Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam

"They're dead."

The action in the Dean's hands froze.

It's difficult for him to associate the Time Travelers with the concept of death because in any description of this group, they are almost always linked to immortality. Their Time Magic can heal any fatal wound. In the war with the heroes of the Gallog Dynasty, even if they were decapitated, their bodies cut into several pieces, or burned and buried, they could always come back to life.

The warriors of the Gallog Dynasty once captured Time Travelers and conducted thousands of experiments, using tortures so gruesome they would make the readers nauseous, yet failed to find a way to truly kill them.

Perhaps the only thing that could take their life away is aging.

And now, after a thousand years, an Elemental Shaper managed to do it upon first meeting them, and to not just one, but two of them!

The Dean truly doubted whether Franky had made a mistake in judgment; perhaps what they killed was just some red octopus-faced creature that bore a slight resemblance to a Time Traveler.

The Deep Sea Race, who dwells outside the deep valley, looks like this.

"They are performing a summoning ritual, seemingly trying to summon some ancient beings through the ceremony."

Ethan analyzed, hearing about Time Travelers for the first time, though he didn't understand why everyone looked so wary when mentioning those three words.

His first impression of Time Travelers was that they were a subspecies of the Deep Sea Race, speaking bizarre phrases, but in terms of combat ability, they seemed to have nothing impressive to offer.

Could it be because the first Time Traveler's move resembling a 'dragon ascent' strike was interrupted midway, preventing them from exerting their true power?

The more Ethan thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Previously, when hunting, he often got hauled back to the camp without having exerted his full abilities.

He decided to make an excuse for these pitiable kindred souls, "This might be because the Divine Spirit they worship is sealed, causing the power they receive to become weaker, which might explain why they're eager to perform the summoning ritual."

"Makes sense."

The Dean nodded.

Now, he had to change his perspective on Ethan.

He'd heard many tales of Ethan's adventures, even personally witnessing Ethan craft an Ice Elemental Magic Scroll in the imperial capital. He always thought that the way someone uses magic could reflect the caster's character. Therefore, in his imagination, Ethan, much like Lindong, was a rebellious troublemaker, potentially the second coming of Lindong.

After all, their Elemental Magic was in the same tradition.

But now it seemed that Ethan's demeanor and speech were more akin to those revered old professors of the Academy.

"Lindong, what's your judgment?"

The Dean directed the question to Lindong. Despite this girl's unruly character, her judgment in magic and mysticism often had astonishing intuition.

Ever since Lindong enrolled, he wanted her to take on the title of the Hermit, so that he could retire peacefully, but her unruly nature brought her into conflict with the Life Divine Teachings, which directly led him to remain in the Dean's position for several more years.

But now...

Even though he asked Lindong, his gaze remained fixed on Ethan.

The more he looked, the more pleased he was.

He believed Ethan was truly the one who could inherit the title of the Hermit.

"My judgment is that my husband acted in self-defense; it was the octopus face who attacked first."

Lindong staunchly defended Ethan; she didn't want him dragged to the Ministry of Magic for a bunch of tedious investigations.

"I mean, what do you think about the appearance of Time Travelers?"

The familiar sensation returned, and the Dean's head ached faintly.

"No particular thoughts, they don't seem as good as Sincaro."