Chapter 982 The Battle for High Tower (Sixteen) (Patreon)

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Batman stood atop the highest mound of earth, looking down upon all the demons. In a deep voice, he said, "The shadow demons in the mines witnessed everything that happened just now. If what the overseer said is true, then General Putrescent may already know about the riot in the mines. Things have become irreversible."

As his words fell, many demons began to tremble. The reason these demons had long remained in the mines, serving as slaves for mining, was mainly due to significant flaws within their races. They were fundamentally unable to contend with soldiers. Once a conflict arose, they could only await death.

Within hell, the various races were not born equal.

Trolls were tall and powerful, able to use tools, but due to their bone structure, their lower limbs lacked adequate support, resulting in slow movement and poor agility, making escape impossible.

Tritons possessed strong jumping abilities and rapid burst speeds, but their snake tails were unsuitable for long-distance marches, hindering migration.

Crimson demons had a physique similar to humans, with relatively balanced development, but in hell, being too small was their greatest drawback.

Not to mention the obvious flaws of subordinate demons like imps and shadow monsters. The gap between demons was greater than that between demons and humans.

These flawed demon races had not been eliminated through natural evolution because, like Heaven, hell belonged to a high-magic environment. Most demons did not need to spend half their day, like humans, on basic survival activities like eating and sleeping.

Even the weakest imp didn't need to drink water and could go three to four days without eating. All demons didn't need to sleep, although they could experience mental fatigue and nervousness, needing relaxation and entertainment. Yet, in extreme conditions, they could endure much longer than humans.

Many demons reproduced without the complexities of human reproduction. Demons like shadow monsters were naturally born and didn't require mating. The demon population remained stable.

Imps' reproduction was even simpler; they were asexual and could reproduce once reaching adulthood without mating.

They gave birth to 2 to 3 offspring in about a month, reaching sexual maturity in just a year. However, due to the harsh environment of hell, the survival rate of offspring was low. Despite this, these small demons were nearly ubiquitous in every corner of hell.

However, these kinds of demons had almost no combat capability. In the military system prevalent in hell, which was predominantly martial, with the majority being classical martial nations, all were geared towards warfare.

In such a scenario, demons without the ability to participate in military combat were naturally at the bottom of the food chain. They either served as slaves in the mines, laborers in the smelting factories, or were sent out as cannon fodder during times of war.

This had been the way of life for generations, and they had no consciousness of resistance. Here, they couldn't utter the phrase "Do princes and nobles exist?", because the princes and nobles of hell were indeed much stronger than ordinary demons.

For example, ancient demons were a major category of demons. Essentially, all humanoid demons could be called ancient demons. They were descendants of the creations of gods. Although they weren't particularly large in size and didn't appear fierce, they could use magic and wield the power of hell's origin.

Human sorcerers traded with demons to obtain this power. Demons with such power could easily kill ordinary demons born with inherent defects. Even powerful demon lords could release large-scale devouring magic that could destroy an entire city.

Many theories suggested that the reason humans still had a chance to develop in peace was that the differences between individuals and groups hadn't reached a point of absolute domination, allowing for the pursuit of fairness.

If a certain type of person or a particular race were born with the power to dominate 90% of others without relying on society, all rules and morals would be meaningless to them, leaving no space for the survival of others.

But now, before Batman lay a hellishly difficult challenge. These inherently weak and defective races had just taken the first step of resistance. However, what they were about to face was adversaries with equipment, strength, intelligence, and discipline many times greater than theirs.

In such a situation, could the collective truly be greater than the individual? Did unity truly have an effect? Was uniting to resist really a good choice?

Batman didn't yet know the answers to these questions, but by taking this step, there was no turning back.

He wasn't one to waste too much time on philosophical pondering. Holding his whip, he jumped down and addressed everyone, "Now, everyone come to me and unlock your shackles. We need to block all the doors in the mine first, ensuring no one can enter..."

At this moment, the elder of the Tritons slid over with his tail, speaking in a hoarse voice, "If we block the doors, indeed, we can temporarily keep the overseers from entering. But if the entire central mine is cut off from General Putrescent's control, he will surely send a powerful army here in anger..."

The elder Triton shook his head, "We cannot match those soldier demons. Just a fully armed squad could kill everyone here."

But Batman looked at him and said, "That's why I want to block the doors. Although this may provoke General Putrescent, once the central mine is cut off from the outside world, he will believe the entire mine has revolted."

"Besides our mine, there are over sixty other mines in the central mine. In the lowermost mines, there are many powerful lava demons, rotten mud monsters, crimson trolls, and so on."

"They are still unaware, and what I aim to do is block the doors and pull them together to join the army of rebels."

The elder Triton suddenly realized, "Correct. If the central mine is now cut off from the outside world, then the overseers and General Putrescent will think that all the demons here have collectively rebelled, even if demons in other mines have not done so..."

