After going through the complex, dim hallway and turning three corners, he finally reached the door. Baruma first unlocked the Sixfold Barrier.
Before he could open the door made of black vines, a pained moan came from deep inside the room. A hint of pleasure rose in Baruma’s heart. Baruma gathered his magical power, the vines loosened, and the door opened.
The only source of light was the magical glow from Baruma’s staff. The floor was covered in countless vines, and the air smelled of blood and rusted iron. What came into view was a black vortex on the floor.
The vortex, composed of pitch-black vines, spread from the center to fill the entire room, rotating at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye.
“Ugh…”
Since it was usually pitch black in here with not a trace of light, the glow from Baruma’s staff stimulated the foxman hanging on the wall. He slightly opened his eyelids that had been closed for a long time.
Nineteen black vines bound and secured him. His fur was as dark and restrained as ink, with black beast ears. Even though his fox head had grown thin from long-term malnutrition, it was still handsome and elegant.
Although his muscular build was not as robust as before, being thinner accentuated the clear, refined lines like a sculpture.
If there were a male foxman beauty contest, he would take second place, and no one would dare claim first.
“Sniff sniff… This smell… Baruma… you’ve come.”
“Ha!”
Baruma’s answer was a punch straight to his heart. Then followed a dull thud as he struck the other’s head with his staff, followed by a flurry of punches and kicks venting his anger.
“Haah! Haah!——”
Baruma panted heavily, treating the other like a punching bag, like a piece of talking meat, hitting him with all his might.
“I never beat you in a fight before! See! Now you can only be beaten by me!”
However, this only caused a few scratches on the other, adding a few handsome scars. The other only felt as if a child had lightly scratched him with his fists.
“Huff… phew…” After just a few minutes of moving his limbs, Baruma was panting heavily while leaning on his staff, his sweat soaking the bandages, adding a sour ache to the pain in his body.
“Have you had enough, little brother?”
“Huff… huff, listen well, Baluso.”
Baruma glared at the foxman on the wall, the former chieftain—Baluso Sasa.
“Don’t look at me with those eyes! If I didn’t still need your body, I would have gouged out both your eyes and fed them to the dogs——!”
“Mngh!”
Baruma struck him again with a punch.
“Baruma, stop cooperating with those two humans. You can smell it too, this whole room reeks of vomit-soaked rags. They look young, but who knows how much blood they’ve had on their hands before.”
“You fool! I can’t smell it, my nose has long been numbed by the stench, Baluso! I didn’t cooperate with them on a whim! To be blunt, for these past dozen years, from birth until now, I’ve disliked you for a long time!”
“It’s because of your illness, isn’t it? But you can’t… do that kind of thing.”
Baluso quietly looked at his younger brother, a hint of anger in his eyes.
“How could you possibly understand my pain! Baluso!”
—.
Baruma’s fist, full of rage, slammed into his brother’s abdomen. Then he took off the Crimson Beast Mask—
It was an old, festering, shriveled, bloated, twisted, incomprehensibly ugly face.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand the concept of “ugly,” but that he couldn’t understand how anyone could be this ugly. The distortion of his body had also twisted Baruma’s soul.
“No matter how many medicines I took, no matter how many spells I learned! … I even went so far as to dabble in the forbidden art of body-swapping, no matter how many bodies I changed! I always end up in this deformed shape!”
Baruma viciously grabbed Baluso’s neck, but couldn’t get a full grip. His five nails dug into the other’s neck, leaving bloody scratches.
All the causes and coincidences once made Baruma feel that the Ancestral Spirits were helping him.
One morning two months ago, Baruma went to the hidden spot on Back Mountain. After he finished changing into a fresh foxman warrior’s body, he failed again. His body once again became its original twisted, deformed state. Annoyed, just as he was about to attack the girl being offered to the Snakeman, a voice called out to stop him.
He realized that his brother Baluso had somehow followed him without his knowledge.
The two got into an argument. If they cast magic from a distance, Baruma was confident he could win. But in close combat, Baruma naturally couldn’t win, and was quickly subdued and pinned to the ground by Baluso.
Just as he thought everything would end here and prepared to use the Holy Arrival Staff for a final desperate attempt, Genolo and Bo Lite appeared.
The situation immediately reversed. Baluso was captured.
Following Genolo’s suggestion, they used magic to seal Baluso’s mouth and made Baluso “cooperate” with them in putting on a death scene in front of the Fox People.
Baruma roared, spittle from his yellow teeth splashing onto Baluso’s face.
“Why can you be so handsome while I’m so ugly!? Do you know how the women in the village look at me? No, you don’t! They actively surround you! You’re the one being pursued! You’ll never know how a pursuer like me feels! When I go up to talk to them, I’m called vulgar and despicable. Back when I finally had a woman who liked me, the moment I took off my mask, she ran away in fear! Why is there such a huge gap? Just because you’re handsome?! Goddamn bastard!”
Baruma said excitedly, never forgetting to rain down punches on Baluso.
“This broken, miserable body! Without a supply of medicine, I can’t even have sex with a woman for long. The pain of putting it in and being asked ‘Eh? Already done?’—do you understand that? At first, body-swapping made me feel disgusted and scared, but later I became completely numb. Do you know this feeling of having your soul shaved away bit by bit? Damn it!”
Baluso neither despised nor pitied him, nor did he mock him. He just silently endured without a word.
“If I had a handsome face and a strong, complete body like yours! I wouldn’t have to do these things! I could have been a good person! A good chieftain! This is all your fault! You stole my life!”
After finishing his roar, as if drained of strength, Baruma sat down on the ground holding his staff, then put the Crimson Beast Mask back on.
For a moment, only Baruma’s panting remained in the room.
After a long while, a voice came from above.
“We grew up together until now, and this is how you saw me… Every time I asked about your illness before, you wouldn’t tell me. So that’s how it was.”
There was a certain sadness in Baluso’s voice, but when he raised his head, his gaze was cold and sharp.
“Then you’d better kill me quickly, Baruma. Once I get out, for the sake of the dead warriors and the tribesmen you’ve insulted after their deaths, I will definitely kill you… Baruma Sasa.”
“Get out? Hahahaha!!”
Baruma laughed heartily, then supported himself with his staff and stood up.
“You still have such a ridiculous delusion! You’ll never have that chance, never! Stay here obediently and get drained. I don’t want to go crazy from your Cursed Blood. Once I take over your body, your final time will be spent in this room so dark even bugs can’t live.”
“…If what you say is true, no matter how many bodies you swap, you still become deformed. Then how are you confident that using my body won’t end the same way?”
“That’s not something you need to worry about.”
Baruma pointedly tapped the black vines under his feet with his staff.
“Hmph, rest assured, Baluso, I won’t kill you. After I take your body, I’ll preserve your soul in the Holy Arrival Staff, and wake you up every night. I’ll let you watch, watch me fuck your wife Waermor until dawn… and your daughter Wa Luolan too. The whole family should be harmonious.”
“—Baruma!!!”
His sinewy, powerful muscles bulged. Baluso gripped the vines tightly, grinding his sharp teeth and letting out a low growl. His icy gaze pierced straight through Baruma.
“Don’t you dare touch them.”
Finally seeing his brother lose his temper, Baruma smiled in satisfaction.