Chapter 980: High Tower Battle (14)_2

As time slowly ticked forward, nearing the deadline of death, everyone's movements quickened.

Just as there were a little over two hours left till the deadline, the demons had finally excavated all the ores except those at the top of the cave.

At this point, one and a half of the two carriages had been filled, but there was still half of a carriage left empty. Now, all the demons turned their attention to Batman. They had no idea how this miraculous human could extract the high placed ores.

The cavern was vast, with a high ceiling from which many stalactite-like spikes hung, surrounded by well-grown ores. If they could all be knocked down, they would more than fill up the half empty carriage.

Just then, Batman took a half-step back. A Shadow Monster that looked exactly like Hexagon tremulously stepped forward and stammered, "All of you... all of you move back, retreat into the tunnel, don't show your heads until I say so..."

All the demons looked at each other, confused, not knowing what to do. However, some old miners, as if realizing something, quickly waved and said, "Follow me! Into the tunnel! Everyone retreat to the furthest point!"

The demons moved into the tunnel in dribs and drabs. Batman, following the demons, entered the nearest tunnel, but he didn't retreat any further, choosing to stand at the entrance, observing.

The Shadow Monster squinted, and a silent screech echoed out. The sound wave spread out, displacing dust, and all the demons instinctively covered their ears.

In an instant, the Shadow Monster's tentacles spread open, turning into a terrifying tentacle shadow. But even scarier was the Shadow Vine that erupted from the corners of the cave.

The Shadow Vine expanded out at the speed of lightning. In just a few short seconds, countless vines swept through every corner of the cave. The vine storm, like a hurricane sweeping across the sea surface, created unstoppable waves, even causing the entire mountain to shake.

A few minutes later, the chaos finally subsided, the Shadow Vine retreated back within the ores. The first demon to rush out exclaimed:

"Ores! It's all ores! Look at this, there's ores all over the ground!!!"

The demons filed out, shocked to see shiny ores covering the ground. When they looked up again, the stalactite-like spikes had vanished. Half of the cave's ceiling showed signs of the Vine's whipping.

A gigantic Dark Red Giant Troll swallowed and then trembled as he said, "My God! So, the Shadow Vine is this powerful? They actually knocked all the ores down in a moment..."

Next to him, an aging, wrinkled shuttle snake demon exclaimed, "This reminds me of the Vine disaster of the past. Even the powerful Demon Lord could not deal with the combined force of the underground Shadow Vines..."

When Batman walked out of the cave, he wasn't surprised. He had long noticed the unusual nature of the Shadow Vine.

One clue was when he treated Hexagon's injuries before. He found that the black mist on Hexagon's tentacles had a very special property, just like the Shadow Ore - tough, stable, yet weightless.

Batman's hand armor couldn't cut through the black mist, and the tentacles appeared to have infinite elongation. Aside from fire and heavy blows, no amount of hacking and chopping had much effect.

Upon discovering these magical properties, Batman specifically asked Hexagon about the habits of the Shadow Vine. According to Hexagon, these plants were extraordinary. While they dwelled on the ground or within the mountains, they occupied no space and required no nest or habitat. They clung to the surface of the ores like real shadows.

But when it takes physical form, it can be infinitely prolonged. The greater the stimulus received, the faster the eruption speed, and the more intense the eruptive force.

And Hexagon also confided to Batman a secret, that is, the Shadow Monsters born from the Shadow Vines not only can soothe the Shadow Vines, but they can also stimulate these plants, causing them to explode in an instant.

Later, Batman gave Hexagon a plan, prompting him to use his Shadow Monsters' characteristics to stimulate the Shadow Vines and punish the Magma demons who had bullied him. At the same time, this also provided Batman with a great opportunity to observe these plants.

After confirming that the Shadow Vines indeed exploded within a short time, causing great destruction as Hexagon had mentioned, Batman also noticed another detail; the whip held in the supervisor's hand was likely related to the Shadow Vines.

The Shadow Vines are black and explode like a black wave, yet at the point of the explosion, Batman was able to observe a trace of green light.

This green light reminded Batman of All Things Green that once descended upon Gotham. He thought since all the plants in the universe are subject to All Things Green, the Shadow Vine should also be part of this scheme. The reason the whip can cause such great damage to the demons might be due to the power of All Things Green.

The absurd demands of the Demon Overseers for the amount of work also provided Batman with another opportunity. He found that the method of attracting monsters to stimulate the Shadow Vines seemed to have nothing to do with magic or mysticism but utilized a certain sound frequency.

Batman felt that he had grasped the key, yet just at that moment, the deadline finally arrived. After pouring the last collected minerals into the mining cart, the supervisors stormed in.

When they saw two full carts of ore, the overseers were stunned.

"How is this possible?!! You bunch of stupid slaves, how could you actually..."

"Damn it! Someone must have cheated!! The miners under that idiot Claude can't be this hardworking. Come out! Come out and face me now!"

"I cannot let Claude outdo me! Our fourth mountain is the mine most valued by the Rotten Heart General. The Central Mine has so many resources left untapped while having the audacity to occupy this place for so many years, Claude must step down!"

The lead demon swung his whip maliciously and then ordered, "Take them all away, throw them into the magma! There are a bunch of slaves at the Central Mine that didn't fulfill their tasks, kill them all!"

Batman, standing behind the mine carts, narrowed his eyes as he realized that this absurd workload wasn't due to the supervisor's madness but was related to power struggles within the mines.

It seemed that this chief supervisor named Claude had been monopolizing the Central Mine, causing dissatisfaction among the supervisors of the smaller mines. They planned to band together, kill all the slaves of the Central Mine so that Claude would be unable to complete his task.

Under such circumstances, if all the slaves were thrown into the magma, delaying Rotten Heart General's progress, it was easy to imagine the fate of this chief supervisor named Claude.

Just as the fierce overseers were about to seize the slaves, a figure wearing a black cape jumped onto the highest dirt heap in the center of the mine. His voice echoed in the mine:

"Halt, you cannot take anyone from here!"

Batman looked down at the sturdy Demon Overseers from a high vantage point and said, "This is neither fair nor just... Stop what you're doing, and let them go!"