Chapter 985: High Tower Battle (19)_1

The massive Central Mine was akin to a mouth of an abyss, continuously swallowing up the Demon Soldiers that dared to enter. Any vanguard forces entering the Central Mine disappeared without a trace, with not even messengers returning as expected. This left the Rotting Heart General somewhat bewildered.

Truth be told, he had never ventured deep into the Central Mine himself. It was not a task fit for a general, and their scouts had never focused on the mine, as there were no soldiers there. It was more prudent to monitor the forces on the border than to wander into the mine to familiarize themselves with the terrain.

Though the vanguard had not been successful, the Rotting Heart General could not just give up. Even if they could not defeat the enemy inside, the forces inside should at least retreat. At this point, he had not considered the possibility of his entire force being wiped out.

Thus, he sent out another team. This time, their attack met with little resistance. The Demon Soldiers successfully charged through the gates and into the tunnels, only to encounter the same predicament as before.

Since the Rotting Heart General had failed to devise any counter-strategies for the conditions within the mine, the second team met the same fate as the first one, disappearing deep inside the mine.

At this point, the Rotting Heart General realized something was amiss. He suspected that the enemy had laid potent traps. Considering the possibility that it could be the work of other Demon Lords, such methods were not unlikely. All it would take was hiding a couple of magicians in the mine.

Thus, he temporarily halted his offensive to consult with his staff team and mages, wondering what kind of magical trap could have ensnared two of his teams.

With the offensive held off, the enslaved mineworkers within the mountain could finally breathe a sigh of relieft. They dumped the corpses of the fallen Demon Soldiers into the sea of magma below. When Batman announced a period of rest, Hexagon was the first to approach him, filled with excitement.

"My god! I can't believe it! We actually defeated these terrifying Demon Soldiers!?!! I never dared to dream this!!" Hexagon rattled off exclamation after exclamation. Batman sat across from him by the fire in silence, watching him. Soon, he asked:

"You're no longer a slave. So, what do you want to do now?"

Hexagon was startled, then retorted, "What do you mean, 'what do I want to do now'? What can I do? Of course, I'll continue mining!"

"Do you genuinely enjoy mining? Don't you have anything else you want to do besides mining?"

"But I've always been mining." Hexagon waved his tentacle, seemingly puzzled. "What does it mean to do what I like to do? Are you saying I shouldn't mine? I should do something else? But I don't know how to do anything else!"

"Did you know, Hexagon... the outside world is vast. The mine you've always lived in isn't everything. The Desolate Continent isn't everything. Even Hell is just a part of the cosmos," Batman began, his voice carrying a hint of distant melancholy.

"Don't you want to go out and see? To see what is beyond the mine, what is beyond Hell. How life outside lives?"

"But what does their way of life have to do with me?" Hexagon seemed even more perplexed. "I'm just an aberration, a product of the Shadow Vines, all Shadow Monsters work in the mines under the Demon Lord..."

"Plus, you're telling me to leave the mine to take a look around. But the armies of the Rotting Heart General are still here. If you want to overthrow him and become the new Lord of the mine, you have to unify all the six mountains. That's going to be tough!"

"Who said I want to be the new lord of the mine?" Batman asked, leaving Hexagon utterly stunned. "If you don't want to rule the mine, why are you fighting against the Rotting Heart General?"

Batman paused for a moment, as if unsure where to begin, but then slowly started to speak. "I know, maybe your race has been laboring like this for generations. You work for the Lord of the mine, receiving no payment. They rule with violence, using fear to force you into labor."

"You do not receive any fairness here. Your life and death are determined by others. When you are scared, don't you feel that all of this is absurd?"

"When you fear death, have you ever regretted not resisting before, and now you can only let others have power over your life and death?"

These questions left Hexagon silent for a long while. It seemed like these philosophical musings were indeed a bit challenging for a newborn creature. Batman didn't push Hexagon further, instead standing up to find the elder of the shuttle snake demons. However, at that moment, Hexagon spoke:

"So, you are rebelling against the Rotting Heart General because you are afraid he might kill you? But as long as you do your work well...,"

"Weren't you doing your work well before?" Batman turned back and replied softly. "Didn't the supervisors still issue an impossible command and wanted to throw you into the magma?"

"When you surrender your life and death to others, you should understand that those with such power have no mercy, nor will they establish truly fair rules."