What is it that keeps Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?'s Bell Cranell from being an obnoxiously overpowered hero? He certainly has many of the traits of those Gary Stu like figures from other series: insane luck, amazing abilities that shine through in the darkest moments, a Pseudo-Harem of attractive young women, and plenty of resentment from those who don't think he ought to be as good as he is. I'd hazard that part of the reason is that Bell is aware of his own limitations, willing to stretch himself to the limit but under no illusions that this time, it might not be enough. That's a regular litany he plays a variation on in this fifth volume of Fujino Ōmori's novel series, which takes Bell even more out of his depth than usual.

I mean that last in a very literal sense – since Bell has reached Level 2 and added Welf to his party, he and his group decide to head to the middle levels of the Dungeon for the first time. The monsters there are stronger and have more human-like abilities, such as the skill to wield weapons, which makes them exponentially more dangerous. Should the party be outnumbered it would be much more difficult to escape with their lives, and that's precisely what happens to a group from the Takemikazuchi Familia: they attract a horde of monsters they can't handle. In order to escape with their lives, they use a technique called a “pass party,” meaning that they find some other adventurers to take on the monsters while they run away. Unfortunately for Bell, Welf, and Lilly, they are the recipients of this pass party on their first day in the middle levels. Unable to pull the same trick themselves, they instead fall into a hole in the Dungeon floor and find themselves well below their comfort zone in an area they have little chance of surviving. Lilly suggests that instead of going up they head down, trying for the safe zone that is the eighteenth floor. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Welf and Bell agree, and down they go.

This volume, one of the longest in the series thus far, continues Omori's trend of switching between third and first person narration. Third far outnumbers Bell's first person thoughts, and while Bell's voice is part of what helps to make him a more likable, relatable hero than he might otherwise be, the third person sections actually read a bit better and cover much more important information. Third person sections also tend to use fewer light novel stock phrases, veering more into traditional fantasy territory, although the conversation between Lyu and Bell in one of the first person sections is an interesting combination of both, capturing both the appeal and the lack thereof of many Western elf fantasy tropes. Lyu is probably the most interesting part of this novel, although Hermes, another member of the Greek pantheon who first makes his appearance here, is a close second. Lyu in general has had a more mysterious air about her, and learning the truth of her past opens up the story's overall mythology. Her relation to the somewhat obscure Greek goddess Astrea (daughter of Zeus and Themis) and the fact that Astrea was forced to leave the human realm could have much darker implications than we've seen thus far, and certainly indicate how wrong Hestia's foray into the Dungeon after Bell could have gone.

Hermes' role in the story plays to his occasional role as a trickster god (although much more as a messenger between gods and mortals), as he appears to have a contradictory alliance to two separate pantheons, both of whom have an interest in Bell. The more important of the two will likely turn out to be the relationship he has with Bell's grandfather, whose identity is revealed towards the end of this book. While it isn't particularly surprising, especially given some of his advice to a young Bell, it does have a lot of potential to guide the story's future, and possibly even to incite inter-pantheon tensions when it becomes public knowledge.

This volume is mostly a fighting book, with several large, tense battles for Bell to fight his way through. The earlier parts are better written, with Bell's run-in with the pass party and later a group of angry (jealous) adventurers being more exciting than the major fight at the book's end. This is a problem since the fight against Goliath is arguably supposed to be the denouement of the novel. Omori overwrites it, putting in too many characters and details in an effort to make us understand the epic scale of the battle with the unfortunate result that it bogs down and becomes harder to picture due to an excess of verbiage. Omori doesn't typically have this problem; it seems likely that he was simply trying too hard with this one.

Suzuhito Yasuda continues to supply the art for the book, and this volume is some of his less impressive work. There is a double-sided color pull-out frontispiece of naked ladies, which is fine given that this volume has the requisite bath scene (with peeping), but Yasuda isn't great at drawing the female body, which detracts. He also seems to be going for a more abstract style with the illustrations for the chapters, which once again is a nice idea, but doesn't quite work, as the images aren't centered on the pages and in some cases are hard to make out.

DanMachi's fifth volume takes us to the point where the anime left us, so book six will bring us to brand new territory. Even if you've seen the show, though, this is worth reading, as it provides some new details and really fills in both Hermes and Lyu, among other characters. Hestia and Bell's relationship isn't quite as sweet and homey as it has been in previous books and Welf in general feels underutilized, but this is still a solid entry into the franchise and a pretty good read. It may not be a great idea to pick up girls in a dungeon, but following Bell and his friends into one remains a guaranteed good time.