Just then!
Edgin had fallen into utter despair and given up resisting, beginning to pray under his breath. Holga had long since collapsed motionless in the distance. The rookie warlock Simon was so frightened he could barely think straight, while the druid Doric had disappeared to who knew where. And the paladin Hank had raised his gleaming Holy Light-wreathed sword, ready to make one last desperate stand. Then, as expected, the unexpected happened.
BOOM!!
With a thunderous crash, a furry giant bear everyone recognized dropped from the sky and slammed down in front of them. It then swatted the dragon that had stretched out its neck to eat them, making it yelp in pain and reflexively recoil.
And then...
"??"
"Moo-oo!!"
Amid a series of panicked cries, the "Fat Orange" dragon had been hurt and thrown so far backward that it could no longer stop itself from toppling over. It tried with all its might to pull its neck back—did it even have a neck?—but couldn't manage it. In the end, it once again lost its balance on the narrow platform beside the cliff and plunged into the enormous, searing Magma Pool behind it.
"Ah!"
"Is that Annie and Tibbers?"
"It really is!"
"But how did they get here?"
"No idea..."
Realizing they weren't going to die after all, Edgin and Simon both sighed in relief, then cried out and asked in unison.
"..."
"They jumped over!"
Although he'd been fully focused on preparing to deliver a decisive blow to the obese dragon Themberchaud, the paladin Hank had still noticed the giant bear "flying" over from far away, crashing down in front of them and knocking Themberchaud back.
"Jumped over?"
"From the other side?"
"From where we left them just now?"
"That's impossible!"
Edgin and Simon exchanged a look. Though