Anyways story mode aside, you guys have the wrong idea of what "Grinding" is.
I thought I should point it out for anyone reading who has not played the game yet, but having gameplay elements ≠ grinding.
If I put a quest that said "Kill 100 monsters", this would be grinding, but I designed such quests around the idea of gaining those monster kills by the time you reach the floor you were meant to go to.
If I made everyone go through the first floor to reach all the way to the tenth to be more accurate to the source material, this would be grinding.
If I made item gathering quests with the current drop rates, that would be annoying grinding, instead I just count the monster kills instead.
I could continue on and on, but even when you are meant to get E Rank ability you have the possibility to train narrative-wise instead, without the requirement to go to the dungeon.
You can call it grindy, but it really is not. It is just a game, rather than a pure visual novel.
That being said, I have been recently made aware of some issues related to magic scaling and even Hestia's knife which make the Floor 10 and on more difficult than it should be. I have already fixed most of those issues for R11, alongside an option to have a maximum of 4 monsters spawn at anytime in Normal Difficulty.
Thinking about it, battles with multiple mobs can be classified as grindy, but even then you have the option to easily avoid or escape them, so it is avoidable grind
If you do not like the game part or find the current experience too difficult because of those balance bugs, try again on R11.
