If the location they were using was quite small, then it would not be so easy to remain safe with a larger number of people.
If there was not enough room for everyone, then someone would have to be in the outer area closer to the edge, where they would be more vulnerable.
If they needed to rest, then that was an option to use if such areas could be located.
It was what they had been doing until they discovered her, so they might have been staying in one of the routes she had yet to explore.
If she kept exploring, then perhaps she might have encountered them if they chose to remain in that same place the whole time.
It just depended on whether her encounters with the Spirit or Evil Spirit would result in her defeating it or it killing her before such a time would happen.
Encountering them earlier was a little unusual in some ways, but things ended up working out for her in a way that she did not dwell on such matters for too long.
