Chapter 12

"Listen closely! Your strength has already been halved! Leave this place now, and your lives will be spared!"

- Thors Snorresson

More Than a Monster (化け物以上, Bakemono Ijō) is the 12th chapter of the Vinland Saga series.

Overview
Thors continues to neutralize Askeladd's men with his bare hands. Bjorn, who has eaten a berserker mushroom, attacks everything in sight. The remaining men jump overboard to avoid him and Bjorn starts to attack Thors. Thors handles Bjorn, who keeps getting back up. He tosses him up overboard, throwing him so far that he lands on one of the planks of wood laid down by Askeladd's second ship, whose crew was trying to board Thors's. Thors leaps back to his ship and breaks the second plank. He addresses Askeladd's crew, telling them that their force has already been halved and that their lives will be spared if they leave now.

Summary
Askeladd watches eagerly as Thors continues to neutralize his men attackers with his bare hands. Thors sends one man overboard, but tosses him an oar to hold on to. As Thors approaches them, two of the men ask Bjorn what the plan is, but then realize that Bjorn is "gone" already. Bjorn, his eyes bloodshot and his facial veins bulging, screams and thrashes his own comrades before pounding on the ship's wooden plank with his fists, sending them flying. The remaining men, aware they cannot stop him, jump overboard. Thors realizes Bjorn has eaten a "berserker mushroom".

Bjorn notices Thors and attacks him, but Thors punches him in the face. Bjorn momentarily wobbles back, but attacks again. Thors punches him harder, then starts walking away to handle the other ship as the men in the water talk to each other about Thors's prowess, understanding his epithet of "Troll" after seeing him fight everyone off with his bare hands. Bjorn lurches back up behind Thors and goes to attack him again, but Thors grabs him and tosses him up in the air. Askeladd's second ship approaches Thors's. The village boys wonder what to do - Hakon asks if they should surrender, but Ari says he will not go down without a fight, preferring to die as a warrior rather than live as a slave. Askeladd instructs his men to take the boys unharmed, since they'd be worth less at the slave market with scars and missing limbs. His men lay down two planks to Thors's ship in order to board. They are about to advance when Bjorn, who had been tossed by Thors, lands on one of the planks, splitting it in half before falling into the water below. Thors leaps back onto his ship and breaks the second plank. He addresses the men aboard Askeladd's ship and says their strength has already been halved and that their lives will be spared if they leave now.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Thors Snorresson
 * Bjorn
 * Askeladd
 * Magni
 * Hakon
 * Ari
 * Mord
 * Thorfinn