Name: Baruragaru
Pronunciation: bah-ROO-rah-GAH-roo
Latin Name: Sanguis bibentis – "blood drinker"
Element: Water
Weakness: unknown
Family: Leviathans
Class: Fear class
Threat Level: Insanely High
Physical Description: One of the ugliest, slimiest, and most disgusting Leviathans ever to inhabit the known world, Baruragarus are nothing short of horrifying. They have the basic serpentine Leviathan body shape, with a long tail and neck making up most of their body. Their legs are muscular and well-built for a terrestrial lifestyle. Bright red fins adorn their head and back, a pale fin runs down the length of their body, and thick, foul slime coats their scales. Their maw looks as if they're always grinning, displaying a chilling array of black teeth. Two spider-like fangs at the front of their muzzle point forwards and extend slightly beyond the snout. Their eyes are always burning orange red. A peculiar, scar-like seam runs from the edges of their mouth and down their neck, flank and tail. This seam will split open and reveal a transparent membrane under certain conditions.
The Baruragaru is the one monster in the Fear class that truly inspires fear. But their appearance is only the tip of the iceberg.
Habitat: The Baruragaru was only recently discovered, and thus we don't know all the details about its lifestyle and native environments. It has only been found in the Great Frontier, inhabiting the chilly caves of the Desert, the dark depths of the Swamp, and the coastline clearings of the Jungle. So far, it seems to be most at home in the Swamp, where the climate is sticky, damp, and exceedingly cold.
This is a problem, because the Baruragaru is not native to the Great Frontier. It is an invasive species from another land, and it is possible that it has only recently migrated to the Great Frontier. If this is the case, then it will need to be driven out or exterminated quickly. But previous attempts to kill the Baruragarus have been painfully fruitless.
Diet: From what little we've seen of the Baruragaru, we can infer that it is a carnivore from the shape and arrangement of its teeth, as well as its aggressive behavior. However, the few researchers that have boldly volunteered to learn more about this creature have confirmed that this isn't accurate – those that have survived, that is.
The Baruragaru's main weapon is a disgustingly long, flexible tongue with a spiny orb at the end. When hunting, it will relentlessly whip this tongue around like a bolas, injecting paralyzing venom through the spines at the tip. Once its prey is paralyzed, the Baruragaru will plunge its tongue deep inside the helpless creature and suck every last drop of body fluid from within. This includes blood, water, and even poison, if its prey happens to be venomous. That's right – the Baruragaru is one of the only parasitic large monsters in the known world. Creatures known to have been caught are those in the 'prey' family – Velociprey, Genprey, and Ioprey. However, it is suspected that only the biggest and fiercest of monsters are safe, such as the Plesioth and Abiorugu.
In fact, I had the misfortune to witness one of these Leviathans catch, paralyze, and drain one of my fellow researchers. I seriously hope to one day forget it and never see something that nauseating, ever again.
Biological Adaptations: I am in a wonderful position to discuss the Baruragaru's adaptations for survival in the Great Frontier, although I wish that I wasn't. This is one of those few monsters I want someone else to elaborate on…
Anyway, we'll begin with the most obvious to start, which is the head. The Baruragaru's head is almost bullet-shaped – imagine a Pellet Shot, like the type Bowguns fire, except with burning orange eyes and a curved wedge taken out for the mouth. It has a pair of jagged, bright red fins on its head, which may serve to help the creature steer when underwater.
The maw is set in such a way so that it seems as if the Baruragaru has a permanent, sinister grin on its face, revealing its entire set of teeth. As mentioned earlier, it has a pair of jointed fangs at the front of its snout, rather like an arachnid's. The purpose of these fangs is currently unknown – whether they help the Baruragaru carry its prey, or inject venom, still isn't clear. So far, the reason why Baruragarus actually have teeth is a mystery, since we haven't yet observed them eating solid food. It is actually assumed that it does eat solid food, for reasons that I will explain later.
The Baruragaru's tongue is a long, flexible, and muscular organ, normally hidden inside of its mouth. Even when not hunting, it will constantly flick out its tongue like a serpent for no apparent reason at all. Perhaps it is so long that the Baruragaru gets uncomfortable keeping it inside its mouth for extended periods of time, or maybe it uses its tongue to detect the scent of prey and predators.
