Slayers Vol. 7: Gaav's Challenge (Japanese: 魔竜王の挑戦 Romaji: gāvu no chousen) is the seventh book in the Slayers novel series written by Hajime Kanzaka and illustrated by Rui Araizumi. It was first published in Japan in 1991 by Kadokawa Shoten Publishing. It was translated into English and published by TOKYOPOP in 2008. Thanks to J-Novel Club rescuing the license of the series in 2020, it was released again digitally on 14th of April 2021, based on the rerelease of the novels in 2008. A physical 3-in-1 copy of the volumes 7 to 9 was released in December 6, 2022.
Synopsis[]
From the back of the book[]
Guided by Xelloss, an agent of the Greater Beast Zelas Metalium, Lina Inverse and her crew make their way to the heart of Dilse Kingdom--a country with many hidden mysteries--including the Claire Bible. While it seems fate has deemed that Xelloss take Lina to those manuscripts, she's not sure what his real plan is, but she really wants that Claire Bible, so she'll do whatever it takes!
Detailed synopsis[]
Major events[]
Debuts[]
- Gaav
- Rashatt
- Milgazia
Setting[]
- Time: Approximately 1012 AK(?)
- Place: Galia City
Characters[]
- Lina Inverse
- Gourry Gabriev
- Zelgadiss Graywords
- Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune
- Xelloss
- Gaav
- Raltaak
- Rashatt
- Milgazia
Trivia[]
Originally, Tokyopop had canceled the release of all the novels after the sixth book due to poor sales. They attempted to pass off volume six as the last book in the series, though there are actually 15 novels total (not counting the Slayers Special and Slayers Delicious novels).
Eventually, Tokyopop changed their minds and agreed to publish volumes seven and eight in English, thus completing the first novel story arc. At first, they planned to release them on a print-on-demand basis exclusively through the Tokyopop website, with the original release date being July 1, 2007. However, they eventually decided to release them in bookstores instead, and moved the release date to January 2008.
At that time, TOKYOPOP had no plans to release the remaining Slayers novels (volumes 9-15, which make up the second novel story arc).