With the strength Northern had shown at the start, many couldn't grasp why he was fleeing from the tentacles. They expected him to spin around at any moment and *bang!* Drive an ice-breaking punch into another tentacle.
Instead, all he did was run. Even his escape defied mortal limits.
Northern wasn't running without purpose, though. His goal was to draw the Monster itself into battle, and that wouldn't happen while the tentacles remained. So he should just destroy them, right?
He'd considered that. But Northern could "see" something others missed. The monster might look like it was moving, but it was pouring energy into controlling the tentacles. That pool of power was vast—so vast that if the creature itself started moving, it would spell doom for everyone.
That's why Northern's plan wasn't to destroy the tentacles outright. Instead, he'd force the monster to use them as much as possible, for as long as he could endure it. Then he'd destroy them.