But the main purpose of the Baruragaru's tongue is disturbingly clear. This appendage can extend to over twenty feet long, and is flexible enough to be used as a weapon. The tip is covered in spines that carry a weak paralyzing poison – just strong enough to stun a monster temporarily so that the Baruragaru can feed. The structure of the tongue is, for lack of a better analogy, like a giant straw, allowing this Leviathan to easily puncture its prey's hide and drain every bit of body fluid from it. Believe me, it's just as you imagine, sick pumping sounds and all.
The reason I believe the Baruragaru eats solid food is because it doesn't seem to use the body fluids it ingests to supplement its diet – or at least, it doesn't use most of it. Allow me to explain…
You see that scar-like marking running down the length of the Baruragaru's body, the one that looks like it's been stitched up? When the Leviathan sucks enough body fluids, this "scar" will actually stretch and open up, revealing a transparent membrane that protects a system of storage sacs. These storage sacs swell up when full of fluid, and thus they are the cause of the Baruragaru's hide "splitting apart". It usually takes several meals to fill up these sacs, and the Baruragaru makes an effort to only eat monsters of one species when trying to fill them up. Now, why would that be?
This is because the Baruragaru doesn't use the majority of the fluids it drains for nutrition – it uses them for defense! During one set of meals, the Baruragaru will only target Ioprey, for example. After draining enough of their body fluids, its storage sacs will swell and turn purple, signifying that it is now storing the Iopreys' deadly poison. Because the transparent membrane is thin and permeable, the Baruragaru can release the poison as a gas through the membrane, or otherwise simply spit it through its mouth.
And it's not just Ioprey poison that these Leviathans can use – paralyzing Genprey venom, freezing water that they absorb when they swim, and even human blood. Yes, you're reading that right – if they drain enough humans, Baruragarus' storage sacs turn bright red and become able to release the blood for defense, in either liquid or gaseous form.
Scared yet, readers? It gets even worse – if a hunter or researcher is doused in blood, it will actually dull their weapons and armor when it dries and begins to rot. This makes it not only a horrifyingly morbid defense mechanism, but a potentially deadly one as well.
Moving on from this monster's disgusting blood-draining habits… although the Baruragaru indeed came from the sea, its limbs are thick and powerful, more than able to support it on land as well as allow it to run at reasonable speeds. It can also burrow through earth by using its blunt claws like shovels. If the ground is soft – like in the Swamp, where mud makes up the majority of the landscape – the Baruragaru can burrow underground and actually "swim" through the ground! It uses this tactic to sneak up on unsuspecting prey, and is surprisingly stealthy when "swimming". My group of researchers that went to study this monster was easily caught by surprise at how quickly and quietly it snuck up on us.
As with all Leviathans, the Baruragaru's body is very long and serpentlike, an adaptation that originally evolved for an aquatic lifestyle. Unlike some Leviathans that keep this body shape, such as the Agnaktor, the Baruragaru is indeed aquatic at least some of the time. Its body is covered in a sticky, slippery slime that it produces constantly, allowing it to survive away from moisture for short periods of time. This slime is also used as a lubricant, allowing this Leviathan to slip through its foes' grasp or to slide through the tight cave entrances in the subregions it lives in.
The scales on its body are more like a frog's skin, indicating an amphibious and moisture-dependant lifestyle. They are very soft and flexible, and provide minimal defense, but the foul-smelling slime seems to deter larger monsters from preying on them anyway. The scales are a very pale grey color with the occasional streak of purple here and there, which suggest that this species spends almost its entire life in the darkness of caves.
Behavior: From what little we've seen, the Baruragaru seems to be terribly aggressive. Maybe it's because it isn't picky about whose body fluids it consumes, and simply sees every other living thing as a meal. Maybe it's territorial, or maybe it is the top predator in its native land and can terrorize anything it sees. Or maybe it simply kills for the fun of it. I personally wouldn't be very surprised if the latter was the case.
The Baruragaru seems to be large enough, frightening enough, and deadly enough to prey on almost any creature it encounters. When a Baruragaru appears in one of the subregions, its presence can instantly be recognized by how the native monsters all cower silently in fear, hoping that it doesn't sneak up on and drain them. Even the Akura Jebias in the Swamp, previously top predators with nothing to fear, throw away their pride and skedaddle when a Baruragaru shows up in their caves. Perhaps the mere presence of a Baruragaru is enough to inspire a fearful stupor, and it uses other monsters' terror to its advantage.
