Transmigrated As A Stepdad In A Fantasy Doujin World

Chapter 28: 28. Seraphine’s Move

The tunnel opened into a wide stone platform before a pair of heavy iron gates.

Faint traces of the corrupted black-and-white mist still clung to the cracks in the floor, but the air here was still and cold rather than actively hostile.

Remembering the collapsed dungeon and the Ascension Devil that had waited on a throne of statues, the Crimson Path team took every precaution.

Tina checked the gate for residual magic.

Brianna pressed a hand to the stone and sent a thin pulse of vines through the seams, searching for traps. Dean and Ryn stood ready on either side, weapons drawn.

Seraphine kept Eira close and her blood-forged dagger unsheathed.

Kael stayed near the rear with his short sword in hand, the mark on his left wrist hidden beneath his sleeve.

Only when every check came back clean did they move.

All seven of them pushed the gates open together.

The boss chamber beyond was large, roughly circular, and unexpectedly ordinary.

Pale crystal light lined the upper walls. The floor was bare stone without statues or thrones. No oppressive aura filled the space. No hidden presence watched from the shadows.

In the center of the room a single creature waited.

A massive black-furred beast knelt on all fours, heavy chains binding its wrists, ankles, and neck to thick iron rings driven into the floor.

The fur was dense and matted, the shoulders broad, the arms long and powerful. Its face carried the rough features of an ape, with a heavy brow and a wide jaw filled with yellowed fangs.

Dark eyes watched them without immediate aggression, only a low, continuous growl rolling from its chest.

A D-rank boss.

The Black Howler.

The chains rattled once as the creature shifted its weight, testing the limits of its bindings. The sound echoed off the chamber walls and faded into silence.

The team spread out in practiced formation, weapons ready, waiting to see whether the beast would break free or remain restrained until they forced the fight.

Seraphine stepped forward, blood-forged dagger resting loosely at her side. Her voice carried the same sharp edge as always.

”Stay back. I’ll handle this one.”

The Black Howler’s dark eyes locked onto the group.

The low growl rose into a full-throated roar that shook the chamber.

Muscles bulged beneath the matted black fur. The iron chains stretched taut, then snapped one after another with sharp metallic cracks.

The beast tore free.

It howled again, the sound raw and furious, and lunged straight toward them with terrifying speed for its size.

Seraphine was already moving.

Her petite frame blurred forward across the stone, silver-white hair streaming behind her, the dagger flashing as she closed the distance to meet the charging Black Howler head-on.

The massive ape swung a heavy arm in a crushing arc aimed straight at her skull.

Seraphine side-stepped at the last instant. The thick black fist whistled past her head close enough to stir her hair. In the same motion she twisted and dragged the glowing red edge of her dagger across the beast’s forearm.

Sparks and a thin line of dark fur flew, but the blade failed to bite deep. The tough hide and dense muscle beneath turned the strike aside with only a shallow graze.

Seraphine did not pause.

She planted one foot, spun, and drove a powerful kick upward into the side of the Black Howler’s head.

The impact cracked through the chamber like a heavy drumbeat.

The huge beast’s body lifted off the ground and flew backward, crashing hard into the far stone wall. Dust and chips of rock exploded outward from the force of the collision.

The Black Howler slid down to the floor with a low, stunned growl, shaking its head as if trying to clear its vision.

Kael watched from the rear, short sword still in hand. A thin bead of sweat slid down the side of his face.

’Fuck. I didn’t know she was this strong in the physical aspect as well.’

The thought carried a sharp edge of caution.

’If she ever finds out my real motives regarding her and her all sisters, she might kick my dick flat.’

Seraphine landed lightly on her feet, blood-forged dagger still glowing, crimson eyes locked on the recovering Black Howler without the slightest change in expression.

The beast pushed itself up from the cracked wall.

Dark eyes burned with pure anger.

It was a D-rank boss, not some low beast to be swatted aside.

The Black Howler roared again and tore a long slab of broken stone from the floor, the rough edges forming a crude but heavy weapon.

It lunged a second time, jumping high and swinging the stone club down toward Seraphine’s head with crushing force.

Seraphine infused mana into the blood-forged dagger. The blade flared a deeper, brighter red. She met the descending blow head-on.

Clang!

The impact rang through the chamber. Sparks exploded between the glowing dagger and the stone weapon.

The Beast pressed down with its full weight, muscles straining.

Seraphine held the lock for a heartbeat, then dragged the red edge sideways along the length of the debris.

The dagger carved a deep groove through the stone, weakening it until the crude club split and flew from the beast’s grip.

