility and coordination. They won't, like many demons with powerful arms, move with a top-heavy imbalance, finding it hard to maintain balance.
Even among humans, Batman's physical condition is second to none. He maximizes the advantages of the human body, jumping from one platform to another, then leaping, catching the unevenness of the rock layers, swinging hard, jumping over another attacker's head, and kicking another demon down in the air.
Seeing his subordinates being at a disadvantage, Jacob decided to take to the field himself. His whip was awe-inspiring, unfortunately, the space in the mine was too large, and his whip limited in length, and before he had a chance to use it, Batman had jumped to the other side.
Jacob, losing his patience, looked around angrily at the demons, then yelled, "What are you all do standing there?! Catch that human!!!"
The demons standing next to him looked at each other. They instinctively wanted to obey the command.
But on the one hand, these slaves were inferior to the supervisors in size and strength. Many of the demons could only rely on their sense of smell to act, their vision very blurred, they couldn't see, and for a while, they didn't know what to do.
On the other hand, Batman had just saved them. Most of the demons didn't understand the concept of repaying kindness with kindness, but they weren't stupid. If they caught Batman, who could do such work next time?
If no one could do it, wouldn't they be thrown into the magma sooner or later? Even if they were to die sooner or later, they wanted to delay their deaths as long as possible.
Seeing the group of demons, who never dared to resist him, completely ignoring his orders, Jacob became even more furious. His whip couldn't reach Batman, but it could reach the troll and Shuttle Snake Demons next to him.
He lashed out with his whip, bringing bad luck to the demons nearby. The strange power attached to the whip struck the back of the towering troll, making it stagger and fall, letting out a cry of pain.
Jacob attacked the demons around him like a madman. All the demons were in panic, running around in chaos. However, the large demons were too slow, and the small ones were torn apart by one lash of the whip, their flesh flying. In an instant, all the demons were wailing.
An old and decrepit So Snake Demon, hesitantly wanted to hide next to the mound of soil. Unlike other So Snake Demons, the scales on its tail were multicolored. Under the tattered miner's uniform, it hid a tattoo with a mysterious pattern.
But at this time, everyone was busy escaping, no one could bother with it. He heard a loud swishing sound, and the whip glowing with green light was already right in front of him. The old So Snake Demon closed his eyes in despair.
"Pah!!! Boom!"
The expected pain didn't come. A shadow darted past him and heavily hit the ground. A large wound appeared on Batman's back, running from the right rear ear side all the way through the left buttock, almost splitting his back in half.
Blood spurted out instantly. He struggled on the ground, but couldn't get up at all, only lying there futilely gasping for breath.
Realizing that he had finally brought down this damn bat, Jacob drew back his whip while panting, clenched his teeth and walked towards Batman. He let out two cruel laughs and said:
"Cursed humans! Your weak bodies are forever your curse! You can never contend with demons. Want to escape from my palm? Dream on!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! You want to be a hero here, you talk about justice and fairness. Where do you think this is? This is hell!!"
Batman lay motionless on the ground, as if even breathing had exhausted all his strength. Jacob stretched his whip in his hand and said, "Remember what I said earlier? I will whip you to death! Tear you apart! And then throw you into the magma!!"
After saying that, he started to swing his whip again. The rapidly spinning whip stirred the air, and like a sharp sword, it whipped towards Batman, who seemed to have completely lost his power to escape.
But just as the airflow from the whip neared Batman, a dizzying scream came from the side. "Bang!" The whip in Jacob's hand flew out. The elderly So Snake Demon quickly swung its snake tail, rushed out, hugged Batman's waist, and pulled him next to a pile of dirt.
"Damn it!!!" Jacob, having stumbled a couple of steps, suddenly reacted and turned to look at the So Snake Demon, ignoring the whip on the side, and directly rushed at him.
The elderly Shuttle Snake Demon seemed to be helpless, raising his arm in a defensive pose. However, at this point, a younger Shuttle Snake Demon beside him yelled out, "Protect the Elder!!!"
In an instant. All of the Shuttle Snake Demons moved, their huge tails lashed towards Jacob.
