An Understated Dominance by Marina Vittori

The symbols on the bronze door abruptly stopped rotating, as if caught in a jam. It swayed back and forth with an unsettling creaking sound.

"Huh? What's happening? Why did it stop moving?"

Everyone exchanged puzzled glances.

"Captain Wilder, what's going on?" Grace furrowed her brow in unease.

"Ms. Linsor, calm down. After all, it's been over a thousand years, and it's normal for the mechanisms to show some signs of aging. Just give it a moment, and it'll be fine," Garrett said with a faint smile.

He had encountered similar situations before. In the past, he had dealt with traps that, even when triggered, remained inactive due to years of neglect.

As he examined the bronze door's material, he felt assured that its internal mechanisms were likely undamaged, albeit possibly less responsive.

Given the earlier smashing and explosions, he reasoned that there must have been some impact. Then, the symbols and characters, which were initially rotating clockwise, suddenly began to turn counterclockwise.

"Ah! It's rotating again!" Silva exclaimed in relief. Just a moment ago, she had feared something went wrong, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

"Ms. Linsor, you see? Everything will be okay soon—" Garrett began to smile, but his words were abruptly cut off.

In an instant, symbols on the bronze door sank, revealing rows of thumb-sized dark openings.

Simultaneously, countless golden steel arrows shot out from these openings. The flurry of arrows, swift and unexpected, took everyone by surprise.

closest to the door, found himself

"Captain, be careful!"

shoving him aside and shielding him from the barrage of arrows. As a result, she took hits to her shoulder and arm from the golden

her selfless intervention, Garrett, who was reveling in his victory, could have been fatally struck then

injuries. His expression changed as he

scratch," she reassured him, forcing

take this sanguine tablet

her, he felt a sense of relief—it wasn't a critical injury. With the sanguine tablet, he knew

happened? Everything was fine a moment ago. Why did the

components, leading to a

and then suddenly switched to counterclockwise. Clearly, something

door has stopped rotating. Can it still be opened?" Grace asked. Her heart raced from the

question. Once brimming with confidence, he now found himself

captain can still open this

No problem," Garrett said, taking a moment to collect himself. He cautiously approached the bronze door and studied it

and turning left

attempted the process multiple times, knocking and testing, but to

to Grace and admitted, "It appears that the mechanism inside this bronze

Grace furrowed her brow. "So, you're

"You're right." Garrett nodded.

added, "This door has been around for ages, and now the mechanism is unresponsive. The recent explosion might have caused internal damage. At this point, I'm powerless to do anything about

way?"