You really thought I would surrender that easily after all the shit I've gone through? I said that running forward without a plan would be a mistake, but I wasn't truly running without a plan. I simply had to gamble a little with my chances, and luckily, fate seemed to be on my side.
Honestly, the waterfall was quite a blessing, I couldn't have asked for a better scenario to buy myself even more time, but damn, did I gamble a little too much; if my head dove in just a couple of inches deeper, I would've been a complete goner by the impact against the rocks at the riverbed.
As far as leaving behind Chimaru, I don't regret it in the slightest. As you can see, I barely managed to survive myself. I had to gamble on the river having fish, and I also gambled on it being deeper than expected, which honestly backfired as up there is not as deep as in the waterfall's drop.
The waterfall, however, provided me with the perfect opportunity to buy time and finally let me use my most overpowered skill without the soldiers being in range to hurt me as soon as I healed up. As to how I am already healing, why do you think I wanted to know if there was fish in the water?
Fish blood isn't exactly tasty, even fresh, but it still triggers my body's natural reaction to heal as soon as I consume even a modest amount. Now, I've survived my first encounter with the imperial troops, but based on how persistent they've been, I doubt they will stop now, so I'd better get out of the water and start running again before they realize I am all right.
Before the soldiers above grow wise and suspicious about my long time underwater, I simply choose to let my body go afloat again, this time faking being dead and letting the water take me downstream while all of them suspiciously look at my body, trying to figure out if I am dead or not.
"Why did she take so long to float? Hey! You two! Start placing the ropes to go down there!" I can hear everything they say now that I've recovered most of my senses through the use of fish blood, and while I would wish to play it safe, my body temperature soon starts getting way too cold to keep playing it dead, so I wait just a little longer.
I had to get out of the cold water soon, or I would turn into a popsicle. How I would get my temperature up to a functional one would have to wait. I could take my clothes off and try to squeeze as much water from them as possible and then just run naked until they dry, but without fire, I doubt I could make it far, but making fire wasn't an option.
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What if the fire I get to warm up my body isn't my fire but the soldier's fire? Should I risk it and let one of them catch me so I can steal their clothes? That might not be such a bad idea. If they choose to follow me one by one, I could briefly activate the KP engine First Grade to overpower one of them to steal their clothes.
How will I make them come down here in desperation? Oh, that's right! I just have to taunt them! Another high-risk reward bet I will have to place; as to the price, it would just be the simple price of my life as all these recent gambles have gone so far.
Without further ado, I place my bets on the soldiers being a little too desperate and bet that they will come down one by one as soon as possible with as little equipment as necessary to catch me and stop me from getting away, so I start quickly swimming ashore immediately causing the leader to rush his men to start going down the cliff with the ropes they have installed.
"What the hell! How is she still alive?" I hear one soldier exclaim while looking at his commander, who angrily shoves the man down his Moose while pointing at me. "What are you doing just watching!? GO GET HER!" The commander yells as his men blindly follow his orders with so much rush that a couple simply hurt themselves because the ropes weren't very stable.
I could see how a couple of the soldiers fell from a considerable height because their grip got a little too loose, and others broke their legs because they slipped down the rope too quickly. I bet those werewolf-loving sons of bitches now think that being a vampire is far better, uh? As long as I have blood to consume, I cannot die.
Rushing them without good stamina, however, would still be a mistake. While I cannot die, blood does not replenish my stamina. I feel better, but I am still tired from running and, more importantly, fighting that bear. I would've been bolder and would even have a chance at fighting all of the men off if it weren't for that damn bear.
As it stands right now, I was almost out of all my available KP energy, and since I didn't know how to get more aside from resting, I was out of luck in that department. All the KP energy I had left would just be enough to use grade one for five seconds before it all got consumed, so I would have to be precise with it.
Damn, that bear was a real pain in the butt. I killed it, but now it is only making things harder! Damn that stupid Chimaru kid! I guessed wrong when placing my bet on that kid. Being of some use to me, he just turned out to slow me down and cause me trouble! I swear I will not take companions like him again!
At least I hope he didn't get hurt, but at this point, his safety is of little concern to me. I saved him from getting mauled to death by a bear already, so I did all I could to protect him as far I know, so why can't I just let him out of my mind!? Why do I keep thinking about his well-being!?
Chimaru isn't my kid, nor was he an essential asset to me, so why can't I let go!? Damn it, this body is changing my mentality in unhealthy ways! I must find a way to become less empathetic because going back for him is just not possible!