After the last volume’s battle with the red dragon and Falin’s resurrection, Laios, Marcille, Chilchuck, and Senshi are exhausted and Falin is still a bit disoriented as well. So none of them are in the position to resist the strange elf that showed up at the close of volume 4, The Lunatic Magician themself, and Falin is soon dragged away from the party again by the magician. With some coaxing, Laios and the others agree to return to the surface to resupply before trying to chase down Falin again, but they meet with some unexpected characters in the process.
So unexpected in fact that I had to go back and re-read several previous volumes to reacquaint myself with the other group of adventurers we’ve seen bits and pieces of, Kabru’s group. I hadn’t realized that this group had appeared so many times before or that they seem to be developing a grudge against Laios’ group (who they keep thinking are stealing their treasure and provisions each time they die but it really is a series of misunderstandings). The fact that this group seems so easily misled by the “explanations” provided by their revivers for why things are missing makes me think that they will be causing trouble for Laios’ group in the future, if not become an outright antagonistic group.
It certainly doesn’t help that Kabru’s group is currently aiming to defeat the Lord of the Dungeon and believe that Kabru is the right kind of person to rule the island the dungeon is located on. However, Kabru would be a terrible leader. He likes to speculate based on scant facts and his entire party seems to easily mischaracterize people. For example, when Kabru even thinks about Laios he pictures him as a more stern, aloof character than the goofball-with-brains we have gotten to know. This is all assuming of course that the dungeon can even be “conquered,” something he seems to have no doubt about in his mind is a possibly. I feel quite skeptical about that after seeing The Lunatic Magician in the flesh! (plus, it’s a story, no way it would be that straightforward and simple!)
When Delicious in Dungeon began it felt like a story whose setting was just a run of the mill, inspired by a video game, generic fantasy setting, but as the story has progressed and Ryoko Kui has dug deeper and deeper into the narrative I must praise how much thought has gone into it. In some ways it reminds me of the Abyss in Made in Abyss — the settings in both of these series are their own characters and in some ways the true antagonists of the story, although Delicious in Dungeon‘s self-healing underground world feels far less malicious and intelligent so far. As this volume wraps up the loose threads from the previous arc, I am ready to start the next adventure and see what other mysteries and delicacies this dungeon holds!