After you buy a translation book from a shop in Ryukyu, the king asks you to enter the escape tunnel to stop the thieves.

Warlock Zone VIII: Escape Tunnel

Go to the left, but wait at the top of the slope to watch the daruma doll fall from above and roll down the slope ahead. Wait for one to be rolling away from you before you try to go down the slope, and if necessary, jump over the daruma doll behind you as you go down. Jump across the pit of lava, then jump over the daruma dolls to reach the top of the next slope.

There is a wooden bridge ahead, where large fireballs are jumping overhead. Carefully go to the middle of the bridge where you will be safe from the fireballs, then when there is a gap, go left to get to the other side. Keep going left across a couple more bridges, and go left to the next screen.

Go to the left and jump and press up on the ladder to climb it. There is a statue spitting fireballs up above. The fireballs roll to the right and then fall off of the platform. Climb up just after a fireball has passed. Then go to the next ladder, jump and press up to climb up, and wait for the next fireball to pass before you go to the top.

There is a wooden platform to the right, which is on top of some orbs. This platform will swing down and to the right when you stand on it. You have to jump off onto the ladder on the right before your platform goes too far up. If you don't make it, you have to go to the left (you can't walk on the orbs attached to the wooden platform) and go up the ladders again.

When you have reached the ladder on the right, go up as before until you reach another wooden platform. Get on the platform and jump to the ladder to the left. At the top, there is a short rotating platform. Jump from it to the next short platform, then jump to the ladder on the right. Go up when the fireball has passed. You can hit the fireball statue here to destroy it, but before you go to the right, you can optionally go to the left via the rotating wooden platforms to get a golden cat from the pot. If you do, wait for the nearest wooden platform to reset, jump on it, then jump to the right and you should land on the platform just below the ladder. Jump from it to the ladder, go up, then go to the right to reach the next area.

You will now be behind the throne room and you'll start to move upward. There will be floating orbs above you that contain small daruma dolls. They will sometimes pop, making the daruma dolls fall down below and bounce around on your platform. Dodge them. You can try hitting them with coins to get rid of them, or just jump and hit them if you can reach. When you hit them, they pop and the small daruma falls down, so be sure to dodge them.

When the platform stops rising, go to the right to reach the next area.

Go to the right and hit the pot to get a checkpoint elephant, and also hit the Hannya Carpenter. When it's gone, jump to the right and hit the carpenter to the right.

Keep going right and you will see a carpenters climbing up the pillars. When they reach the top, they start jumping left and right from pillar to pillar. You can try to hit them before they finish climbing up. Just be careful not to fall off, or you will lose a life. If you're quick, you can jump across all of the pillars before any of the carpenters reach the top.

At the other side, carefully hit the carpenters down below. This can be difficult because their hammers will bounce across the platform you're standing on. You can try to throw a bomb down at the first carpenter, then walk to the right and you should land on the lower platform, where you can hit the second carpenter.

To the right, a carpenter is standing on an angled piece of wood. You can try waiting for this carpenter to back up far enough for you to throw a coin at it. Or you can just carefully jump down onto the angled wood when there aren't any hammers in the way, and hit the carpenter at close range.

Keep making your way to the right, and hit the pot to get a lucky cat. Keep going right and you'll reach the boss of this area.

Tumble

Tumble is a Daruma otoshi. When the pieces start moving toward you, go to the side of the screen that the pieces are moving toward. You will be safe from the enemy, and then when the first two segments have moved away from you, you can walk under Tumble's head and hit it with coins. Keep doing this until Tumble is short enough that you can just jump and hit it with weapons. Keep destroying the heads until Tumble is defeated.

For a more challenging strategy (or if you run out of coins), carefully jump onto each segment until you are at the top and the head is coming toward you. Hit the head before it hits you, and keep hitting it until it's destroyed, then quickly jump off of the top, because the next segment will turn into a head. Repeat the process, jumping to the top and hitting the head to destroy it, until Tumble is defeated.

Afterward, you will fall below and you will automatically get a checkpoint elephant. A moving rail platform will take you along the area. Don't jump off at the pit. The rail platform will jump over a couple of gaps before it starts to fall. Jump from it to the next rail platform. Press down to crouch so the low ceiling doesn't push you off. Then jump straight up over the two square barriers along the way so that they can't push you off. There will be another low ceiling, another square barrier, and another low ceiling to dodge. Then when the rail platform starts to fall, jump straight up to land on the platform on the circular rail.

Watch out for floating daruma heads in this area. They sometimes become electrified, so keep your distance or try to hit them. Jump to one of the platforms on the circular rail on the right. From there, jump to the right onto the next platform. If the timing is off, just jump straight up to pause your platform and change the timing. When you have made it onto the platform on the right, when it takes you up, you can jump onto the platform on one of the circles above. Make your way left from there, then onto the platform on the upper left circle. Go up one circle, then get on the platform to the right. If the timing is off, jump straight up, until you can get onto the upper right circle, and from there jump onto the ladder on the upper right. Climb up and go to the right to reach the next area.

Hit the pot to get a checkpoint elephant, then go to the right to land on the shiny walkway below. Go to the right, but before you jump over the gap, keep an eye on the floating daruma heads. If you wait long enough, they will pop, dropping the daruma heads. Jump over the gaps on the right, then hit the pot to get a lucky cat. Keep going to the right, kill the floating heads, and jump up the stairs. Go to the right to reach the next room.

Jump onto the platform where you can see Princess Yuki. Some ropes will pull up the lid that she is sitting on, revealing this area's boss.

Tilt

Stay on the platform with Yuki. It will move around the boss. Hit the boss's head, but beware that he will tilt from side to side when you do so. Avoid getting hit by the spiked balls at the end of Tilt's arms. If you get knocked off of the platform, you lose a life. To defeat Tilt, you have to make it tilt all the way to the left or right so that one of the spiked balls hits the pole that it is balanced on, so try to hit it from the same direction multiple times to increase its angle instead of letting it go back to the center.

After a cutscene, you proceed to Warlock Zone IX.