I used instant teleportation to arrive in the room at the top of the giant statue, where I reunited with Doraemon and the others.
"Nobita! You're okay! That's great!"
Everyone was thrilled to see me suddenly appear in the room, safe and sound.
I chatted with them for a bit.
Then, I glanced around the room. Looking out from inside, this was like the cockpit of the giant statue.
I watched the Giant Heart spinning continuously.
It seemed this massive war machine was about to activate.
As the Giant Heart kept rotating, a mysterious mass of dark clouds gathered above the giant statue.
The clouds grew thicker and denser, and soon lightning flashed and thunder roared!
…
"What... what's going on?!" Daburanda stared in horror at the bizarre phenomenon in the sky.
"Could this be the so-called activation of the Giant Heart?" Professer Kos, aboard the airship, wondered in shock and uncertainty.
Once the clouds reached a certain thickness, amid the lightning and thunder, a massive bolt of lightning struck down, hitting the giant statue.
The entire statue was enveloped in electricity, as if it were being charged.
As the giant statue's eyes suddenly lit up, it signaled that the charging was complete.
The statue's arms, which had been crossed tightly over its chest with fists clenched, lowered. Then, the giant statue let out a roar.
"This... this is impossible!" Daburanda still couldn't believe it.
As the giant statue began to move, it crushed the ground tiles underfoot.
"The giant statue is moving! Run for it!" The soldiers surrounding the statue screamed and fled.
Daburanda ordered the fire-breathing chariots to attack, but the flames they spewed had no effect on the giant statue.
Instead, the giant statue stomped and crushed Daburanda's fire-breathing chariots on the ground.
It casually destroyed the soldiers' checkpoints and camps as well.
…
"A stone statue moving like a robot... what kind of principle is this?" Doraemon watched the scene with some surprise.
This kingdom's technology has some impressive stuff! Of course, for Doraemon, it was just mildly interesting.
But Gian and Suneo were excitedly watching Daburanda's army getting routed and fleeing in panic.
"Who cares about the details? Just beat them down!"
Gian shouted, pumping his fist.
After all, we'd been chased relentlessly before, and they were all pent up with frustration.
However, just as the giant statue was relentlessly crushing the ground forces...
The airships in the sky launched an attack, dropping bombs on the giant statue below.
The bombs exploded on the statue with booming blasts, sparking flames everywhere.
At that moment, the giant statue's weakness—its lack of ranged attacks—became apparent.
As long as the airships stayed far away, the statue couldn't reach them.
The giant statue grabbed a fire-breathing chariot from the ground and hurled it toward the airships in the sky.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several airships were hit by the thrown chariots, exploding into bursts of fire in the air.
But only a few were destroyed; the others dodged far away.
The giant statue tried to repeat the move, but the airships were prepared and flew even farther out, evading the throws.
Then they came back and continued dropping bombs on the statue.
It was like kiting a kite, toying with the giant statue.
The bombs chipped away at the statue, causing stone chunks to fall off and revealing large craters.
Inside the green gem cockpit on the statue's head, we were all affected by the bombs exploding on the statue.
The entire cockpit shook violently from the blasts, tossing everyone around.
"Shizuka, are you okay?!" I hugged Shizuka to keep her from falling and hitting the wall.
But for some reason, Princess Spiana also grabbed onto my other arm.
"Nobita, sorry! I just instinctively held onto you when I stumbled!" Princess Spiana said with an apologetic smile.
I had no idea if it was instinctive! It felt like you latched on the moment it shook.
And if you're hugging, why hug with your chest?
Looking at my arm buried in Princess Spiana's ample bosom, I couldn't help but grumble inwardly.
But I didn't say anything against it. After all, having two girls in my arms felt pretty nice.
While I was enjoying the soft embrace of the two girls in the giant statue's cockpit...
Outside, the giant statue was still enduring the bombardment from the airships.
…
In the distance, there was a massive airship, several times larger than the ones attacking the statue.
This was the flagship of the entire aerial fleet.
Professer Kos shouted from the flagship, "It's just a big rock, after all!"
"See how the so-called giant statue crumbles under fierce firepower!"
Beside him, Daburanda laughed maniacally.
"Now it's time to use the secret weapon!"
"Men, prepare the Howling Cannon for attack!"
Professer Kos then issued the order to the orderly standing behind him.
"Yes, sir!" The orderly went to relay the command.
In the flagship's control room, a soldier operated the controls and pressed a button.
The massive, lifelike dog-head prow at the front of the flagship slowly opened its ferocious maw.
The dog head had a mouth lined with sharp teeth, and from it, a huge black cannon barrel slowly extended, gleaming darkly.
As the barrel emerged, it began emitting rings of blue light circles one after another.
The giant cannon aimed at the distant giant statue and slowly charged up.
Once the blue light rings at the muzzle reached maximum...
"It's ready!" came the orderly's voice.
"Excellent!" Professer Kos couldn't contain his excitement.
"Howling Cannon, fire!" Professer Kos raised his scepter in thrill.
With Professer Kos's command, a massive blue beam shot from the center of the blue light rings at the cannon's mouth.
The blue beam struck straight into the giant statue's chest.
The hit statue seemed to let out a wail, emitting a tremendous sound.
Boom!
The massive roar echoed across the battlefield, and a huge cloud of smoke rose from where the statue stood.
In the midst of the enormous boom, the battlefield fell silent, with only the airships floating quietly—they had already flown far away before the Howling Cannon fired.
Amid the rolling thick smoke, the struck giant statue toppled backward, crashing down a large swath of forest.
The light in the giant statue's eyes slowly faded.
Watching the fallen statue, Daburanda and Professer Kos burst into even more maniacal laughter.
"Ahaha! The Howling Cannon can shatter a whole mountain!"
"Now you know its power!"
Professer Kos laughed excitedly.
"Now, drop all the bombs!"
"Give it the fatal blow!"
Professer Kos continued ordering the other airships to keep dropping bombs.
He intended to shatter the giant statue with overwhelming firepower.