English Dub Review: I Left My A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! “The Golden Priestess”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
As scholars assess Clover’s findings from the new dungeon, the unconscious girl they found inside wakes up.

Our Take:
Clover’s second investigation of the mysterious Twilight Capital has already started with a big bump in the road.  By that, I mean a few bumps, as the team came across a group of chrysalises that can paralyze anyone they see in their path.  Fortunately, these strange-looking cocoon creatures were no match for Clover’s strategic and magical capabilities, though it did take a minor toll on Marina when she dealt the final blow.  Similar to her confrontation with the chain monster, Marina’s samurai skill sensed that the chrysalises and the pillar she struck down were once human, further indicating the dungeon’s unusual aura.  Fortunately, it didn’t take too long for the truth behind the dungeon to come to fruition, mainly from the “Golden Priestess”.
The Golden Priestess, who resides inside the girl named Niberune, warns Clover of an incoming “culling” that results in her world merging with theirs.  While that may not sound so bad considering the endless combinations between worlds, the Royal Academy Director, Marquis Bedibore, says otherwise.  When the two worlds attempt to overlap, only one remains victorious, meaning that Clover’s world is about to be extinguished.  In short, we have the usual save-the-world situation seen in other fantasy action projects that could be much grander than Yuke’s confrontation with Thunder Pike in the first half.  But that’s not all.  In addition to the upcoming “culling”, Marquis chooses Yuke as the world’s hero, adding to the list of issues Yuke will confront in later episodes, not just the unusual dungeon and its twilight’s side effects.  In short, this expedition-filled episode sets the stage for the show’s usual chosen hero arc through its formulaic plot elements, which could likely elevate my intrigue in the second half further, depending on the execution.