N05 (Slayers)

Slayers Vol. 5: The Silver Beast (Japanese: 白銀しろがね の 魔獣まじゅう Romaji: shirogane no majū) is the fifth book in the Slayers novel series written by Hajime Kanzaka and illustrated by Rui Araizumi. It was first published in Japan in 1992 by Kadokawa Shoten Publishing. It was translated to English and published by TOKYOPOP in 2005. Thanks to J-Novel Club rescuing the license of the series in 2020, it was released again digitally on 18th of January 2021, based on the rerelease of the novels in 2008. Current release date for physical version unknown.

From the back of the book
''Lina has lost her magic! In an attempt to restore it, she travels to a village where Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, the demon lord, is said to live. There, a mysterious priest sells Lina a magic talisman... but will it be enough to restore power to our favorite flat-chested sorceress? Let's hope so- Next up, the group must venture to Mane, where Zelgadiss has but one wish: to get his body back! With magical beasts, the Sword of Light, and one of the biggest and baddest demons, this flavor-filled volume of Slayers is one delicious dish!''

Detailed Synopsis
On their way to Dills, Lina, Gourry and Ameria met a very beautiful woman, Mazenda. She cast a spell on Lina, making Lina unable to use her powers. Then, Mazenda said: if you defeat me, your magic will be restored", and added that she would go to the village of Mine. Lina and her traveling companions went there.

They heard a rumor that in Mine there is a cult for Ruby Eye Shabranigudo, the demon lord. When they arrive at the meeting of a cult in the village, they found proof. Ameria attacked the cultists, and Lina and Gourry fled from the village together with Ameria in tow, pursued by mysterious enemies. Gilfa and Vedul attacked Gourry, and he knew the enemy was too much strong to fight. He told Lina and Ameria to run away. They did, and met with other enemies, including Balgmon, the sub leader of the cult in Mine, and his guard, Feltis. Balgmon captured Ameria. Then a mysterious priest, Xelloss appeared in scene.

Xelloss killed Feltis with "Blast Bomb". Lina found out that Xelloss used four talismans to increase his magical capacity in order to cast that spell. She persuaded him to sell the Demon Bloods to her for some items. Xelloss explained that Krotz, the leader of the cult took away an item which he was searching for, a written copy of the Clare Bible. Lina and Xelloss decided to team up. That night, Mazenda set fire to the inn in which Lina and Xelloss stayed. Xelloss appeared and Mazenda was so frightened that she threw herself into the fire. Xelloss promised Lina that he would defeat Mazenda and would meet he at Mine. Then he threw himself into the fire, too.

Lina went back to Mine, disguised as a boy and lost in the crowd of the meeting of the cultists. After the meeting was dismissed, she tailed Krotz. Suddenly, an explosion occurred, and Lina ran to the villages' buildings. There, she met Vedul again. Lina used Demon Bloods to cast Fireball, discovering that that her magic had returned. Xelloss must have succeeded in defeating Mazenda. Then Zelgadiss came and helped Lina to defeat Vedul. He killed Vedul and Gilfa with Ameria's aid.

Lina, Ameria and Zelgadiss talked about what was going on. Zel revealed that the way to make a chimera was included in the copy of Clare Bible. Zel wanted to get it in order to find a way to get his normal appearance. The most important thing was that Krotz was going to make a chimera as written in the copy. The chimera was Zanaffar -- the Magical Beast of Sairaag. Zanaffar couldn't be defeated by magic, and only Gourry's Sword of Light could kill it. While they were talking about Zanaffar, Xelloss arrived, as promised.

Krotz and his men moved away with the incomplete Zanaffar. Lina and her allies chased at them, but fell into an ambush. Among the enemies, there was a beast-man, Ducris. He was a chimera made by Krotz, and he wore a silver-white armor. Ducris said that it was "Zanaffar, the demon sealing armor plate". It protected against all of the spells of black magic and shamanistic magic. Then Gourry arrived and defeated Ducris with his Sword of Light Before he died, Ducris told Lina where Krotz went. Xelloss parted from the others, stating that he was merely a person who had the same goal as the others, not one of their companions.

Xelloss arrived to the headquarters of Krotz earlier than Lina and her friends. He got the copy of Clare Bible and burned it just before Zelgadiss could examine it. Xelloss went away, and Lina and company confronted the battle with the completed Zanaffar. Although a Zanaffar was a magical armor, it was living and it consumed the person who wore it. It consumed Krotz and got his knowledge. Zanaffar ordered Gourry to leave the Sword of Light and go away. It knew that only that magical Sword of Light could harm it. Lina used the Demon Bloods to increase her power and cast the spell Ragna Blade. She broke the skin of Zanaffar with the blade of darkness, and then cast a Fireball within the body of the magical beast, killing it.

Lina tried to comfort Zelgadiss over his loss of his chance to revert to human form, but he said merrily, "I will search for the original Clare Bible".

Debuts

 * Xelloss
 * Ragna Blade
 * Demon Blood Talismans
 * Claire Bible/Claire Bible manuscripts

Setting

 * Time: Approximately 1011-1012.
 * Place: Mane and surrounding areas.

Characters

 * Lina Inverse
 * Gourry Gabriev
 * Zelgadiss Graywords
 * Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune
 * Xelloss
 * Zanaffar
 * Mazenda
 * Krotz
 * Balgumon