Cole had walked for just over an hour and was still in somewhat high spirits. His only issue was food. After smoking weed, he had started to get the munchies, and it was getting worse by the second. His mouth was so dry, it felt like a desert. He craved for anything to eat or even just a bottle of water.
Isn't there anything edible in the entire forest? There has to be at least one apple tree, right?
On top of being hungry, he had started to hear noises around himself. This started happening ever since putting on the ring he received from Asmodeus. The noises varied from leaves rustling, branches getting crushed to a subtle humming sound. They didn't concern Cole, however, as he was so focused on trying to find something edible. On top of that, he felt confident. His body was morphed into a demon, and after witnessing his own power he felt like no one could harm him. He could burn burglars using fire magic, overpower a bear using his bare hands or outrun a lion with his incredible stamina and speed.
A few more minutes of dehydration later though, Cole remembered that he still had one snack with him. He'd been carrying it with him for over three days and had completely forgotten that it was edible. The snack was none other than his apple pipe.
"Guess there's no choice. I'll have to eat you, little buddy."
Cole dug into the apple pipe without hesitation. The heavenly taste of sugary apple filled his mouth. It felt like a blessing after suffering from a dry mouth for over an hour. Cole was about to cry, having never tasted anything so good in his entire life. If eating a full tub of ice cream in one sitting doesn't count of course.
He carefully manouvered around the apple, making sure not to bite into the tunnels, and thus ruining the pipe. He kept eating until only the holes and bowl remained. Now the apple resembled the letter 'L' with tooth marks all over it.
Cole had now gotten his sugar fix and was quickly making his way towards Medoea.
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"I'm not high enough for this shit."
One hour had passed, and Cole was once again questioning his life choices. Turns out, being stoned inside a creepy forest isn't pleasant no matter how strong you are. The scenery hadn't changed at all and Cole was sick of it. He pulled out the apple pipe, which now resembled an actual pipe more than an apple. He decided to put slightly more weed than last time; loading it over the limit and forming a small hill of hand-ground cannabis.
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"Fire!"
Pipe in his mouth and fire magic ready; Cole was about to take a hit until he heard a loud buzzing sound approaching him. He stopped for a moment, only to ignore it. What could an insect do to him anyway?
He was going to take a large hit, planning to inhale until his throat burned. Cole lit the bowl and this time cornering it. Just as he started inhaling, the source of the buzzing was identified, as a large monstrous insect, the size of a golf ball landed on his arm. It was a mosquito, which looked like it had survived through Chernobyl in 1986, mutating into the living embodiment of death along the way.
Needless to say, Cole was startled and momentarily lost control over his mana output, causing his finger to erupt into a flamethrower burning down everything on its path. This all happened in a split second while Cole was still hitting his pipe, which had now burned to ashes; taking Cole's lungs for a quick trip to hell as he had quite literally inhaled fire.
Cole had succeeded in the goal of burning his throat as he frantically stumbled around looking for his nonexistent bottle of water; instead, finding a swarm of hungry mutant mosquitoes buzzing around him menacingly.
The scene quickly erupted into chaos as the heavily damaged Cole shot fire magic using maximum output in every direction, while setting the whole forest ablaze as far as the eye could see.
"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... FIRE! FIRE!"
The scenery changed from a creepy forest into literal hell within seconds. This was the power of a Demon King feeling under threat.
After bombarding the entire forest with magic, Cole started running through the fire faster than a cheetah, but not before picking up his cannabis plants. The plants had miraculously survived, due to Cole protecting them with his life. He reached the end of the forest within minutes of running while panting like a dog. His was mind filled with intense emotions after surviving a near-death experience.
Cole had finally reached his destination after just three hours while leaving behind a large wildfire that was quickly consuming the entire forest. Over half of it had already burned down in a matter of minutes. Cole didn't feel a single bit of guilt even though he caused an entire forest to burn down. He hated insects with a passion and was glad the mosquitoes had been roasted to death.
As he quickly left the burning forest behind, he saw the walls of Medoea in front of him. The walls weren't as large as Wingston's, reaching only about 10 meters in size. For Cole, reaching the city felt like long-awaited salvation after being through an endless journey of suffering. Now all that was left was just under a kilometer of walking, and Cole could finally relax.
"Just... A little bit... Longer..."
It felt like the gods abandoned him, as he felt the last shivers of strength leaving his body and eyes getting blurrier. He kept struggling forward with what little strength he had and noticed people rushing towards him from within the city. Cole's legs were finally reaching their limit, and he collapsed on the dirt road. As he was falling unconscious, he heard the faint voice of people yelling.
"CAN YOU HEAR ME? WAKE UP! HEY! WAKE UP!"
The voices got quieter and quieter, until Cole passed out.
Cole had completely emptied his mana reserves and collapsed just outside the city.