| Overview |
Baruka (바루카) was the leader of the Ice Elves and the boss of the Red Gate Dungeon.
Appearance
As an ice elf, Baruka had snow-white hair, blue skin, blank white eyes, a cruel smile, black fingernails, and a purple leaf pattern on his forehead. He also wore a furry white and blue parka.
Personality
As with the rest of his tribe, Baruka was egotistical and sadistic, boasting about his superior power and combat ability frequently during battle and taking great joy in killing humans. He was also noticeably intelligent for a magic beast, determining that Sung Jinwoo was not completely human after knowing him for only a few minutes.
History
When the hunter expedition led by Kim Chul entered the Red Gate Dungeon and were sealed inside, Chul split it into two groups with him taking the higher-rank members to find and kill the boss. However, Baruka and his warriors easily defeated their small raid party and killed every single member except for Kim Chul, who ran away in terror. Seeking to finish the frightened human off, Baruka followed Chul through the forest until he was led to Jinwoo's group. While initially cloaked, Jinwoo exposed their presence and Baruka revealed his intelligence by speaking in his language which Jinwoo understood and even spoke back, which he believed was due to him being the "player" and using the System.
Upon revealing that one of his scouts told him that Jinwoo was strong enough to give him a serious fight and remarking that the E-Rank was not completely human, Baruka offered to spare his life if he sacrificed the lives of his squad members in return. Naturally, Jinwoo refused Baruka's offer and summoned his shadow army including the recently added pack of Ice Bears.
Although Baruka initially had the upper hand in their one-on-one fight, shrugging off Jinwoo's hit-and-run attacks and the fireballs launched by his shadow mages, the hunter was able to turn the tide after luring in Kim Chul to be killed by Igris and extracting his shadow to acquire Iron. The ice elf boss managed to hold his own against the triple threat of Jinwoo and his shadows, but the hunter was eventually able to land a near-fatal blow on him though Baruka still dodged it. By then, the rest of his ice elves had been slaughtered by the shadow army, and Baruka became enraged. Jinwoo feinted an attack via throwing one of his daggers, then using his telekinesis to bring it back at high speeds, causing Baruka to block with his dagger which destroyed it. Iron was then sent to restrain Baruka while shadow mages launched fireballs directly at him.
While he survived the blast again, Jinwoo used Stealth to land a direct hit on Baruka. When the ice elf angrily proclaimed his will to continue the fight, he failed to see Iron appear behind him and was crushed underneath the shadow's warhammer. Afterward, Jinwoo attempted to extract Baruka's shadow but failed all three attempts due to the dungeon boss' superior strength.
Baruka would be brought up again when Jinwoo encountered Sillad, the Frost Monarch, moments after the assassination of Go Gunhee.
Abilities
As a S-Rank magic beast within a Red Gate Dungeon, Baruka was considerably powerful, to the point that Jinwoo acknowledged he could never beat him in a solo fight and only succeeded by triple-teaming the ice elf with his strongest shadows at the time, Igris and Iron.
- Dagger Mastery: Baruka was proficient with the use of his daggers, shown by his being able to match the swordfighting of both Jinwoo and Igris.
- Enhanced Strength: Baruka's strength was acknowledged by Jinwoo himself who stated that the S-Rank magic beast was stronger than him on his own.
- Enhanced Resistance: Baruka was able to resist direct hits by the fire magic of Jinwoo's shadow mages as well as resisting the poison effect from Kasaka's Venom Fang.
- Enhanced Speed: Even while pinned down and outnumbered, Baruka was still able to dodge a near-fatal attack from Jinwoo.
- Stealth: Baruka was able to camouflage with his surroundings and hide all traces of his presence, essentially turning himself both physically and magically invisible.
- Conversation: Baruka is one of the few magic beasts encountered by Jinwoo capable of direct speech, albeit talking in a monster-exclusive tongue that only Jinwoo of all humans could understand due to using the System.
External Links
- Baruka on the Villains Wiki