Why does it take so extremely long to delete something?

The engine has dependencies which is why it takes too long, its an Unreal thing, i never had issue deleting or moving folders in unity. Its a bloated big software were the undo is unpredictable and renaming a folder could destroy your project.

I would suggest to just be patient always backup and always right click and run “fix up directories” on folders every time you do anything with them. Just wait it out. its the safest bet.