They timed their arrows for moments when he is about to deal a decisive blow to the demon of wrath. A demon that gets stronger over time should be put down quickly or things will become problematic. He couldn't allow that to happen, so he retaliated fiercely.
Chaotic energy burst out from his frame to form a cloud of darkness around him. Just like he expected the surrounding demons avoided it easily. The only one covered by the domain of chaos is the demon of wrath. Bolts of chaos flew out from the cloud to target the other demons. He also shot out multiple spells that he had been storing but they weren't effective. They were always alert.
He soon ran out of useful spells and he couldn't use more. For some reason, they were not attacking him with spells. They were content with their bows and arrows. The arrows were able to penetrate the cloud of darkness to disturb him no matter how much he changed his position through the cloud.
They shouldn't be able to see him within the cloud of darkness but their arrows always found him. He had to dodge them while he fought the demon of wrath. He knew why they could track him. The demon of wrath he is fighting within the cloud of darkness can track whoever is causing damage to him.
The cloud of darkness may be damaging it from all directions but it came from Aeternus so is always able to find Aeternus even though it couldn't sense the environment. The others can track him because a demon of spite had marked the demon of wrath and is using it to track Aeternus.
If it wasn't obvious that they planned very well for this ambush, it became so as the demon of wrath was getting stronger as they fought. It was being damaged from everywhere so it became angrier, then it grew bigger and the red glow of its boost shone brighter. It became able to resist the chaos energy better.
The demon was sacrificing health, stamina, mana, and sin energy all for resistance. The resistance helped him to keep fighting even when blades of chaotic flames struck him and he was set aflame with the black flames.
As time passed the only thing that could hurt the demon was the claymore but even that was failing. The claymore couldn't cut the armor that the demon of wrath was wearing. So he could only inflict minimal wounds on the demon. The armor was shoddy, just plates of rough metal attached somehow to the demon's body. The metal had been treated with something that weakened Aeternus's blows. It's what is keeping the demon alive, for now.
The demon of wrath was roaring loudly as it swung its axe with wild abandon. There was no use of skills or weapon mastery only mindless attacks but it was enough to frustrate Aeternus.
'This isn't working.' He muttered as he clashed with the axe and was almost thrown aside.
If he hadn't angled that strike and redirected its momentum, then he would have been overwhelmed by the strength of the demon. Aeternus seemed to be losing. The demon's body was covered in chaos flames but it seemed immune to pain. The more hurt it was, the stronger the boost to its resistance. It seemed immune and impenetrable to all damage but it wasn't so.
The resistance boost it is using would kill it if the fight continued. Chaos energy is a relentless pest. If Aeternus had time, then this demon would surely die but he doesn't have time. He is slowing down as the demon of wrath is being ground down.
The reduction in his speed and reaction is making it difficult to fight the demon of wrath while dodging the arrows or striking them down with chaos bolts. So he isn't losing, but he won't win if he allows the fight to continue at this pace.
He had to stop the slowing effect or he would be too sluggish to react to attacks but he didn't want to use his last trump card. He made a mistake while he was thinking about using his most powerful attack. One of the arrows struck him and he felt pain for the first time since he began moving again.
It was a small thing as if he was pricked by a needle in his soul. He wouldn't be brought down by something this low even if they combined their efforts. But the occurrence made him realize that he had to do something immediately or something more serious would happen.
He glowed a dark light again as he got ready to fire his last trump card. His enemies did something odd. They rushed towards him as if to stop him and entered the cloud of darkness. Then they began to glow. All of them were glowing except the sleeping demon of sloth and its carrier.
He didn't know what they were planning and he wasn't going to allow them to continue but first, he targeted the demon of cowardice that was running away from him with the demon of sloth in its arms. He fired the beam and it struck them immediately. They disintegrated and the slowing effect was removed.
With that done he decided to turn the attack on the others. He was about to but it was too late. They had finished preparing whatever they were planning and they executed it. It was simple and efficient. They all exploded.
The effect of the simultaneous explosion of 12 high-rank demons is highly devastating. The explosion of one high-rank demon had been enough to scatter his dark pillar of chaos. Being at the center of 12 of them with boosts of accumulated power was not a good experience. He sustained both physical and spiritual damage.
One of the demons that exploded is the one performing the spiritual attacks and the explosion caused by the demon impacted his soul heavily. This time, things didn't go easy for him.