1/3rd in. So far 灰と幻想のグリムガル 10 is my least favorite of vol 7-10. But I’m hoping that will turn around.
It started off in the same larger setting, but in a different area, where once again, there are no other humans are around. They spent the first 1/3rd of the book fighting and then running from gorillas (I wish I was joking). Essentially a hex crawl 
Prologue was a mostly irrelevant side story
prologue summary
Prologue is dragged out and weird and related to a bullied American otaku from Colorado, who moves to Japan, but somehow wound up in Grimgar. He quit adventuring at some point. Now as he’s dying from being mauled by a bear, he somehow remembers everything from pre-grimgar, babbles about simulation theory and transferring worlds, and some mysterious woman shows up and seemingly does something to enable him to live on, while abruptly leaving
semi-romance moments (spoilers for events in vol 9)
Haruhiro is voluntarily, but begrudgingly in a 恋人ごっこ setup with someone who’s indispensable (they’d have died multiple times without her), and rude & overbearing - and is kinda obsessed with him bc he’s atypical.
Anyway, after reprimanding him for not valuing his life enough, she proceeds to kiss him on the forehead, and メリイ reacts (Note: blurred name is major spoiler for vol 9):
ハルヒロの額にセトラの唇が押しつけられ、ちゅ、と小さな音を立てた。ひんやりしていて、やわらかかった。
メリイがまた咳きこんだ。もしかして、風邪･･････?
Come on man, I know メリイ loudly shot you down last volume (for reasons related to this setup & cuz she’s dense as hell too), but you can’t be this dense 
They also had some discussion about クザク’s attractiveness, and whether anyone in the party thought they might have had any sexual encounters pre-Grimgar. It was nice they could just have a normal conversation about it.
That said, I’m fairly confident that whenever セトラ finally parts with them, I’m sure the author will find another way to make things not develop btwn ハルヒロ and メリイ
Also I’m sad we didn’t get to see more of the other party from last volume, cuz I was enjoying whatever was going on btwn シホルand ツカ
Party changes (major spoilers for vol 8-9)
Having ランタ 100% gone is soooooooo nice.
セトラ is a lovely replacement for ランタ, even though she’s not quite a party member. I like that she’s brought some semblance of romance discussion into the story, and even though stuff’s gotten tense with メリイ bc of her, and the party mood can be uncomfortable, the vibe is sooooo much nicer than with クソランタ. Also, she has combat value (via a 人造人間) & out of combat value via the same thing + the ニャアたち (yes they’re cat-like, and really useful)
Also I feel like the party has gotten a bit more affectionate/supportive of each other over the last few volumes, and that’s nice to see
@Naphthalene you may be pleased to know that the party has apparently discovered CPR, somewhere in the last x volumes - and an explanation for why they can’t just magic someone who’s not breathing (in this case, who had just drowned)
