Devil Spawn

"Lon...don Bridge...is falling down...falling down...falling down...London Bridge is falling down...my fair lady."

I exhaled whilst holding a meat stick in hand before saying,

"Ah...I wonder what I should make of this...a dream come true or a living nightmare..."

I chewed on the 7th meat stick I had cooked, savoring it's every nook and cranny.

Man... who knew cockatrices could taste so good...

I moaned as I took another bite out of the meat stick before letting out a sigh.

"It's still not as good as my mom's dish though...", I spoke with nostalgia. 

I shook my head with a bitter smile and then turned to the makeshift campfire I had salvaged from old paper and some parts of the cockatrice. Around it was the several kebabs I had made; all being tamed by the fire.

I watched them, as they curled to the piercing heat and ferocious flame.

"I made quite a lot but...I'll definitely have to ration them.", I said wistfully. A part of me wanted to devour all of them now but I knew better. If I devoured all the meat now, I'll definitely come to regret it later.

Tss...

I finished eating the meat stick, stored the spike in my inventory, took a sip of water from the Empty Goblet before saying,

"Aight! Recreation time is over."

I got up to my feet, performed a few light stretches before walking over to the large monster hide that laid patiently on the ground.

About time I started figuring out a way to get outta here.

The Inept Lantern was resting in the firm grasp of my right hand, chasing away the not-so absolute darkness and illuminating the chasm. I squatted down to examine the illustration drawn on the rough surface of the monster hide.

A real magic circle...

I thought with barely-hidden excitement.

Like any cultured male, I was a lover of anime and thus, had watched many of the fantasy genre.

Stories of bygone eras and tales of swords and magic had always tickled my interest, even sometimes serving as motivation to better myself.

In many of those ethereal tales, there always existed one fantastical element.

Magic Circles.

Peculiar drawings made mostly of circles and having strange encryptions which are said to be the invocations for magic.

A part of me had always yearned to understand them, to be able to read them and may be able to use magic!

You know that more than 99.99% of them are just gibberish the authors scribbled, right?

My inner voice spoke with a sober voice.

Yeah, of course...I know that but...this...

Staring at the monster hide with a mad grin, I said, "This is definitely the real deal!"

I brought my hand to it and traced the shape.

The magic circle in question seemed to be drawn in blank ink and was an amalgamation of squares, triangles, hexagons, stars, cryptic text and most importantly, circles.

It looked like something Da Vinci could cough up.

No, I take that back.

Da Vinci would do absolutely better.

There was no way I was going to compare that damn perfectionist to Da Vinci.

I huffed at the thought.

Tracing the magic circle, I muttered, "What was it used for?"

My question which seemed like it was going to go unanswered, suddenly came to a standstill.

Huh?

As I stared longer at the cryptic text, something baffling happened...

I began to see meaning in them.

What...?

The texts inscribed on the magic circle which were supposed to be runic and cryptic; complete gibberish to me seemed to hold meaning that surprisingly I could grasp them.

But...how?

As if answering my question, the system spoke.

[Skill: Thousand Tongues has been activated.]

My eyes widened in realization.

"O-oh! Ah...AHAHAHA!"

How could I have forgotten? Am literally a master of all languages.

[Skill:] Thousand Tongues: Thousand Tongues grants mastery over all forms of communication, allowing the user to speak, understand, and manipulate any language. Words become tools to charm, deceive, or command, bridging divides or sowing discord with unparalleled eloquence. This skill lets the user understand and speak any language whether written or unwritten.

"Of course, even this runic text...is merely just another language.", I said with an amused voice.

Wow...so you're a memory loss victim too.

Shut up! I just forgot and don't just use references like that!

With a sigh, I turned back to the magic circle.

Once I laid eyes on it, the meaning of the texts came to light.

Tide...? Flux...? Negate...? Positive...? Position...?

"Huh?", I raised an eyebrow at the words, they were all so very ambiguous.

The word meaning 'Tide' was at the upper left, isolated within a circle. The word meaning 'Flux' was at the lower right, isolated within a square.

The words depicting 'Negate' and 'Positive' were at the opposite positions of the previous words, forming a square outline.

As for the word meaning 'Position' it was situated at the center of the square.

I see...

The moment I saw the placement and realized the word 'Position', I instantly realized the purpose of the circle.

"It's a teleportation circle!"

The word at the center obviously has stuff to do with coordinates while the rest...am guessing should have something to do with the manipulation of said coordinates as well as the control of the World Energy...

At that moment, my grin grew several times wider and my excitement skyrocketed through the roof.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

A teleportation circle truly sublime...truly!

As I began to think of the endless possibilities of teleportation magic, a realization struck me.

"Wait! Is this what Galter Droet used to escape from this chasm?! If it is...then it can definitely help me escape!", I said excitedly, as if I had struck a gold mine.

I thought for a moment, a bright smile present on my face before it slowly grew dark and my expression became somber.

"If...Galter Droet had used this to teleport...then why was it tied up and stashed in his chest?"

Obviously, if Galter Droet teleported with the magic circle, the monster hide would have been laid flat and open on the ground, collecting dust but strangely it had been stashed, as if it were merely just another...

Experiment!

I scowled and punched the ground.

BAM!

That bastard...

As I grinded my teeth, cursing Galter the color slowly drained from my face and my eyes widened.

"Galter...Galter Droet was never here! This place...this place was merely his dumpsite!"

But...if that were true then how...did he drop all this here?!

At that moment, my intuition dinged and I connected the dots.

"The Profane Cockatrice!"

Galter Droet used the Profane Cockatrice to throw all his trash here!

And... if he had to use the Profane Cockatrice to transport all of this...then that would mean...

"He...was reluctant to come here...because he knew that if he did..."

I paused, not wanting to complete the sentence, so my inner voice finished it,

...there would have been no way for him to get out.