The tail of a shuttle snake demon was strong and flexible. The closest tail directly tripped the robust Demon Overseer, causing him to fall to the ground.
At this moment, the elderly Shuttle Snake Demon extended his hand and commanded, "Kill him! Or else, we will be the ones to die!"
All the Shuttle Snake Demons shrieked in unison, picked up rocks, and threw them at Jacob. The other demons of different races in the field had not yet understood what was happening, only to hear the elderly Shuttle Snake Demon say:
"There's a riot in the mines. When the upper echelons investigate, nobody will escape. We must kill all the overseers to resist the army!"
He spoke so clearly that the majority of the demons finally understood what was happening.
Jacob was attacked by the Snake Demon Clan within the mines. However, if he reported upwards, he would likely say that the entire mine had rioted, because from his previous statements, it was clear that he had long been discontent with the Central Mine and wanted to eliminate all the slaves there.
So, they had to kill him and all the overseers to buy time. Otherwise, right now, if the elite troops under the Rotting Heart General charged in, the ordinary demons at the bottom of Hell wouldn't be able to resist.
All creatures with wisdom, when choosing the question of "you die or I die", won't opt for any other answer. They will try their utmost to survive and make their opponents die.
And when forced to make a choice, the demons are even more decisive than humans, because Hell itself is a world of survival of the fittest. Even if you were once strong, the moment you become weak, you will be torn apart and devoured.
The next second, the Giant Demon raised his fist, the Shadow Monster raised his tentacle, and even the Miniature Demons picked up rocks.
In the entire large mine, not counting the Miniature Demons, there were also hundreds of demons. There were over twenty Giant Demons alone that were larger than Jacob. They pummeled Jacob, who didn't last two minutes before he became a mangled mess.
At this time, Batman crawled up from the ground. He didn't even have the strength to stand, so he sat where he was, looking up at the Elder Shuttle Snake Demon who was swimming his tail over.
This was his plan all along because during the mining process just now, he observed that this elderly Shuttle Snake Demon lacked the ability to mine. He was too old, but he was able to survive in the mine, indicating that someone was taking care of him.
After some time observing, Batman also noticed that this elderly Shuttle Snake Demon held an extremely special status within their clan - young Shuttle Snake Demons would help him transport ore.
Batman knew that in Hell, there was no concept of respect for elders and care for the young. The law of the jungle prevailed here. Those who lost their ability to labor could only wait for death, and no one would extend extra effort to look after others unless they brought additional benefits.
Batman noticed that the tattoo patterns on the body of this elderly Shuttle Snake Demon and the scales on his tail were different from other Shuttle Snake Demons. Therefore, Batman determined that he was most likely the leader of the Shuttle Snake Demon Clan in the mine.
This was why Batman had devised such a scheme to instigate chaos in the mine, forcing the demons to act mercilessly and kill the overseers.
And once the overseers were killed, there would be no turning back for them.
Batman sat there, thinking. To ally only with the Shadow Monster Clan? No, that would be too simple. What he could and wanted to do was more than that. The first step was to become the king of the mountain.
Batman, shaking slightly, stood up and walked towards Jacob's body, but didn't spare him a glance. Instead, he picked up the whip that Jacob had tossed aside.
Batman went back to the Elder Shuttle Snake Demon, gave him the whip, then held out his handcuffed hands towards him.
The Shuttle Snake Demon, with his humanoid snake face, showed a somewhat melancholy expression. But then, he looked at Batman with his intelligent green eyes, and when their eyes met, the Elder Shuttle Snake Demon picked up the whip and rotated it around the handcuffs.
The Elder Shuttle Snake Demon pulled hard, and with a flash of green light from the whip, the shackles broke. Batman took the whip and climbed back onto the highest pile of dirt in the center of the mine.
Looking down, Batman saw a desperate desire in the eyes of all the demons.
At this moment, he understood that his plan had been successful.
But he didn't feel proud, as he was facing even bigger tasks. This was only one of the mines in the Central Mountain, and there were over sixty mines from top to bottom in the Central Mountain.
Batman raised the whip with his shackled hand and then called out aloud.
"Equality, justice, and...freedom!"