IPERIML 1

Chapter 1

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

I almost lost my mind for a second under the gaze of the countless eyes fixed on me, but I quickly pulled myself together. Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t a single friendly face in the crowd.

“Everyone, meet the new Demon King who will rule over our Black Forest!”

Even though I was explicitly introduced as their new “Demon King,” the crowd made zero effort to hide their greed. In fact, they were practically drooling over me. I felt like a harmless herbivore stranded all alone in the middle of a safari.

This was definitely not the situation I asked for. All I wanted was to stop that glass-fragile protagonist from dying so I could finally break free from this awful, endless regression loop.

Yeah, that was my only goal. So then…

“Give a warm round of applause for Lady Celesia!” Clap clap clap.

Why on earth am I standing up here?

I tried my best to keep a poker face so I wouldn’t look weak, but as the thunderous applause dragged on, cold sweat started dripping down my back.

Ah, seriously, I’m going crazy!

I’ve always taken pride in my gaming mechanics. Ever since I was little, I played all kinds of games and even got scouted by pro-gaming teams a couple of times. That should tell you enough.

But then, I ran straight into an unexpected wall that I never saw coming.

The game was called Infinite Regression War.

It was a dark fantasy game famous for having the highest player freedom and hundreds of different endings compared to any other Soulslike game out there. On the downside, the gameplay was ridiculously complex, and the world-building explanations were absurdly user-unfriendly.

Maybe that’s why, even after three years since its release, not a single person had managed to unlock the true ending.

Of course, that only stoked my competitive fire. The harder a game is, the greater the rush you feel when you finally beat it, right?

…At least, that’s what I used to think.

“This can’t be happening. Again…”

I slumped my head in complete defeat. My scalp felt like it was burning from the computer heat, but the moment I stared at the monitor, my mind instantly went numb and cold.

I spent the whole day digging through community forums, but no matter where I looked, there wasn’t a single piece of useful information that could help me reach the true ending.

“Phew…”

Honestly, it made sense. I had already cleared every single ending in the game except for the true one. When I tracked the top players by play time on public accounts, I was overwhelmingly in first place. There was no way any player knew more about this game than I did.

“Then why?!”

Why was I still stuck in the exact same spot?

This was the very first time I had wasted three whole years on a single game, and it was also the first time my real life had turned into such a complete mess because of one.

“Fine. Let’s see who wins.”

I just couldn’t bring myself to give up. My pride was hurt, and since I had already sunk so much time into it, I started pouring in even more. Eventually, I gave up on sleep entirely and threw every waking second into the game, only passing out occasionally from sheer exhaustion.

[Infinite Regression War]

Then one day, I opened my eyes to see the game’s logo sitting right in front of my face.

It was a classic case of transmigration.

For context, Infinite Regression War is a game about the protagonist, Hakar, who falls into the Demon Realm due to a conspiracy, gets dragged down to slave status, and slowly grows stronger with the ultimate goal of escaping the Demon Realm.

And just like the title suggests, the core mechanic of this game is “infinite regression.” The game only auto-saves once you complete a given chapter, and restarting mid-way is completely impossible.

So, if you’re wondering whether I transmigrated into the main character of this brutal game…

“Celesia, are you cleaning properly or what?! Lord Morckald’s been on edge lately, so if you screw up, he’s gonna take it out on me too!”

“I am cleaning…”

“Stop sneaking peeks at the newspaper and focus on your work!”

…The answer is no.

As you can see, far from being the protagonist, I was nothing more than a background extra hanging on for dear life under some low-tier villain.

[Celesia Raspendriel]

• Race: Demonic (Chihuahua)

• Physical Condition:

  • Durability: Below Average, Weak

  • Muscle Density: Low

  • Senses: Good sense of smell only

• Traits:

  • Snappy: Will bite first, even against opponents much bigger than herself.

  • Belly-Up Submission: Rolling onto her back and curling up increases her chances of survival.

