Chapter 4788 — Taking Command

"Indeed. Word has it that in its designer's hands the Starfall Formation was invincible—even the strongest of that age had to give it a wide berth. That is how it earned its name as the deadliest killing formation of all. Had it not been so, it would never have been installed aboard a warship to serve as the final trump card of the ultimate weapon," Gui Dongxi said.

While the two of them conversed, Oda Ba had already tasted defeat once more. He still had not abandoned the notion of wiping out all three Mountain-Opening sea beasts in a single sweep, but alas, the result was the same as before—he had not so much as singed a hair.

That outcome sent everyone's morale plunging to rock bottom. They knew full well those three were nothing but cannon fodder puppets, yet after throwing everything they had at them, they found they could not even kill the enemy's cannon fodder. How were they supposed to keep fighting?

Oda Ba's face was ashen with defeat; it was plain he had taken the blow hard. And if even the captain was like this, the others needed no telling.

A feeling called despair spread from the command room into every hold and cabin. Worse still, the men had begun to blame one another. If they had activated the Ten-Thousand-Mile Formation and fled back then, they would have had at least a thirty percent chance of surviving. Now? Not even ten.

"How about I give it a try?" Wei Zhao suddenly stepped forward.

Everyone started. Oda Ba frowned at him and gave a cold snort. "Do you even know what this is? An outsider wants to try his hand at the Starfall Formation?"

"I am indeed an outsider. But after watching what you just did, I don't think I could do any worse," Wei Zhao said mildly.

"What did you say?!" Oda Ba was already in a foul mood, and now he flew into a rage on the spot, instantly undoing the small measure of goodwill he had begun to feel toward Wei Zhao. The boy had some ability, but he was far too arrogant with his mouth!

"I said, we're all doomed anyway, so why not let me have a try? There might just be a sliver of a chance," Wei Zhao said, meeting Oda Ba's eyes without flinching.

"That..." Oda Ba hesitated. At heart he did not believe Wei Zhao could operate the Starfall Formation. But then he thought of how Wei Zhao had spotted the sea beast horde in advance, and how he had seen through to a hidden hand behind the scenes at a single glance. Oda Ba could not help but feel a flicker of hope. What if the boy really could pull it off?

Everyone was watching Oda Ba. Complaints were useless now that things had come to this; they would treat a dead horse as a live one. They had no other choice.

Without waiting for Oda Ba's word, Wei Zhao walked straight toward the star chart. Oda Ba instinctively stepped aside, and by the time he came to his senses, Wei Zhao's hands were already inside the chart.

"Captain, what say you?" The transmission array filled with the first mate's and the other crewmen's questions, rising and falling in chorus.

Oda Ba gave Wei Zhao a long, searching look, then finally gritted his teeth and said, "Do as he says!"

The words had hardly left his mouth when a pillar of starlight came crashing down onto the sea ahead. Oda Ba and the rest, who had only just resolved to trust Wei Zhao, were struck dumb. What was the meaning of this?

All three Mountain-Opening sea beasts were still miles away. The area bathed in the light pillar was utterly empty—there was nothing there at all, not even a single Profound Ascension sea beast. What on earth was this thing playing at?

Before anyone could ask, Wei Zhao sent down three more pillars in quick succession. Still nothing whatsoever within their reach. This time Oda Ba could stand it no longer. "If you can't do it, step aside and stop getting in the way!" he roared.

"If you don't understand, keep your mouth shut. If you want to live, watch closely," Wei Zhao said without stirring an inch, and the aura around him abruptly changed.

Oda Ba's eyelid twitched. The terrifying presence the man had flashed for an instant had actually made his heart skip a beat—it felt as though he had run into a top-tier expert far above his own level. But in the next blink, there was nothing different about him at all; he was plainly just a young man in the middle Nascent Soul stage—hardly any top-tier expert.

Could the pressure have gotten to him and fooled his senses? Oda Ba shook his head vigorously, and in that mere moment Wei Zhao sent down three more pillars of starlight, with exactly the same result as before.

The others were on the verge of going mad. Every pillar of starlight consumed a vast amount of spiritual energy, and the boy had just flung down seven of them in the blink of an eye. At this rate they would not last three hours; the reserves would be drained dry long before that.

Not only were the men left speechless, staring at one another—even the three Mountain-Opening sea beasts outside were baffled. After waiting a while and seeing no further movement, each of them launched a frenzied assault on the ancient warship.

Because the Starfall Formation had already diverted the great majority of the spiritual energy, the defensive formation was now far weaker than before. Add to that the three Mountain-Opening sea beasts' ferocious offensive, and the warship was rocked violently back and forth. The defensive formation looked ready to shatter completely at any moment—the situation had turned dire in an instant!

Everyone, Oda Ba included, went white with fright. They no longer had the presence of mind to tell Wei Zhao to step aside; all they could do was shout over and over: "Fire the Starfall Formation! Fire it or we're dead!"

To their surprise, Wei Zhao turned and looked at them with an easy, faint smile. "The guest of honor hasn't even shown his face yet. What's the hurry?"

Oda Ba and the others were choking with fury. What kind of moment did the boy think this was? He still had the mood to put on airs—did he really think this was some kind of game?!

Just then the warship gave a violent lurch, tilting so sharply it nearly capsized. Had the helmsman not reacted fast enough to right their course in time, they would barely have escaped disaster.

Everyone froze. Fearsome as the three Mountain-Opening sea beasts' assault was, it should not have been enough to tilt the warship this far before the defensive formation collapsed. Unless...

Then someone suddenly cried out in a shrill voice: "Look over there!"

All eyes followed the sound. Miles ahead, a magnificent mountain range had appeared out of nowhere. Of course it was no true mountain range, but a top-tier sea beast whose bulk rivaled even the Mountain-Seat Whale in sheer, rolling vastness—except that where the Mountain-Seat Whale was heavy and clumsy, this one was slender and agile.

What met the eye was a stretch of pitch black, densely packed with scales. Coupled with its slender build, the first impression it gave was that of a giant sea serpent. But once it rose higher and revealed more of its savage form, that notion was dispelled at once.

"A Kronosaurus?" Wei Zhao murmured. Looking at the dreadful, close-set serrations of this top-tier sea beast and the four massive, powerful flippers on either side, the name surfaced in his mind on instinct.

"You actually recognize it?" Gui Dongxi was startled.

"It really is a Kronosaurus? Come up from the mortal world?" Wei Zhao was even more astonished. The Kronosaurus was a top marine predator of the Cretaceous, a fossil like the dinosaurs of the land. And the creature before him was at least dozens of times the size of a true Kronosaurus!