I’m a Holy Knight, but I Contracted with an Evil God - Chapter 37

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 37.
At Ecridze’s words, Leon opened his eyes and approached the wall decorated with a map.
Beneath the haphazardly torn map, strange markings were carved, though he’d dismissed them as mere decoration and paid them no mind.
From that wall, he felt the “unpleasant aura” Ecridze had mentioned far more intensely than before.
“That’s just a wall, isn’t it?”
Tristan furrowed his brow with the question, but Leon said nothing, pulling the ruined map away from the wall.
As he did, the markings carved beneath became fully visible.
Characters and patterns that resembled the Magical Circle in their classification.
“Is this also Eastern script?”
“……It doesn’t seem to be.”
Even Tristan denied it with suspicion.
But he added this much.
“The shape has some similarity, but it’s definitely not a script in current use.”
“Could it be some sort of dialect?”
“More like archaic language, if anything. Even I can’t read this.”
The moment Tristan said as much, Leon abandoned any attempt at interpretation.
【Of course Tristan wouldn’t be able to read this.】
‘Hm?’
【This is our script. I’d say it’s similar to the kind written on the Divine Chains of the surface.】
‘Chains? The markings on this wall are the same as Divine Character Script?’
Divine Character Script was said to be the letters the Three Chief Gods taught mankind to convey their will.
In other words, it was never a script humans were meant to use originally.
How could such letters be carved in a place like this?
‘It seems a bit different from Divine Character Script. Either way, you can read it, can’t you?’
【I can.】
‘What does it say?’
【Roughly, it means: “Beyond the False Light, toward The Eternal Sun.”】
False Light? The Eternal Sun?
The False Light likely referred to the Three Chief Gods.
Not just these wretches, but heretics in general all deny the Three Chief Gods and worship whatever false deities suit their fancy.
But The Eternal Sun?
‘……Wait. Haven’t I heard this before somewhere?’
The image of a crazed man he’d seen in the square of Karak village days ago surfaced in Leon’s mind.
A man who’d been banging his head on the ground, muttering nonsense.
The words that man had spoken to Leon came back to him with sharp clarity.
The end shall come. Those who endure suffering shall dwell with the light that shall never set for all eternity.
‘……Ecridze. Do you remember what we heard that man say in Karak village?’
【The village? Ah. You mean what that madman spoke?】
‘Yes. That madman. He definitely said something about a light that never sets, didn’t he?’
【True enough, it would align with those words. The light that never sets could well refer to the sun.】
What on earth was that madman’s true nature?
Though the meaning remained unclear, one thing was certain: this “Eternal Sun” was unquestionably their purpose.
And for it, they had abducted countless people and used them as experimental subjects.
“I can’t make heads or tails of it. Looks almost like a picture, or something.”
Tristan clicked his tongue, still unable to grasp the pattern.
Leon concealed his complicated feelings and smoothly steered the conversation elsewhere before Tristan could dig deeper.
“As for the script, I’m not certain, but I think I understand this much. It seems like some kind of locking mechanism.”
The very center, where the unpleasant auras Ecridze had mentioned seemed concentrated.
At eye level between the two men, there lay a peculiarly awkward indentation, hollowed out into the stone.
Rather than simply an empty hole, the patterns surrounding it curved inward in a shape designed to receive something inserted within.
“……Yeah, that does look suspicious at first glance.”
Tristan muttered thus, bringing his face close to the indentation Leon had indicated.
The hollowed depression had a grotesque shape, as if someone had forced a person’s mouth open by violence.
The hole, clearly worked by deliberate artifice, appeared to be a slot meant to receive something smaller than a fist—a gemstone, perhaps, or some specific core.
Though the door itself was unmistakably the texture of solid bedrock, the area immediately surrounding the hole felt peculiarly tacky and unpleasant to the touch.
“It’s not a physical keyhole. Look at the shape. It’s carved out just like someone’s mouth forced open.”
Like an altar.
Tristan added this almost to himself, then bit his tongue.
He clearly disliked his own reasoning.
“Either way, we can’t open it as is. From the look of it, it seems to require a specialized key or some kind of power source……. With a mechanism like this, I doubt the method you used upstairs will be of any use.”
Tristan gestured at Leon, whose hands were wrapped in bandages, and spoke up.
The entrance had been a magical mechanism, but this hole in front of them looked different.
Still, rather than give up, Leon leaned close to examine the keyhole.
He wanted to study its structure more carefully.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to understand the mechanism. If there’s no physical key, then by grasping the structure, I can apply force from outside.”
“How?”
“By channeling just enough Holy Power to make the flow visible. That way, I can discern the internal structure.”
At Leon’s explanation, Tristan’s face twisted subtly.
He spoke, his tone tinged with disbelief.
“I thought your Resonance Sensitivity was decent, but to that extent?”
“……That’s not normal?”
“Not normal? That’s a scholar’s specialty, not a knight’s. If you can do that, you should be a Holy Law scholar, not a knight.”
Tristan let out a hollow laugh as if astounded, his eyes sweeping over Leon from head to toe.
That serene face, spouting nonsense while not even grasping what the problem was.
【Praise from our grumbler—now that’s rare.】
‘I’m thrown off.’
【Why? I figured this was another one of your tricks.】
‘No, this time it’s genuine.’
Even with Leon’s denial, Ecridze seemed unconvinced—yet this time, Leon was sincere.
Doesn’t everyone reach this level?
【If our grumbler’s praising him, he must be above average, no?】
‘Well…yes, that’s true.’
The man across from him was Tristan, a seasoned knight who’d weathered every storm.
If he was exasperated enough to jibe, it meant Leon’s instincts had vastly exceeded ordinary bounds.