We have no idea as to how intelligent the Baruragaru is. In the known world, the monsters' eyes show the monsters' intelligence, and usually the stupidest monsters have pupil-less eyes that indicate only the presence of cold, calculating instinct. The Baruragaru's eyes are a bright, glowing orange with no pupils, which definitely gives it the look of a merciless predator with no higher emotions. But if we researchers have learned anything from our experiences in the known world, it's that appearances are deceiving. The Baruragaru, by no means, should be seen as a dumb animal just based on its appearance.
In fact, I believe that there is enough evidence to assume that the Baruragaru has adequate intelligence. Take its hunting strategies for example – instead of rushing in and overpowering its prey, like stupid monsters such as the Deviljho would do, it silently waits for them to be absorbed in whatever they are doing. Then, when it believes the monster is no longer paying attention to its surroundings, it burrows or "swims" up behind them and strikes!
Looking back, this was actually the strategy it used on me and my party of researchers. We were examining a dead Ioprey, which had been killed in a rather… disturbing way, when we heard a soft rushing sound behind us, as if the mud was shifting. When we looked back, there was nothing there – and then the Baruragaru attacked us from behind. While other people may not believe it, I am convinced that this monster is more intelligent than it seems.
So far, no words have been heard coming from the Baruragaru's maw. The only sounds recorded from it were appropriately frightening – guttural gurgles, chilling hisses, and spine-tingling howls. It might not be able to speak at all, who knows? The ability to speak fluently is a measure of a monster's brainpower, so if it can indeed talk, my theory will be confirmed correct.
How the Baruragaru breeds and cares for its young is completely unknown. And trust me, I do not want to find out.
Although we do not know a lot about the Baruragaru's behavior, we can certainly draw inferences based on the effect it has on the environment. An entire populationof one species can just disappear due to this loathsome creature's appetite for specific fluids. The rest of the monster population becomes spooked, and some flee the subregion entirely, hoping to get away from the unknown terror that plagues them. Based on conversations I've had with these monsters, it seems that almost any of them ever got a clear look at a Baruragaru. All they know is that "something is out there".
Ailments: Under normal circumstances, Baruragarus are only able to inflict one ailment, through the use of their tongue, which is what we call the Stun ailment. The Stun ailment is basically what happens when you become dizzy, disoriented, blinded, or otherwise rendered unable to act for a short period of time. It can be inflicted through a wide range of sources, and every monster in the known world has the potential of inflicting it. However, only a select few are actually notable for their use of the Stun ailment.
Baruragarus, upon sucking and storing a significant amount of body fluids in its membranous sacs, become able to use a variety of ailments. If their sacs are purple and full of Ioprey venom, they will be able to inflict the Poison ailment. If the sacs contain bright yellow Genprey neurotoxins, then they will inflict the Paralysis ailment. Draining water will give them the ability to use Waterblight, and draining human blood will not inflict an ailment but will cause weapons to dull and lose their sharpness.
Those are the only substances Baruragarus have been known to use, but there could easily be others. Imagine one of these Leviathans draining a Congalala and being able to emit disgusting brown gas – or even worse, imagine one draining an Akura Jebia and acquiring the ability to spray their crystallizing chemicals.
So as you see, the Baruragaru's parasitic diet of body fluids isn't just frightening and disgusting, it is actually quite an effective and dangerous way of defending itself.
Relatives: As much as I'd love to accuse the loathsome Gobul of being the closest relative to this despicable monster, I can't. So far, every Leviathan known to us researchers doesn't seem to be closely related to the Baruragaru at all. Our taxonomic ineptitude makes sense, considering that the Baruragaru is in fact native to a foreign land.
How to Approach: Don't. Just… don't.
Summary: A lurker in the darkness of cold caverns, the Baruragaru is a foul beast from another land, a Leviathan that survives by paralyzing other monsters and then sucking them dry. Most of these body fluids are stored away and used in combat to devastating effect, and some of them are simply digested and converted into nutrients. Almost nothing is known about this dweller in the dark, but the Great Frontier's environmental balance depends on learning about it and subsequently expelling it from our world.
-.-.-.-.-.
Baruragaru was recently introduced in Monster Hunter Frontier G. Its title is the "Blood Eating Wyvern". From what I've seen, it seems most at home in the Swamp, where the dark atmosphere and creepy music suits it perfectly.
Nothing I can say can really make you understand how terrifyingly awesome this monster is. I encourage you to head on over to AzureStarStone's channel on YouTube and look for the Baruragaru gameplay video. You won't be disappointed.
Coincidentally, this is technically the 13th chapter of this guide, not including the introduction.
Make sure to leave a review, and have a Happy Halloween, readers!
Next chapter: Battleground!