At the same time that happened, the lizardman's size suddenly grew larger. Its height reached 2.5 meters, and the muscles in its body grew harder and thicker.
The other two lizardmen also did the same thing, although their size was smaller, just slightly over two meters tall.
The lizardmen grew stronger, and the nymphs were constantly being suppressed. It seems like these lizardmen all have the same type of innate magic that boosts their physical capabilities.
As for the only female lizardman, she wielded her staff and conjured three balls of mana before they flew in the air like projectile missiles.
Not only was Wyden's group suppressed when it came to the numerical advantage, even when it came to raw power, they also fell short.
Indeed, these three lizardmen were not the same as the lizardmen they had fought before!
Despite the fact that both Lino and Ygro exploded with the power of a high-level Transcendent, it turns out that the enemy was no weaker than them.
It shouldn't be as simple as the lizardmen using their innate magic. There is definitely more to it than meets the eye, but before the nymphs can have a chance of learning it, they must first survive!
Aside from Wyden, who blocked the magic missiles using his enhanced wooden pole, the other two nymphs opted to dodge.
Without the same innate magic as Wyden's, their wooden poles cannot stand blocking the magic missiles.
Their weapons are already damaged, and it affected their fighting power. The two nymphs cannot afford further damage to their weapons.
However, dodging and blocking the projectiles gave the lizardmen the upper hand.
Ygro was forced back by the lizardman, who was aggressively thrusting its spear at him while he could only passively block it with his pole.
If a few more magic missiles were to be launched, he would have been more injured. Thinking of that, Ygro took the fight even more seriously, and he also activated his own innate magic.
With his intention, mana gathered at his wings, and they generated green specks of pollen.
His innate magic was [Slumber Pollen], a magic that greatly enhances the potency of the natural pollen that butterfly nymphs release.
If caught off guard, even a mid-level Transcendent would immediately fall asleep. However, its effects diminish in a frontal battle, especially when the target's adrenaline is high.
His pollen can only mess with the target's rhythm and momentum. While the pollen cannot make the lizardman fall asleep, it did make the target feel sleepy.
It took a lot of effort for the lizardman to still be awake, and that caused his attacks to weaken, slowly but surely, despite the flying magic missiles from time to time, Ygro achieved a balance with his enemy.
Lino, on the other hand, was the same as Ygro at first. He was being suppressed by the lizardmen before he used his innate magic.
The nymphs' eyes glowed with a purple light, casting an illusion attack on the lizardmen.
His innate magic [Illusory Eyes] can alter what the target is seeing. Of course, since he is just a mid-level Transcendent, his illusion's strength was not too powerful nor exaggerated yet.
From time to time, he can make himself vanish from the target's vision, which enables him to launch a more precise attack.
At the same time, he can also conjure an illusion wherein the target thought they had hit him, but in reality had not.
This innate magic cannot affect the target for long, but it does cause a stalemate to appear.
Even Wyden, with his enhanced weapon, stopped getting pushed back. The enemy grew stronger after using their innate magic, but their speed seems to have decreased.
Wyden used his nimbleness to continuously defend and even counterattack from time to time.
However, despite the fact that the three nymphs were in a stalemate with the lizardmen, it didn't bring them any happiness.
In fact, their faces did not look good. This stalemate was only achieved with the help of their Morningstar Mushroom and their blood boil state.
However, their blood boil state would not last forever. It would only last approximately ten minutes. Once ten minutes are up, they would revert to their original realm as mid-level Transcendents.
Once that happens, they would be no different than fish on a chopping board. Even if they use their own mana and vitality to enter the blood boil state to extend the duration to twenty minutes, so what? That time might still not be enough to kill these lizardmen.
Once the twenty minutes of time passed, the lizardmen would fall to a state of great weakness. Even if they do survive today, what is the tribe going to do when more lizardmen appear?
The three of them are currently the most powerful fighting force of the tribe. Once they fall into a weak state, the tribe's strength would weaken a lot.
Using one's own mana and vitality to enter the blood boil state was different compared to using the energy stored in the Morningstar Mushroom's [Energy Sac].
If the mana inside the [Energy Sac] is spent, the mushrooms only need to accumulate mana again, or Nexus can recharge them.
However, if the nymphs were to enter a weakened state after they use their own mana and vitality, even if they assimilate with ten Morningstar Mushrooms with fully filled [Energy Sac], they still wouldn't be able to enter the blood boil state in a short period of time.
Their bodies would be weakened to the point that they cannot bear the power of the blood boil state, much like a broken vessel that cannot contain power.
As such, the three nymphs were racking their brains to think of a solution. Unfortunately, with the intense battle they are facing, they didn't have much room to think.
"Hmph, this fight's getting too long!" Larrak, the female lizardman, commented before tightening her grip on her staff.
This time, she decided to use her innate magic as well. The magic missiles were actually not her innate magic but just a skill she acquired by learning because her own innate magic costs a lot of mana, unsuitable for normal and prolonged battles.
With her control, droplets of water started to appear at the tip of her staff. As more and more water droplets condensed, they started to form into the image of a violent serpent.
Her innate magic, [Water Serpent], was as long as three meters. Its size and power were what made it cost a lot of mana. Larrak can at most use her innate magic twice in a row before all of her mana is spent.
Fortunately, the tribe has a few skills that the lizardmen can learn in case their innate magic is not strong enough or if they cannot be used normally.
The water serpent moved at Larrak's control; it travelled in the air and targeted Wyden, the strongest of the three nymphs.
The magic missiles alone were already enough to give Wyden a lot of trouble. Now that the stronger water serpent was cast, he faced even greater danger.
To his right, the high-level lizardman thrust his spear at him, while to his left, the water serpent opened its mouth to take a bite of him.
Wyden did his best to defend himself against those two, but he failed. He was once again thrown into the air, his chest splitting, showing a bloody hole in it caused by the lizardman's spear.
Even the flesh on his shoulder was bitten off by the water snake.
"Chief!"
Wyden's state caused the two other nymphs to be distracted, destroying the delicate balance they had with the lizardmen, causing them to be injured as well.
"Use the water-attribute Morningstar Mushrooms!" Wyden shouted while still being in the air.
He gritted his teeth to ignore the pain in his wounds while he and the two nymphs prayed to Nexus.
They cannot yet control the Morningstar Mushrooms that are not in their hearts. They cannot have the mushrooms release water jets on their own.
They can only use a crude way to pray to their Guardian Totem so that Nexus would sense their intentions.
Fortunately, they were successful. They hurriedly took out the water-attribute Morningstar Mushrooms from their pouch, and the mushrooms immediately released their water jet.
This move caught the lizardmen off guard. They didn't expect that the nymphs had these kinds of mushrooms with them.
When all three water jets of each mushroom were used, only one of the lizardmen died.
This was because even a mid-level Transcendent of this group was far stronger compared to the normal mid-level Transcendents that the nymphs fought against before, even matching them at their blood boil state.
Another reason was that the female lizardman also used her water serpent to block some of the water jets, saving more lizardmen as a result.
However, things are not yet done. Apart from the female lizardman, the two male lizardmen were also still alive despite the wounds they sustained.
The battle is not yet done!