mariadb.service took forever to start. it stuck at activating

Question

mariadb.service took forever to start. it stuck at activating

● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.3.31 database server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor prese>
     Active: activating (start) since Sat 2021-09-25 07:17:44 UTC; 11min ago
       Docs: man:mysqld(8)
             https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
   Main PID: 80161 (mysqld)
      Tasks: 30 (limit: 2279)
     Memory: 62.4M
     CGroup: /system.slice/mariadb.service
             └─80161 /usr/sbin/mysqld

i tried to purge, and delete the directory /var/lib/mysql, and the problem is still not fixed

when i run systemctl start mariadb:

kirito@localhost:/var/lib$ systemctl start mariadb
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.systemd1.manage-units ===
Authentication is required to start 'mariadb.service'.
Authenticating as: ,,, (kirito)
Password: 
==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ===
^C

the promot froze and i can only ^C to get back

i'm running Ubuntu 20.04