Chapter 1483: 102
Just as Alfred had expected, Beelzebub quickly received news of the mishap at the mine. But Batman was quicker. He decided to strike first.
Despite the abundant mineral resources of the mine, it still couldn't compare to a fortress or city. In order for Batman's envisioned production chain to be realized, he needed a city. Therefore, Batman set his sights on Sandbank City which was closest to the mine.
Sandbank city, which was actually more like a large town, had a complete industrial chain. It had a smelting factory, a casting factory, and most of the materials needed for teleportation.
Though there were stationed troops, the defense was lax due to the uniqueness of the Rotten Heart General's status and the elite demon soldiers under his command. Sandbank City wasn't informed of any defenses, hence Batman effortlessly captured the city.
With the first city acquired, the construction of the industrial chain could start. Apart from smelting ore and casting armor, magic industry had to be developed vigorously. New potions had to be researched and new production lines for potions had to be established.
Behind Sandbank City, there was a ravine with flying beasts who could be caught and domesticated. Although the flying beasts weren't as strong as the flying demons, they served as air forces. Batman quickly formed a bombing camp and used it in the upcoming siege.
The location of the mine was near the desert which had few cities. However, on the edge of the desert, there were several large cities primarily based on mining ore or oil refining and casting and other industries.
These cities were heavily guarded, but Batman, after collecting several towns in the desert, was now formidable. He had formed dozens of camps with decent combat capabilities and under Alfred's leadership, logistics were also thriving.
What was most important was that Batman had planned out a perfect railway route to move resources and labor forces amongst these cities.
With the collaboration of magic and miraculous efforts of the demons, the transport network quickly grew. After a slight increase in scale, the local planned production successfully launched. With all production lines opening, the back-end was now waiting for manpower.
The conquest of cities and territories that followed wasn't very difficult. This was mainly because Beelzebub was too preoccupied with his frontline soldiers and didn't notice the fire in his back-end. His slow reaction not only provided Batman a breather but also an opportunity to develop his back-end.
Batman's intelligence wasn't specialized, yet he had strong tactical brains and was also good at basic construction. He could even calculate the perfect roadmap and planning production lines for the several cities was not a problem.
The larger the scale, the better Batman was able to operationalize. The larger the operational space, the greater his abilities were put to use. Batman had not even used his full strength and several cities around the desert had already been captured by him.
To continue snowballing, Batman chose to head to the south. However, he soon met significant obstacles as Beelzebub finally responded.
Standing on the city wall and watching the incoming army, Batman noticed that their equipment and weapons differed from other demon armies. At the same time, Batman discovered that the opponent seemed to have improved the demon army's system, almost mirroring his thought process.
Batman knew that this must be the work of Schiller, who he had heard of before. Unlike himself, this Schiller mainly focused on conspiracy. Now, it seems like Schiller has won over Beelzebub's trust completely, even deciding the transformation of the army.
The two sides fighting had no suspense. In a direct battlefield, Batman's army could not beat Beelzebub's elite troops. However, if they chose to retreat into the city for defense, the opponents were also without any good options.
Batman was able to discern that Schiller started building around the same time as him. Only because Schiller had more resources at hand, he had an advantage in terms of troops and equipment. However, thanks to having a superior tactical mind, Batman had the upper hand, making them evenly matched in localized wars.
After the commencement of the prolonged city defense war, Batman did not intend to stop there. Instead of concentrating his entire army to guard the city, he boldly continued to march east with a part of his troops.
Beelzebub had no choice but to send troops east to defend. The two sides constantly underwent a low-intensity tug of war, while each time Batman seized a city, he would strengthen his defense and improve the support speed along with the transportation network.
Continuing to advance, Batman soon owned a territory with Seven Mountains Mine in the center, radiating to more than 20 medium-sized cities and more than 10 large cities outside.
Regardless of the heavy internal defensive pressure Batman faced, Beelzebub also had to deal with internal and external pressures, with the external being the most lethal.
Batman had chosen the perfect timing. Beelzebub had just started a war with surrounding countries under the instigation of Schiller. Initially, the area behind Beelzebub's troops was supposed to be his territory, but with time, it turned into Batman's territory.
The frontline soldiers were in a dilemma. They could neither move forward nor retreat. In the end, they chose to either desert or join Batman.
Having gathered a significant number of troops this way, Batman's strength grew. At this point, he chose to reach out to Dasala in hopes of collaboration.
The enemy of an enemy is a friend. Batman knew that his main opponent now was Schiller, the chief plotter behind Beelzebub. For Dasala, her opponent was also Schiller, as she wished to regain Beelzebub's favor, hence it was natural for them to unite.
Dasala was hasty beyond Batman's expectations. The moment she heard that the rebel who was restraining Schiller was willing to cooperate, she quickly sent several letters. Both parties soon colluded.