Beyond that, judging from Tristan’s character up to now, he wasn’t the type to offer hollow praise.
【Certainly, watching how you’ve developed your senses, you do seem to have a genuine knack for fine control.】
‘Why are you saying something so creepy too?’
【Hmph, once you’re hearing “creepy,” I’ve no heart left to flatter lies. So the truth gets complaints instead? Pleasing you is harder than indulging that grumbler’s grievances.】
Leon pushed aside the strange feeling and reached toward the wall.
Not quite touching, but at a distance perfect for channeling adequate force.
Just as Leon extended his hand to that point and was about to infuse Holy Power to perceive the structure—
Sniff.
Was it a hallucination?
For a moment, he heard a sound like wind escaping, like someone sniffling sharply.
And then—
Whoosh!
“?!”
From within the groove, something like a crimson tongue lashed out and coiled around Leon’s extended hand.
Leon’s delayed reaction stemmed from the fact that he felt no energy whatsoever emanating from what bound his hand.
As if it were lifeless.
Yet its movement was decidedly not.
Squelch.
With a nauseating, gelatinous sound, the thing coiling around Leon’s hand sucked greedily at the blood already soaked into his bandages.
Leon reflexively jerked his hand back, but the tongue-like thing’s grip was so strong that the entire wrapping tore clean away.
“What the—!”
Tristan, startled, drew his Twin Swords and sliced through the bandages as they unraveled, but the tongue-like appendage snatched up the blood-stained strips and vanished back into the hole.
All of this unfolded in mere heartbeats.
And then—
Gurgle-gurgle-gurgle—
The hole that had swallowed Leon’s blood-soaked bandages began glowing red, as if uttering a satisfied belch.
A heavy vibration resonated through the entire Underground Chamber, and the solid stone wall split open of its own accord on both sides.
“……So it wasn’t a keyhole. It was a mouth.”
“Blood as a key again……?”
Tristan muttered, his face worn with exasperation.
Leon rubbed his left hand, its bandages now gone, and read the inscription on one side: “Beyond False Light, toward The Eternal Sun.”
The fact that the key to surpassing the False Light they’d spoken of was blood only deepened Leon’s displeasure.
However, contrary to Tristan’s assumption, the door’s key was not “just” blood.
Ecridze, who had been silent until now, added this clarification.
【It works because it’s your blood.】
‘What?’
【If it had been anyone else’s blood, that much wouldn’t have been nearly sufficient.】
‘What do you mean? You’re saying the door opened because it was my blood, even in a small amount?’
【Indeed. Which is why that creature seems quite satisfied with itself.】
At that explanation, Leon’s gaze reflexively shifted to the corpses piled behind him.
The sight was ghastly.
Countless bodies, each drained of blood in death.
“Viciously efficient, aren’t they.”
“What do you mean?”
“These bodies. I don’t believe all of their experiments succeeded. And I doubt they’d simply abandon successful specimens like this.”
The corpses left behind here were byproducts of a sort.
Refuse not worth taking with them.
The discarded ones.
Leon bit his tongue before continuing.
“There’s still blood left in abundance. For people who conduct experiments using humans as material, it wouldn’t be strange if they decided to repurpose the remaining corpses.”
At Leon’s words, Tristan’s face contorted.
It meant they didn’t just abduct people and use them as experimental subjects—they’d drained the leftover bodies as fuel for the door itself.
Cruelty transcended. In that ghastly efficiency, Tristan’s mind boiled with rage.
But Leon’s anger, unlike Tristan’s, bent toward something else.
‘Is that even a living thing?’
【Technically speaking, yes. It’s something like a sentry deliberately planted here by whoever created the door.】
‘Why didn’t you tell me beforehand? It could have been dangerous.’
【It poses no danger. Which means there was no need for a warning in the first place.】
Ecridze added as if the matter were beneath notice.
【A trivial creature maddened by the scent of blood could never threaten you.】
‘My wrist nearly got torn off!’
【It doesn’t possess that much strength. That creature is nothing but a tongue—that’s all it is.】
Faced with such maddening logic, Leon clenched his teeth.
No more arguing.
Now and then, Ecridze’s frame of reference subtly diverged from his own.
A stark reminder that Ecridze was an Evil God.
But the next words could not be ignored.
【Above all, had your strength been greater, you wouldn’t have had your blood stolen in the first place.】
‘Are you saying my abilities are lacking?’
【Ambiguous. As you are now, you’re nothing but a tasty drop of blood to it—but had the power I possess been stronger, it wouldn’t have dared to lunge at all. Instead of lapping at your blood, it would have submitted of its own accord.】
‘…As prey, or as something it should bow to?’
【The latter. So move with purpose. Chase them down and recover the Fragments I’ve lost, and your own strength will naturally increase. How long will you allow yourself to be looked down upon by a mere door?】
Leon studied the torn bandages on his wrist as he dwelt on Ecridze’s sharp rebuke.
The words rang true.
Those creatures had used Ecridze’s Fragments to create such abominations.
To suppress them and prevent their vile machinations, he had to transcend being merely a tasty drop of blood.
“Let’s go. We need to catch them before they get any further.”
Leon cast aside his hesitation with a curt breath and moved ahead.
Beyond the door, hotter and more acrid than the desert heat, he felt it—the malice of those creatures.
To be continued ▶
A Holy Knight’s Contract with an Evil God
Author
Ram Dat
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Contact
[email protected]
Publication Date
March 27, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227066
※ This e-book is protected under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are prohibited, and violators may face criminal and civil penalties.
※ Pentagram welcomes precious manuscripts from our authors.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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