N01 (Slayers)

Slayers Vol. 1: Slayers! (Japanese: スレイヤーズ！ Romaji: sureiyāzu!) is the first book in the Slayers novel series written by Hajime Kanzaka and illustrated by Rui Araizumi. It was first published in Japan in 1990 by Kadokawa Publishing. It was translated to English and published by TOKYOPOP in 2004, naming it "The Ruby Eye". Thanks to J-Novel Club rescuing the license of the series in 2020, it was released again digitally on 17th of August 2020, based on the rerelease of the novels in 2008. A physical 3-in-1 copy of the first three volumes has been confirmed to be released in August 2021.

From the back of the book
''Lina Inverse doesn't like to brag, but she's a genius sorceress, invincible warrior, and a legend in her own lunchtime. Lina's also in need of some cold cash. When she comes across some stolen loot, she figures the thieves won't mind sharing. But it turns out that Lina also snags a secret hidden in the booty... And now everyone's out to see if she's got the goods!''

Detailed Synopsis
The novel begins with Lina being chased by a gang of bandits. The previous day, she had raided their hideout and stolen some of their treasure. When the gang surrounds her, a tall blonde swordsman named Gourry comes to her aid, defeating the bandits. It quickly becomes apparent that Gourry has mistaken Lina for some poor little orphaned girl (which is untrue, as she's 15 and was quite capable of handling the bandits by herself). He promises to escort her to Atlas City, much to Lina's chagrin.

Later, at an inn in a nearby town, Lina and Gourry are attacked by a man wrapped up in bandages named Zolf and his army of trolls. However, Lina and Gourry drive them off fairly easily. Later that night, Zolf returns with his master, Zelgadiss. Zelgadiss asks to purchase one of the items Lina stole from the bandits, though he will not say which item it is. Lina rejects his offer. Zelgadiss leaves, telling them that as soon as they leave the inn the next morning, they will be enemies.

The next night, at another inn, they are attacked again by Rodimus (another one of Zelgadiss' men) and another small army of trolls. However, part way through the fight, Rezo the Red Priest appears and casts a puppetry spell on Lina and Gourry's opponents, incapacitating them. Rezo explains that Zelgadiss wants to use the item Lina stole to resurrect Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, and that he too is working against the chimera. Rezo also offers to keep the item for her so Zelgadiss won't attack her, but Lina refuses, since she's not sure if the Red Priest (who may be an imposter) is trustworthy.

The next day, Lina and Gourry are attacked again by Zelgadiss. One of his servants accidentally reveals that the item they're looking for is an orihalcon statue. Because it's "that time of the month," Lina is unable to use magic and gets captured by Zelgadiss. However, she had given the statue to Gourry beforehand, so Zelgadiss decides to use her as bait for the swordsman instead. Unexpectedly, he helps her escape. In their flight, they are attacked by Rezo, and it is subsequently revealed that up until that point Zelgadiss had been working for Rezo, but is now turning traitor because it was Rezo who had turned him into a chimera.

The two of them manage to escape from the Red Priest. The next morning Zelgadiss explains to the true story behind what's going on. Rezo had been searching for the Philosopher's Stone to cure his blindness, and the stone was hidden inside the orihalcon statue Lina stole from the bandit gang. It is evident that what Rezo told her about resurrecting Shabranigdu was a lie.

Over the course of the next few days, Rezo's army of various monsters attack Lina and Zelgadiss over and over again. In one of these fights, Gourry finally shows up to help Lina out of a tight spot, revealing that he possesses the legendary Sword of Light. By this point, Lina's magical powers have returned. Zolf and Rodimus also show up and help, saying that their loyalties lie with Zelgadiss, not Rezo.

When the fight is over, Rezo appears again, and threatens to kill Lina if they do not give him the orihalcon statue. Gourry complies in spite of Zelgadiss' protests. Rezo removes the stone from the statue and swallows it. His eyes open, but they are a demonic glowing red color. Rezo then transforms into Ruby Eye Shabranigdu. It turns out that the fragment of the Ma-ō had been sealed inside the Red Priest, and the Stone had resurrected him.

Zolf attempts to destroy Shabranigdu with the Dragon Slave, but doesn't even scratch it. He and Rodimus are both killed, and Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadiss all flee. Later, the three of them debate the situation. All of them agree to fight Shabranigdu. They know that no type of magic will be able to hurt the dark lord. They decide their only chance is Gourry's Sword of Light.

Shabranigdu then reappears, and they fight him. During the battle, they discover to their dismay that the Sword of Light does not even scratch the Ma-ō. Lina then reveals that she knows a spell called the Giga Slave that draws upon the power of a Ma-ō more powerful than Shabranigdu, the Lord of Nightmares. Channeling the Giga Slave through the Sword of Light, Lina destroys Ruby Eye with help from the last vestiges of Rezo's soul.

After the battle, they continue traveling for a few days, arriving at Atlas City. Zelgadiss leaves the group at this point, saying it would be dangerous for someone like him to enter a big city. Lina announces that she's going to keep traveling with Gourry until he gives her the Sword of Light.

Major events

 * Ruby Eye Shabranigdu resurrected, then destroyed.

Debuts

 * Lina Inverse
 * Gourry Gabriev
 * Zelgadiss Graywords
 * Ruby Eye Shabranigdu
 * Sword of Light
 * Dragon Slave
 * Giga Slave

Setting

 * Time: Approximately 1011.
 * Place: Never specified, most likely somewhere not far from Atlas City.

Characters

 * Lina Inverse
 * Gourry Gabriev
 * Zelgadiss Graywords
 * Rezo the Red Priest
 * Zolf
 * Rodimus
 * Ruby Eye Shabranigdu
 * Noonsa

Translation Discrepancies
There are some differences between TOKYOPOP's translation and the original source material.
 * The scene where Lina is captured by Zelgadiss is censored. In the original, Zolf is urging the others to rape her.  The word "rape" is censored to "kiss."  This leads to a rather confusing scene because there is a joke where Noonsa agrees to it and is waiting for Lina to lay her eggs since that is the way fishmen procreate. The translated material semi-acknowledges this as Zelgadiss adds afterwards that "something about the word 'kiss' may have gotten lost in translation." In the anime version of the scene, though, this part is censored the same way even in the Japanese original. The J-Novel Club edition of the book reverses this change.


 * On page 171, Lina explains that Lei Magnus first used the Dragon Slave to kill a 6,000-year-old Arc Dragon. The Japanese version says it was 1,600 years old. The J-Novel Club edition corrects this (page 122).
 * On page 181, Lina comments that Shabranigdu's energy balls "undoubtedly contained enough power to split a stone." The original material says that they had enough enough power to destroy a couple of houses.The J-Novel Club edition corrects this (page 127).