Once the temporary bridge was built, Lancelot personally led his men down into the underground cavern.
"This is a natural cave!" Lancelot judged initially.
However, they unexpectedly found antiques inside—though most were smashed to pieces.
Lancelot surmised that someone had discovered this place long ago and turned it into a treasure vault.
Melisandre was lowered down in a bamboo basket from above.
"Ser Lancelot, there are no magical fluctuations here. It should be safe from supernatural dangers. Please explore with ease!" she announced.
Lancelot nodded. Since there was only one passageway, ten of them entered together.
They walked along the tunnel for an unknown amount of time. One torch burned out, then another. It wasn't until the third torch was lit that they finally arrived before a metal door, sealing the path shut.
Podrick led the men in trying to smash it open, but it wouldn't budge. The metal was special.
"Ser, what do we do? If we can't break the door down, haven't we come all this way for nothing?"
Lancelot walked up to the iron door and touched it lightly. To his astonishment, this massive door was made entirely of Valyrian steel. Although the craftsmanship wasn't on the level of a Valyrian steel sword, the material was the same.
Valyrian steel was corrosion-resistant and could withstand the test of time and fire. Lancelot looked at Melisandre.
"Can you use fire magic to burn a hole through it?"
Hearing Lancelot's request, Melisandre nearly fainted.
She wasn't an Archmage; she couldn't cast high-intensity magic. The most she could manage was a standard high-tier spell like Fireball.
"I apologize, Ser Lancelot. My skills are not that advanced!" Melisandre turned her face away in embarrassment.
Lancelot was a bit disappointed, but he remembered he still had ten flasks of Wildfire. He wondered if they could be used here.
Ultimately, Lancelot abandoned the idea of using Wildfire to breach the door.
The tunnel was too long and enclosed. If an accident happened with the Wildfire, they would all be buried here.
Lancelot examined the edges of the iron door.
"The stone around here isn't very hard. Maybe we can widen the opening and make the entire Valyrian steel door fall out."
Lancelot shared his idea with the others.
"That's a brilliant idea! Ser! We'll get the tools right away," Podrick said.
A fervent mining operation began. The soldiers turned into miners, each wielding a hammer or pick.
After two days of hard labor, they finally enlarged the opening around the doorframe. Lancelot gave it a kick, and the door toppled backward with a heavy thud.
A stench of decay wafted out—a mix of rotting corpses, spoiled food, and moldy clothes.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!" Everyone choked and coughed.
It took a long time before they acclimated to the smell enough to enter through the iron door.
Illuminated by torchlight, Lancelot realized he had finally arrived in the treasury of House Constantine. This was indeed the location marked on the map.
As far as the eye could see, there were piles of ancient currency, mostly copper.
Aside from that, there were countless gems: rubies, sapphires, emeralds, agates, pearls, jade, and diamonds.
Several figures dressed in ancient clothing lay on the ground, long dead. judging by their attire, they were slaves.
There were also a few people in fine clothes slumped against some chests. Their garments still bore decorative remnants of family crests—all featuring dragon motifs.
Lancelot approached them and plucked a brooch from one of the chests.
Unlike the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen, this was a black dragon brooch.
"It seems these were direct descendants of House Constantine. I wonder if they starved to death down here," Lancelot mused.
"Open all the chests!" Lancelot ordered.
After clearing everything out, they recovered a massive amount of ancient copper coins and gems, but surprisingly little gold or silver.
In ancient times, bronze was often used like gold. Later, as gold became more widely used, the value of gold coins skyrocketed while copper coins devalued to rock bottom.
"Ser, we found two suits of Valyrian steel armor. Helmet, gorget, breastplate, backplate, gauntlets, greaves, sabatons—the full set. In addition, there is one Valyrian steel sword and one Valyrian steel spear," Podrick reported, approaching Lancelot.
"Take the valuable items up first. There are too many worthless things; leave them for future generations, or let them rot," Lancelot said.
He knew they couldn't take the mountain of copper coins; it was simply too heavy. Everything else of value, however, they took.
Lancelot looked at the two suits of Valyrian steel armor. Both were sized for adults, far too big for him right now, and definitely too big for Tyrion.
As for the Valyrian steel sword and spear, he wasn't surprised. Even House Targaryen had two swords, Blackfyre and Dark Sister.
It was normal for a family ranking higher than the Targaryens to have this level of gear.
Lancelot guessed that the number-one ranked family among the forty dragonlords might have possessed over ten Valyrian steel weapons.
It took thirty days to move everything they could carry, including the massive iron door itself. Moving the Valyrian steel door took twenty-eight of those days, mostly because they had to widen the entire tunnel to get it out.
Before leaving, Lancelot decided he had to see what the monster in the Smoking Sea actually looked like. He crawled toward the shore on his belly, holding the Scroll of Wind.
He planted two Valyrian steel swords into the ground on his left and right to protect himself.
Then, Lancelot pulled out the Scroll of Wind and threw it toward the Smoking Sea. Instantly, a powerful gale erupted, blowing away the nearby fog.
And Lancelot saw the sea monster.
The part underwater was invisible, but breaking the surface were numerous tentacles that looked like the tails of snakes.
The sea monster seemed to sense the disappearance of the fog. It whipped two tentacles toward Lancelot, striking from both the left and right.
But Lancelot was prepared. The Valyrian steel swords he had planted beforehand acted as a barrier.
When the two tentacles struck, they were instantly sliced off by the razor-sharp blades.
The severed tentacles fell onto the beach, twitching like earthworms.
Lancelot seized the opportunity to check the sea monster's stats.
> Name: Avatar of an Evil God
> Strength: Unknown
> Speed: Unknown
> Intelligence: Unknown
> Spirit: Unknown
> Mana: Unknown
> Evaluation: A fragment of an ancient and powerful deity. Do not provoke it lightly.
Lancelot stared at the most absurd stats he had ever seen. Everything was unknown, and its name was simply "Avatar."
"This is something I absolutely cannot mess with! Time to run!"
Lancelot grabbed the two swords, turned, and sprinted away. Once he was finally out of the tentacles' reach, he looked back. The two severed tentacles had turned into sand and melted into the shore.
Meanwhile, the sea monster's tentacles had already regrown—and they looked even longer than before.
The dispersed fog began to return, shrouding the sea once more. Everything went back to the way it was.
A few days later, Lancelot and his group officially left the area, beginning their journey back to Westeros.
Their first stop would be Volantis, then Pentos, and finally across the Narrow Sea to King's Landing.