In the same continuous motion she drove a hard kick straight into the beast’s chest.

The massive body lifted and flew backward once more.

Seraphine did not stop.

While the beast was still airborne she blurred forward, the dagger aimed directly at its forehead.

The Black Howler’s dark eyes widened.

In pure defense it shoved one thick, black-furred hand up in front of its face just as the glowing blade descended.

The dagger carved straight through the defending wrist.

A clean, decisive cut.

The severed hand spun away in a spray of dark blood.

The Black Howler’s remaining arm clutched the stump as an earsplitting howl of pure agony tore from its throat.

The sound slammed through the chamber like a physical wave.

Everyone covered their ears.

Even Seraphine staggered half a step back under the pressure of the scream, crimson eyes narrowing against the noise.

The beast’s eyes turned a deep, furious red.

Pain and rage mixed into something feral. It lunged again with the remaining hand, thick fingers curved into claws aimed at her throat.

The Crimson Path team shifted in place, clearly irritated that the fight was stretching longer than a clean D-rank boss should allow.

Seraphine did not move first.

Instead the blood-forged dagger flared a brilliant, pure red.

The same crimson light spread across her hands and feet, mana flooding her limbs until her entire petite frame seemed to burn with restrained power.

Her voice cut through the fading echo of the howl, calm and absolute.

Scarlet Mirage.

In the next instant she was no longer in front of the beast.

She stood behind it.

A thin red line of mana still lingered in the air like a thick rope, connecting the place she had stood to the exact line across the Black Howler’s thick neck.

One second later the head slid free of the shoulders and fell to the stone floor with a heavy, final thud.

The massive body remained upright for a heartbeat longer, then collapsed in a lifeless heap.

Dark blood pooled beneath the cleanly severed neck.

Seraphine stood motionless in the sudden silence, silver-white hair settling around her shoulders, the dagger still faintly glowing.

The red mana light faded from her hands and feet as if it had never been there.

She did not look back at the others.

The D-rank boss was dead.

The heavy silence that followed the final thud of the ape’s severed head echoed off the cold stone walls.

Dean lowered his broadsword, his knuckles white against the grip.

Ryn let out a slow breath, his eyes wide as he stared at the headless corpse.

Brianna remained frozen, her vine magic fading from her fingers, while Tina swallowed hard in the quiet room.

In the guild, stories about Seraphine were constant.

Members called her bratty, arrogant, and dangerous.

Most lower-ranked hunters assumed those descriptions were exaggerated, born from envy or fear of her elite status.

Seeing her handle a D-rank boss completely alone destroyed those doubts.

She had taken no damage, used no long incantations, and ended the fight with a single, terrifying display of physical power and speed.

The fear she commanded in the guild halls was not built on rumors. It was built on pure strength.

Kael wiped a thin line of sweat from his temple, his thumb resting against the pommel of his short sword.

’She handled that without a single scratch,’ he thought, watching her quietly clean her blade.

’No wonder people step out of her way in the hallways.’

A low rumble shuddered through the stone floor beneath their feet.

The pale crystal light along the upper walls began to flicker, fine cracks spreading outward across the ceiling.

”The dungeon is destabilizing,” Tina said, her voice sharp in the collapsing room.

”The anchor broke when the boss died. We have less than two minutes.”

Seraphine sheathed her blood-forged dagger with a soft click.

She did not look at the corpse or speak to the group, completely unbothered by the crumbling stone around them.

Kael moved quickly toward the fallen Black Howler. Kneeling beside the massive chest, he drove his short sword deep into the sternum.

He carved through the thick muscle and bone where the creature’s mana gathered.

With a firm twist of his blade, he reached into the open chest and pulled out a heavy, jagged crystal pulsing with a deep violet light.

A D-rank boss core.

He stashed the core into his leather pouch and stood up.

”Over here,” Ryn called out, pointing toward a small stone alcove at the back of the chamber.

A simple iron chest sat inside, unlocked the moment the boss died.

Dean flipped the heavy lid back, exposing a handful of unrefined mana gems, a basic ring of stamina, and an iron chestplate with minor physical resistance.

Standard, low-tier rewards for a dungeon boss.

Brianna swept everything into a dimensional bag just as the ceiling cracked wide. White mana particles flooded the air, swallowing the walls and floor in a blinding glare.

The stone gave way beneath them as spatial magic wrapped around the group.

In a sharp flash of light, the pressure vanished.

The Crimson Path team landed on the damp earth outside the cavern entrance.

Behind them, the glowing portal frame flickered once, shrank to a tiny spark, and vanished into empty air.

The dungeon was gone. The mission was a success.