[h3]Hidden alcove, outside the walls south of Yahar'gul, northwest of Yharnam[/h3]
Even as Ophelia carved another gash in the creature's leg and Farren did what damage he could with his Blades of Mercy between its vertebrae, the beast continued accumulating its ominous energy. And while Ophelia quickly retreated and Farren made to leap to safety, Torquil and Gerlinde continued their assault undaunted by the threat.
Torquil moved in to deliver another mighty chop to the darkbeast's right shoulder, dislodged his axe and raised his shield. He was not one to think about things too much, but even he could tell that their prey was getting ready for something big. He could also tell that its physical body was coiled up and in a position ill-suited for attacking with claws and teeth, and while his faith in the Loch Shield's ability to halt physical attacks had been shaken, he remained confident that it would protect him from the monster's fell lightning.
Gerlinde simply ignored what was happening; she kept laughing while lashing her flaming whip back and forth, left to right, right to left, over and over in rapid succession, carving bloody, charred gashes into the darkbeast's body, though these, too, continued to heal rapidly.

Then, finally, the darkbeast unleashed a huge surge of lightning all around it, arcing through the air in all directions. It hit Torquil and was mostly deflected by his shield, though the sheer enormity of the energy being released this time was still enough to rattle him. Though his shield offered considerable protection from bolts such as these, he discovered, his silver armor was an excellent conductor for electricity, and he emerged from the blast rather singed.
Gerlinde continued to ignore what was happening, and took the brunt of the voltaic explosion point-blank and without making any effort to alleviate the damage it would do. Her flesh seared, her hair began smoldering, several of her teeth exploded, her eyes went blind as the fluid inside them started to boil... yet as the boom of thunder died down the sound of her laughter returned, unabated, as she continued attacking the darkbeast relentlessly while her body regenerated.
Ophelia found that she was fortunately far enough away to avoid the blast, but Farren made a severe tactical blunder in starting his retreat with a leap. Though it might not be something you would normally be aware of, jumping was actually a rather slow way of moving, especially compared to something like a Hunter's quickstep; even just waiting for gravity to cancel your upward momentum and bring you back to the ground took forever on the timescale of a battle. Thus he failed to escape the blast radius entirely, though he did get far enough away to escape the worst of it, so he was only struck with comparatively weak bolts of lightning.

The explosion appeared to take a toll on the darkbeast, though; the combination of the exertion to unleash that attack and the damage it had taken from everyone's attacks – and was still taking from Gerlinde's mad assault – seemed to leave it momentarily dazed and vulnerable.