Although Batman had seized many cities, he still lacked some rare supplies. The specialty goods of some regions could only be purchased in the capital. Batman also lacked some rare talent, such as magicians who could lay out large arrays, and engineers who could manufacture bombs and other special items. Dasala could provide all of these.
With Dasala's internal support and Batman's external pressure, they managed to equalize with Schiller and Beelzebub. Beelzebub, under the double pressure of internal and external forces, was indecisive and quickly lost a third of his territory to Batman.
Everything was going according to Batman's plan, but unexpectedly, it all went downhill within a day.
Beelzebub issued a proclamation to all the demon lords, he was giving up the territory occupied by Batman, who was now declared independent with his land.
Batman couldn't imagine why Beelzebub would resort to such a move, why would he abandon a third of his own territory and set him free?
Soon, however, he realized Beelzebub's malevolent intention. In Beelzebub's declaration, he emphasized that the one who took his territory was Batman.
Don't forget, every demon lord's retinue now includes Schiller. They ignited a war to seize the high tower, and were now eager to strike down others like them.
At this point, they heard Batman, with a third of Beelzebub's territory, had declared independence. What did this imply?
All personalities recognized Batman, but more importantly, they knew that Arrogant Schiller was the one who had interacted with Batman the most.
After all, he was the one in charge of activities in the DC World. Thus, as Batman was now a demon lord, it was very likely that Arrogant Schiller could be his staff.
These personalities aimed to seize the tower to win and get promotion rights. If arrogant Schiller assists Batman in winning, the superego certainly wouldn't change the competition's outcome. So, in the end, arrogant Schiller would ascend to control the body again.
Furthermore, it was Arrogant Schiller who had thrown them all into Hell. Now he was seeking to regain the power to ascend? Not a chance!
All the Schillers were seething with anger, hating themselves. Schiller was a specialist.
Thus, Batman became the target of everybody. All Schillers under the leadership of the Demon Lords stopped building infrastructures and training armies. They forgot their tactical strategies and war plans. All they now wanted was to fight Arrogant Schiller.
Suddenly, war was on all sides, and fires burned everywhere. All demon lords bordering Batman's present territory declared war on Batman's Kingdom.
Moreover, they frantically mobilized forces to an insane extent. Within a few days, Batman's entire national border was under military pressure.
The situation changed too abruptly. Batman was not prepared at all, which led to his current stressful and overwhelming situation.
Batman's original plan was to move forward steadily, gradually eroding Beelzebub's territory, and build high walls, stockpile food, and delay being crowned king. If he could gang up with Dasala and Beelzebub's son Aetius to kill Beelzebub, that would be the best. If he couldn't, he could also figure out a way to drive Beelzebub out, at the same time, he could drive out Conspiracy Schiller.
The initial execution of this plan went smoothly. It was foreseeable that if Beelzebub had no good countermeasure, he would face a slow death.
However, Conspiracy Schiller, true to his character of mastering plots, reversed the situation by retreating first and undercutting the foundation.
While Beelzebub lost part of his land, land in Hell was not very valuable. Once the news was announced, all the demon lords' attention was drawn to Batman, including those nations at war with Beelzebub, greatly reducing Beelzebub's external pressure.
Meanwhile, Conspiracy Schiller knew well that once other Schillers learned of Arrogant Schiller's location, they would surely attack together. In a short time, Batman's pressure multiplied dozens or even hundreds of times.
If Batman could not hold on, then Conspiracy Schiller, who was closest to Batman's territory, could directly take over the territory wrested from him. On Batman's land, infrastructure development had already begun, which saved Conspiracy Schiller transformation time.
All Schillers started alterations at the same time. But if Conspiracy Schiller could take back Batman's territory, it would be the equivalent to him making double the alterations at the same time, surpassing the others by a factor of two.
By connecting the transportation network built by Batman with the one transformed by Conspiracy Schiller, after the nationwide network was interconnected, the potential of war would be fully stimulated. Combined with Beelzebub's strong personal strength, victory would be at hand.
Batman even suspected that his initial success in the siege was entirely due to the fact that Conspiracy Schiller was coordinating with him. The aim was to have Batman build first, then when the construction was almost finished, Conspiracy Schiller would reveal his cards, thus leading to Batman being attacked from all sides. Then he would automatically take over Batman's territory and the facilities he had built, thereby taking the lead over others.
Batman thought he had already done his best to overestimate Schiller. But he didn't expect that every single attribute of Schiller would be on par with his own. Caught off guard, Batman also stumbled.
But Batman did not intend to give up. Thus, Batman entered the most stressful, tiring, and dark period of his life so far.
Before, Batman had no evidence that Schiller's private grudge did not involve any teachings. But now, he did.
Because, for an entire month, he was attacked from all sides by countless Schillers.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone