Your Fear Shall Be My Strength

Where had this monster come from? As Tyrande watched the evil creature burrow out of the ground, a thought rose unbidden in her mind, but the situation gave her no time to think.

The enormous, bizarre Faceless One stood at least eight yards tall—over seven meters. As it burst from the earth, it overturned countless clods of soil, ripping Teldrassil's dense roots from the ground and shaking the earth.

The moment it saw Tyrande, the Faceless One's tentacle-like right arm shot out like a spring and struck her. Amid a spray of scattered light, Tyrande was sent flying, crashing into an oak before rolling to the ground.

Having knocked Tyrande away in a single blow, the Faceless One did not pursue her. Instead, it lifted its legs free of the dirt and crawled fully out of the burrow. Striding into the clearing, it seized the helpless, crying Astalia around the waist in its huge claw and prepared to flee.

"Stop it!" Tyrande shouted as she scrambled to her feet, filthy and disheveled, watching the monster escape with Astalia.

At Tyrande's command, Huntresses and archers immediately tried to stop it. Yet wooden arrows wrapped in moonlight were useless against the Faceless One. The arrows pierced its flesh but could not penetrate deeply enough to harm it.

Two Huntresses who had stepped forward to block it were crushed from head to toe beneath the Faceless One's massive foot, frightening the others into hesitation. Still, they had bought some time.

The moon had already risen. In answer to Tyrande's prayer, a pillar of white light descended from the sky and shone upon the Faceless One. Where the pure moonlight touched its filthy flesh, great patches of skin and meat were stripped away as though corroded by acid. Yet the Faceless One remained unmoved,