"So, when they attack the mines, they won't distinguish friend from foe. They'll just toss all the demons in the mines into the magma. And once other demons know this, they'll have no choice but to unite and resist General Putrescent..."

"Correct, I want to get everyone on board," Batman said firmly. "I don't believe General Putrescent dares to use magic to blow up the entire mine."

"Now, Demon Lord Belial is eager to send troops to the front lines. If Seven Peaks Mine is the first to have trouble and becomes the scapegoat, General Putrescent will have a hard time. So, he must maintain stability and avoid causing too much trouble. At the same time, he needs enough manpower to help him mine, fulfilling his promise to Belial."

"All these factors together give us a chance to turn the tables. This war might just be our breakthrough."

After finishing his words, Batman turned and walked towards the depths of the mine. He left his whip with the elder Triton, instructing him to unlock everyone's shackles, while he went to inform other demons in the other mines.

Though the doors were not completely sealed yet, for Batman, this was already a desperate battle. He explained the situation to the demons in other mines, emphasizing one thing: he had already led everyone in rebellion. Those who didn't join would still be considered rebels and would be thrown into the magma to die. Was that what they wanted?

Most demons didn't understand why they should resist General Putrescent, but now, the facts were right in front of them. This madman had fired the first shot, and the head of Jacob, the chief overseer, had become a sacrifice. With the central mine door sealed, all demons in the mines were forced into action.

This strategy indeed worked. After the initial anger and fear, the majority of demons began to seek a way out. Their first task was to root out and kill all the overseers in the mines.

Regardless of whether they resisted or not, it was absolutely imperative not to let these overseers run off and inform on them. Even if they died sooner or later, the overseers had to die before them.

After killing the overseers who had oppressed them for so long, many demons seemed to be ignited by a bloodthirsty instinct, especially the stronger and older demons. They began to roar and howl, like soldiers on a battlefield.

Without further ado, since the overseers were dead, there was no need to keep the beholders around. Driven by their boiling bloodlust, the demons dug out and killed all the beholders.

Countless demons gathered around the underground magma sea, pounding the ground with their hands, continuously roaring. One corpse after another was thrown into the magma sea. The roaring grew louder, and the desire in their eyes became stronger.

All entrances to the central mine were completely sealed. There were many overseers who came to check the situation, attempting to violently break through the doors.

However, overseers were not particularly powerful demons. In a military system, the truly capable demons had long risen through the ranks in the army. Even if they didn't follow the traditional path of promotion, they could join General Putrescent's elite forces instead of being mediocre overseers.

Because their abilities, although stronger than ordinary demons, were not enough for military ranks, they ended up in such positions. So, they didn't have any powerful magic at their disposal, and their whips, the only means to demonstrate their strength, didn't have much effect on the doors built of ore.

But everyone knew that such probing attacks were just appetizers. Sure enough, on the third day after the central mine was sealed, General Putrescent's official forces arrived.

At the top of the central mine, Batman commanded the demons to build several watchtowers. Information about the deployment flew across the sky like lightning, lighting up each watchtower one by one. Smoke signals were sent out, and Batman saw that between the seven mines, a massive army was converging.

In just half a day, the central mine was already heavily besieged. In the largest mine in the central mine, representatives of various demons looked serious and grave, but there was little fear in their expressions.

During these three days, they were not unprepared. Killing overseers, igniting their blood, organizing various tribes to showcase their abilities and build defenses, demons each played their role, actively training. Several drills had yielded good results, greatly boosting their confidence.

Batman jumped to the top of the mound again, surveying the surroundings. He understood that the situation had reached an extremely critical moment. This would be a hellishly consistent beginning.

On the high-level side, Batman was alone, without counselors, without a staff team, unable even to organize a decent command center. On the low-level side, whether it was the number or quality of soldiers, they were far from their opponents.

Batman's era was long past the last large-scale war of humanity, so he had never experienced a large-scale war. He had neither strategic reserves nor combat experience.

The quality of the soldiers was poor, their bodies not strong enough, their minds not agile enough, barely educated, and without any combat experience.

Equipment and logistics were almost nonexistent. There was plenty of ore here, but there were no means of smelting. While resources were abundant, they couldn't hold onto them, rendering everything futile.

From this perspective, this was almost an impossible war to win. However, Batman had not lost confidence.

Because in his well-versed mind, there was always a segment of real human history.

Many scenes flashed before Batman's eyes, like old movies. Train wheels rolling on tracks, rallying bugles piercing through the nitrate smoke, the same hurried onset of war, the same despairing overall disparity.

As the ancient doors of the Eastern kingdoms were knocked open with steadfast ships and cannons, a segment of history, full of twists, turns, and legends, spoke to Batman, revealing how a group of people won one miraculous battle after another. This is why hell dared to change a new day.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 983: The Battle for High Tower (Seventeen)