Damn it!
The plot had veered off track again, and I felt awful inside. This meant defeating the Demon King would be harder—maybe even impossible.
King Demaon was the most terrifying enemy I'd ever faced.
I didn't dare tell the others directly, afraid they'd lose all hope if they knew the truth.
Right then, Doraemon was on the beach receiving intel from the spy satellite. It had followed the demons to the center of the continent.
"Looks like that's King Demaon's castle!" Doraemon said, staring at the screen showing a tall, sharp, protruding rock structure, higher than the surroundings.
It was more like a cavern built from huge sharp rocks than a castle.
"But how do we get close?"
We all pondered that.
The satellite intel showed the castle was surrounded by tons of demon guards.
"Leave it to me!"
"Mole Gloves!"
Doraemon pulled out a pair of gloves from his pocket.
"We'll dig an underground tunnel to bypass the guards and reach right under the Demon King's castle."
With that, Doraemon put on the gloves and started digging into the ground.
We followed behind as he cleared the way ahead, the Mole Gloves automatically compacting the soil to form a advancing tunnel.
I couldn't help but wonder how Doraemon's fingerless round hands even used the Mole Gloves.
Soon, guided by the spy satellite's positioning, we dug right under the Demon King's castle.
Doraemon didn't make a move yet; instead, he controlled the satellite on the screen to follow the demons going to see King Demaon.
We watched as the satellite trailed them up long flights of stairs and through the magic palace's doors.
That's when we saw the true face of the demon king, King Demaon, on the screen.
"So scary!"
Crimson eyes, sharp horns and fangs, a lion-like face, zombie-dry hands with red nails like they'd been dipped in blood. His throne was surrounded by eerie demonic flames that lit up his creepy features.
Seeing King Demaon like that, Shizuka couldn't help exclaiming.
His evil, terrifying appearance perfectly matched anyone's idea of a devil.
"Can we really beat such a scary monster?" Suneo worried.
But Doraemon ignored him and kept watching the screen.
…
"We still haven't found any trace of those Earthlings."
"They must've burned to ash with the carpet!"
The reporting demon knelt on one knee before the throne, giving his update to King Demaon.
"These guys are pretty capable, huh?" King Demaon suddenly sneered.
Then he spread his fingers on one hand.
Invisible lightning shot from his massive hand toward the floor below.
The demon thought it was punishment for failure and was about to beg for mercy.
But as he pleaded, he realized the attack was aimed behind him.
After the lightning flashed, a broken object fell to the ground.
"This, this is!"
The demon panicked; he hadn't even noticed he'd been tagged with a tracker.
"A toy to fool three-year-olds!" King Demaon scoffed.
…
At that moment, Doraemon's screen glitched out.
Doraemon's face turned serious—not just because the spy satellite was busted, but because he realized how tough King Demaon was.
After a tense silence among us, we had to do what needed to be done.
We discussed and decided to rescue Miyoko's dad, Professor Mangetsu, first to boost our side's strength.
Then, we'd figure out how to assassinate King Demaon.
It was the safest approach.
From the spy satellite earlier, we'd seen where Professor Mangetsu was held—close to King Demaon's palace.
Miyoko unrolled the back part of the Demon World Chronicle scroll, showing the illustration of the twelve silver arrows.
With a wave of her hand, the twelve silver arrows emerged from the chronicle.
"There's only one way to defeat King Demaon: shoot his heart with these silver arrows!"
"Each of you take two."
Miyoko looked at the arrows hopefully, then handed out two to each of us.
After rescuing Professor Mangetsu, we'd attack King Demaon with these.
Knowing this was the critical moment, Doraemon pulled out the Moon Torch Light from his pocket.
And the Pebble Hat. Wear it, and you enter the enemy's blind spot, making you invisible in a different way.
As he explained, Doraemon had us all put on the Pebble Hats.
Once we couldn't see each other, we decided to hold hands and move forward.
I held Shizuka's hand from behind, but somehow, what was in front of me felt furry. I touched it and realized it was a long, fluffy thing.
"Don't touch that; it's my tail!"
Miyoko's voice trembled.
I had to let go, though it felt nice.
Holding hands, we slowly climbed out from underground, but occasional noises drew guards.
They looked around, saw nothing, and went back.
When we fully emerged, we understood why they'd come so fast.
The stairs were reinforced with demon sentries and guards—probably because of the spy satellite incident.
But for us, they were useless.
Thanks to the Pebble Hats, even with guards every ten steps, they couldn't spot us.
Just like that, we strolled right past a horde of demon guards, under their noses.
After climbing the long stairs, we reached the front of King Demaon's palace but ignored it.
Instead, we opened the door to a nearby room.
"No, this isn't right! This isn't where Professor Mangetsu is held!"
I recognized the voice from the spy satellite video.
This was the door to King Demaon's palace. He'd known we were coming and that we'd try to rescue Professor Mangetsu first.
So he'd used magic to mislead our vision, making us think this was the prison.
"Finally, we meet, Earthlings!"
"Like the surprise I prepared for you?"
A terrifying yet familiar voice echoed in our ears, and the palace doors slammed shut automatically.
A purple demonic flame rose up, then transformed into a figure.
We weren't focused on the fancy magic anymore.
That horrifying figure was our enemy—Demon King Demaon.