"I have to decline. I care a lot about my weapon."
One decided not to participate because he doesn't want to lose his weapon. If they fail and die, then they will lose their weapon because it will not follow them when they die. These artifacts are very valuable and this person doesn't want to lose theirs.
The female battle sage monkey tried to convince him. "There's nothing to fear since we won't fail."
But the person was not convinced. He said, "You must be foolish if you think there's nothing to fear in attacking the child of the plane. You must be very foolish indeed."
Soverick is not an ordinary person. He is a genius and worse than that, he is the child of the plane. What they have seen of him is just his personal strength. He hasn't used the abilities of his title to fight yet but what they have seen is already enough to put fear in a sane person. To say that there is nothing to fear is to be insane. It is common sense to be very afraid of him.
"I think this is a bad idea. Having access to world power is not enough to defeat Soverick. He has access to it too and I am sure he can use it better than all of us. So I won't be joining you in this foolishness."
Another one refused to participate in the attack. Their rank 9 strength has not filled this person with confidence about attacking Soverick. It was not a long time ago when people were hiding in the ground and under rocks as Soverick turned the arena upside down. That kind of memory doesn't just disappear. Even now, it is a warning not to foolishly fight Soverick even though death is not permanent here. A weapon has not reduced the veracity of the immense threat that he constitutes.
Having a weapon has given them access to world power but controlling the world power is another thing entirely. None of them are titans of law or Sovereigns. They have never had any experience with world power. World power needs skills in manipulation, control, and utilization. Getting access to world power doesn't make all of them equal. It certainly doesn't make them equal to Soverick who could already steal world power without a weapon.
To base their confidence in killing the child of the plane on world power can be considered foolishness by some. In the very likely scenario where they die for this foolishness, they will also lose their weapon. All in all, it is not encouraging to fight Soverick when they might lose the weapon that gives them their naive confidence.
"I think you might have a chance but I am not willing to risk my survival for your very small chance of victory." Another person bowed out.
This person has a weapon and has not died even once in this challenge. That means they will earn a feat for surviving. They are not about to risk a feat for a chance to defeat Soverick so they decided not to participate too.
The female battle sage monkey tried to convince again, "We might all earn a feat if we manage to defeat Soverick and whoever kills Soverick will become a king at least. We can take his crown. Think about it."
"Might and if. Your plan is based on a lot of possibilities and only one certainty. It is not enough."
They did not listen to her. The person that kills Soverick will become a king. That is certain. But it is not certain that they can kill Soverick. It is not even certain that they can defeat him and the chance of defeating him is reducing as more people drop out. On the other hand, it is certain that this person will earn a feat if he simply survives. Fighting Soverick is courting death which is the opposite of surviving. He doesn't want to court death.
The female battle sage monkey watched these people retreat into the forest with their factions or alone. She is tempted to force the ones without factions to join her using the strength of her faction. Being a rank 9 doesn't mean a rank 8 cannot kill you. The power system of this world doesn't change you or increase your life's order. The world empowers your actions. So you run faster and you hit harder but the defense of your body doesn't increase.
The competitors are not like the monsters. They are not as durable as the monsters they fought. A rank 4 giant bird can still rend a rank 9 competitor with their claws if the rank 9 is not careful. That means the thousands of people she has in her faction can certainly defeat a single rank 9 competitor. It will be easy to overwhelm these deserters with numbers. But she decided not to do that.
She will very much love to see them die for not agreeing with her but it is not wise to create more enemies especially when they are already going up against the strongest and best. The fact that she won't be able to kill them permanently is the major problem. They will come back and they will still have their rank 9 strength so it is a bad idea to make enemies of them. One enemy is already enough. Adding more rank 9 enemies to the roster of enemies can only end badly.
She is being cautious which is commendable. But ignorance will see her efforts undone. She didn't see the end of Soverick's fight with the dragon or his fight with the rank 10 monster and she didn't see the robe he was given on the mountain so she doesn't know that he has already been given the title of a sage.
She missed a lot of things about Soverick. If she were aware of one of these crucial matters, maybe she wouldn't have decided to fight him. It is commendable that even in her ignorance, she knows that Soverick cannot be underestimated. That's why she didn't go up the mountain alone. She called a meeting and asked for help for her insane quest