Extremely awe-inspiring, terrifying woman blowing top in attack (7)
I believe the answer is:
aggress
'attack' is the definition.
('aggress' can be a synonym of 'attack')
'extremely awe-inspiring terrifying woman blowing top' is the wordplay.
'extremely' suggests removing the centre.
'awe-inspiring' becomes 'awing' ('awing' can be a synonym of 'awe-inspiring').
'terrifying woman' becomes 'ogress' (I've seen this before).
'blowing top' means to remove the first letter.
'awing' with its middle removed is 'ag'.
'ogress' with its first letter taken away is 'gress'.
'ag'+'gress'='AGGRESS'
'in' is the link.
(Another definition for aggress that I've seen is " begin a quarrel".)