To make matters worse, while demonic beings vary wildly in appearance and abilities depending on how they evolve… I just had to end up as a useless Chihuahua.

“Ugh, why did I have to get assigned with her? It’s bad enough that Khan fell out of favor the other day and got dragged away by Lord Morckald. This is so annoying, seriously.”

I was literally getting bullied and looked down on by a fellow extra.

Ignoring the glare directed at me, I stubbornly finished reading the rest of the newspaper article.

[Demon Realm Weekly Issue #666 Suturer Morckald Negotiating to Buy a Human? Shockwaves Spread Over Unprecedented Move. Recently, the extraordinary potential shown by a human owned by Lord Basilfain at the Demon King Gathering caused a massive stir. As this human seems to overcome the limits of a mortal body, experts evaluate that a whole new realm of possibility for ‘useful humans’ has opened up. According to high-ranking sources in the Demon Realm, Morckald—who is infamous for his human-hating stance—has secretly contacted Basilfain to negotiate purchase terms. Meanwhile, Basilfain’s side maintains a strict ‘no comment’ stance.]

“Suturer Morckald,” who was mentioned heavily in this article, happens to be my employer.

He wasn’t just some ordinary villain either. He was one of the Five Demon Kings ruling over the Demon Realm, and he served as the main villain of Chapter 1 right after clearing the tutorial in Infinite Regression War.

If the tutorial was just a small taste to teach you the basic controls, Chapter 1 was all about the weak protagonist slowly building up his strength. Naturally, Morckald was the villain who bought the protagonist and performed numerous body modifications on him.

So, the human Morckald was trying so hard to buy right now was none other than…

“…Ah?”

Just as I finished reading the article and tried to organize my thoughts, all the strength suddenly drained out of my body.

My vision spun out of control, to the point where I couldn’t even make out the shape of the objects right in front of my nose. Soon after, my stomach flipped upside down, and a wave of intense nausea hit me.

“Ugh…”

This was the warning sign of a regression.

Regressions had absolutely nothing to do with my own death; they were triggered whenever the protagonist died. In other words, the protagonist had just kicked the bucket again.

And I was just a miserable transmigrator caught up in his regression, forced to drag myself back to the very start of the tutorial alongside him.

Text popped up over my darkening vision, almost as if it were mocking me.

[A brief conflict broke out between the Demon Kings who met secretly for a trade…] [Caught in the crossfire, the protagonist has died.]

Damn it.

If you were going to transmigrate me, at least put me in a useful body! Since I’m not the protagonist—or even a character who actually appears in the game—I don’t get handy features like a character menu or an inventory.

Yet for some reason, these notification status windows pop up with absolute, infuriating clarity. Is this supposed to be a perk, or are you just teasing me?

[Restarting the tutorial.]

This was my 4th regression.

Was it purely beginner’s luck the first time around? Or did the protagonist hit some kind of bug that slapped him with a “Sunfish Curse”?

How could anyone be this terrible at surviving?

[Restarting the tutorial.]

Whether I woke up in the middle of the night, was in the middle of eating, taking a shower, getting stitched up by Morckald under the guise of “training,” or simply sweeping the floor… the regressions hit me relentlessly.

Sometimes, the protagonist must have died the exact second we regressed, because the loop would trigger back-to-back without a single second’s break.

And just like that…

“Please, just stop already…”

I had officially reached my 21st regression.

Living the exact same life 21 times went way beyond mere boredom—it was utterly exhausting. What made it worse was that it happened completely against my will whenever the idiot protagonist died, and because he couldn’t even finish the tutorial, I kept getting dragged right back to the starting line every single time.

Maybe that’s why.

“Ah.”

A thought suddenly hit me.

Had I been thinking way too foolishly this whole time, trapped inside my own rigid preconceptions?

Now that Infinite Regression War had become my actual reality, did I really need to sit around and wait for the protagonist to solve everything?

I know the strategy guide way better than he does.

Why don’t I just take care of that damn Morckald myself and carry this protagonist who’s still lost in the tutorial?