9 days of the 25 had been used to take 3 out of the 4 remaining ports and prepare an offensive for the last. Second had decided to leave this one for last due to how confident he was that the great elder of the Vesper faction would likely be defending this port. The gamble paid off. Though they could not be certain to break through the defense of the great elder, they had no regrets since the enemy could no longer hide any of their ships and had brought everything out in the name of defense.

It would be foolish of Second to actually subject his soldiers into continuous fighting as he had done before and gave them most of the ninth day to catch their breath. On the tenth day, they would have to fight through much more hell than they had in this entire campaign. Usually, the first day of any large-scale clash would be the heaviest, and this case was not any different.

The devastating fighting within the first day caused both of the commanders to raise their eyebrows in surprise. In the small amount of time that both of them had fought against each other, it seemed as if both had managed to raise their level of skill just enough to not get fooled by the other. However, how long would that be able to last? One slip up was all it would take to win. One small, insignificant, unplanned-for event could cause a domino effect that would ruin the magnificent war that the two of them were in the middle of.

Similarly, the second day was quite heavy in terms of casualties for the two commanders. Just not as much the first day. For the two titans of naval warfare, both were probing each other’s formations, deployments, and whatever else to get a jump on each other. Unfortunately for Second who was racing against the clock, there was an almost ironclad rule when fighting someone of an equally high understanding of warfare. And that was that unless there was an obvious flaw in their opponent, it would take a series of miraculous events to subdue the other in a short amount of time. The prerequisite being that both sides were equally matched in terms of soldiers and whatever else.

As this rule was spoken of many times in the upper ranks of every community, it would have certainly been heard by Second and the great elder. As such, both sides decided to play it safe for a few days to see if the other would make a move that would reveal a weakness. The great elder was not in a hurry to do anything. He had his assignment and that was to prevent the forces of the Forever Pirates from taking over the island. This was not the case for Second as he had many more things on his plate after this battle. Mainly to go do battle with the large armada of ships that were held off by Baron and Zheng Zhi Long.

Second husband had a plan set in motion that would need a few more days to come to fruition, so for now, he just continued to compete in a battle of wits with the great elder. The next few days weren’t all that eventful as the two found themselves in a stalemate in a position just a few kilometers off the coast of the heavily defended port. The Forever Pirates weren’t able to make any breakthroughs until the 14th day. This was where Second’s plan would come together and allow him to win the day.

Just an hour after the day’s battle at sea concluded, the port was invaded through land. This was the portion of soldiers that had been sent by Second after he had conquered the first port. These were no ordinary soldiers either, there were quite a few fighter strategists among them with the best persuasion skills in Second’s personal retinue. After searching around for enemy troops on land, they were ordered to make their way straight to this port. They were to exercise extreme caution in making sure they were able to sneak to the port as stealthily as they could.

This task could only be trusted upon the shoulders of one of the men that Second trusted most, elder Gu. This man had been a pirate under First husband far longer than Second had even heard of the name Madam Zheng. Wily as a fox and as daring as a wolverine, there was nothing that could set him back once he got something stuck in his head. Since this was the case, he often did things his own way. If it weren’t for his incredible results, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he would’ve been executed multiple times before.

Elder Gu was always full of surprises. But this time took the cake for Second. He had calculated for elder Gu to reach this port on the 18th night, however, it was only the 14th! A very welcome surprise. As soon as Second got wind of this news, he ushered in his fleet who he had given orders to conserve energy for the past few days. Once again, the two naval forces clashed against each other.

This time though, the ferocity and speed at which the Forever Pirates concerted their attacks with the different fleets were just enough to gain momentum for breaking through several lines of defense. It was clear that the great elder of Vesper had to now deal with an invasion from Second in the back and the wildcard elder Gu from the back. Dealing with one wasn’t too tough, but to divide his attention in such dire straits was difficult, to say the least.

Even when defending from an offensive on two fronts, the great elder never allowed his men to waver in their faith in him. The two forces were constantly reaching closer and closer to him, but it did not matter, he would take down as many of them until his very last breath. One day passed like this, then two. The great elder was just a bit too stubborn for his own good.