This thing is absolutely massive, a force of nature "the likes of which he had never seen". Keep in mind that in the show, both teams RWBY and JNPR ran from the nevermore and deathstalker for a while before engaging them. This thing makes the both of them look like pushovers. Additionally, Abel is somewhat pessimistic. Finally, it seems to me like there wasn't going to be a fight anyway at this point, since Killa's team is already started down the cliff and Nevin's volunteered to leave last in order to cover the others' retreat. It was my assumption that the place were were going to be making our 'stand' in isn't going to be a cliff path so narrow that only one person can go down at a time.