With the Three Armies Bridge built, Mufasa personally led his men down into the cavern.
"This is a natural cave!" Mufasa initially judged.
But surprisingly, antiques were found inside, albeit shattered ones.
Mufasa believed this place must have been discovered long ago and then transformed into a treasure cave.
Melisandre was also lowered down in a bamboo basket.
"Ser, there are no magical fluctuations here, so there shouldn't be any other dangers. Please explore with confidence!" she said.
Mufasa nodded. Since there was only one passage, ten of them entered at once.
They walked along the passage for an unknown amount of time, only knowing that one torch burned out, and another was lit. It wasn't until three torches had been used that they arrived before a metal-sealed iron door.
Podrick led his men to smash the door, but it wouldn't open because it was made of a special metal.
"Ser, what should we do? If we can't break the door, wouldn't we have come all this way for nothing?"
Mufasa walked up to the iron door and lightly touched it. He was surprised to find that this large iron door was entirely made of Valyrian steel. Although the craftsmanship wasn't as refined as a Valyrian steel sword, the material was the same.
Valyrian steel is corrosion-resistant and can withstand the test of time and fire. Mufasa looked at Melisandre.
"Can you all use fire magic to burn a hole through it?"
Upon hearing Mufasa's words, Melisandre nearly fainted.
She wasn't some grand archmage and couldn't cast high-intensity magic. At most, she could only cast ordinary advanced spells like fireballs.
"I'm sorry, Ser Mufasa. My skills are lacking!" Melisandre said, turning her face away.
Mufasa was a bit disappointed, but he remembered he still had ten bottles of wildfire and wondered if they could be used here.
However, Mufasa ultimately gave up the idea of using wildfire to break the door.
Because the cave was too long, if anything went wrong while using wildfire, they would all be lost.
Mufasa went to the edge of the iron door to examine it.
"The surrounding rock isn't very hard. Perhaps we can enlarge the opening a bit, so this entire Valyrian steel door falls out."
Mufasa shared his idea with the others.
"That's a great idea, Ser! We'll go get the tools right away," Podrick said.
The enthusiastic mining work began. The soldiers became miners, each holding a hammer or a pick.
After two days of effort, the entrance to the cave was finally widened. Mufasa kicked the door, and it fell backward.
A rotten smell wafted out, mixed with the stench of decaying corpses, spoiled food, and moldy clothes.
"Cough, cough, cough!" Everyone choked and coughed.
It took a long time before they adapted to the smell and entered through the iron door.
Illuminated by the torchlight, Mufasa realized he had finally arrived at the vault of House Connington. This must be the location marked on the map.
As far as the eye could see, there were piles of ancient coins, mostly copper.
In addition, various gems—rubies, sapphires, emeralds, agates, pearls, jade, and diamonds—were countless.
Some people dressed in ancient clothing lay on the ground, long dead. Their clothes appeared to be those of slaves.
There were also a few people in fine attire leaning against some chests, their clothes adorned with remnants of family crests. All were dragon-themed designs.
Mufasa approached them and plucked a brooch from one of their chests.
Unlike the three-headed dragon brooch of House Targaryen, this was a black dragon-shaped brooch.
"It seems they must have been direct members of House Connington. I wonder if they starved to death here," Mufasa thought.
"Open all the chests here and see what's inside!" Mufasa commanded.
After clearing everything out, they found a large number of ancient copper coins and gems, but not much real gold or silver.
After all, in ancient times, brass was used as gold. Later, after gold became widely used, the value of gold coins increased, and copper coins depreciated to a rock-bottom price.
"Ser, we found two sets of Valyrian steel armor, complete with helmets, gorgets, bevor, breastplates, backplates, arm gauntlets, gloves, tassets, greaves, and sabatons. Besides that, there's a Valyrian steel sword and a Valyrian steel spear," Podrick said, approaching Mufasa.
"Take the valuable items up first. There are too many worthless things; leave them here for future generations, or let them slowly decay!" Mufasa said.
He knew that the vast amount of copper coins couldn't be taken away, as there were simply too many. As for everything else, they tried to take it all.
Mufasa looked at the two sets of Valyrian steel armor. They were both for adults and far too large for him to wear yet. Tyrion would be even less able to wear them.
As for finding a Valyrian steel sword and spear, he wasn't surprised. House Targaryen even had two swords, Blackfyre and Dark Sister!
It was normal for a family of higher standing than House Targaryen to possess such equipment.
Mufasa guessed that the first-ranked family among the Forty Dragonlords might possess over ten Valyrian steel weapons.
After thirty days of hauling, everything that could be taken, including the large iron door, was finally packed. Transporting the Valyrian steel door alone took twenty-eight days, the long duration due to the entire cave being expanded.
Before leaving, Mufasa decided to go see what the monster in the Smoking Sea looked like. He took the Scroll of Wind and crept towards the sea.
He plunged two Valyrian steel swords into the ground on either side of him to protect himself.
Then Mufasa pulled out the Scroll of Wind and threw it into the Smoking Sea. Instantly, a strong gust of wind arose, dispersing the nearby smoke.
And Mufasa saw the sea monster.
The part submerged in the sea was invisible, but the part above the surface consisted of many tentacles, looking like a multitude of snake tails.
The sea monster seemed to sense the disappearance of the smoke. It waved two tentacles, one left and one right, lashing out at Mufasa.
However, Mufasa was prepared. He had already thrust the two Valyrian steel swords into the ground on either side of him for protection.
So, when the two tentacles struck, they were instantly severed by the Valyrian steel swords.
The two tentacles fell onto the beach and began to twitch, like earthworms.
Mufasa seized this opportunity to check the sea monster's data.
"Name: Evil God's Avatar"
"Strength: Unknown"
"Speed: Unknown"
"Intelligence: Unknown"
"Spirit: Unknown"
"Magic: Unknown"
"Evaluation: A part of an ancient and powerful deity's avatar. Do not provoke it lightly."
Mufasa saw the most absurd data he had ever encountered. Many fields were unknown, and even its name was merely "Avatar."
"This is something not to be provoked! Find a chance to run!"
Mufasa picked up the two swords, turned, and fled. After finally running out of the tentacles' attack range, Mufasa looked back and saw the two severed tentacles turn into sand and merge with the earth on the shore.
Meanwhile, the sea monster's tentacles had grown back, and they were even longer.
The dispersed smoke gradually returned, once again shrouding the sea. Everything reverted to how it was before.
A few days later, Mufasa and the others officially departed, embarking on their journey back to Westeros.
Their first step was to Volantis, then to Pentos, then across the Narrow Sea, and back to King's Landing.